Should the Celtics pursue Chris "Birdman" Andersen?
I haven't mentioned Chris Andersen as a possibility for the Celtics, because I had no desire to root for the "alleged child pornographer." I know athletes are not role models and if we knew a lot of stars who we root for personally we might not root for them anymore. That said, I found it odd that no more news has come out in the Andersen case and in researching recent news the latest I could find was Andersen's lawyer floating an extortion plot.
In the statement, Bresee suggested that a woman from California has attempted to get items of value from the 33-year-old basketball player, and that the woman's mother wrote in an email that she wanted him "to pay for everything on her Amazon wish list, 5K for her bedding stuff and her victoria secret wish list."
Deputies did say they have been investigating Andersen since February 2012 on a referral from a California law-enforcement agency. The unit investigating Andersen covers child pornography, Internet luring and child predators.
The statement:
"A female fan in 2010 mailed Mr. Andersen multiple letters and included several photos in which she was scantily clad. Chris and this woman communicated with each other and in 2011, this woman, who represented herself as 21 years of age, flew to Colorado, showing her required identification. After leaving Colorado, she became upset at his lack of interest. In 2012, she threatened to retaliate if he did not provide financial remuneration."
The statement ends, "Mr. Andersen has been fully cooperative with the authorities. The investigation is expected to take three weeks. We're confident it will show that Chris did not engage in any criminal conduct."
If what Andersen's lawyer is saying is true (and on occasion lawyers tell the truth) then Andersen is really only guilty of not being able to identify a fake ID. I don't doubt that players are often victims of attempted extortion. Then again it would be nice to hear law enforcement clear Andersen's name if he is truly innocent.
Now why should the Celtics be interested in Birdman the basketball player? Well for one he'd probably be our best center option after KG. Yes Jason Collins can defend bigger centers, but he can't rebound and has zero offense and should not be getting playing time on a contending team. Yes, everyone is rooting for Chris Wilcox because of the heart surgery recovery and yes he's a good athlete who will get some nice alley-oops from Rondo, but that's all he's ever been in this league. And as he's getting older he's losing some of that athleticism. Not to mention he's a power forward.
What other big men do we have? We have Bass, who while getting paid starter money is more of a quality back-up and also a power forward. Jeff Green will see a lot of minutes at the 4, but is definitely not a center. Jared Sullinger I expect to see a lot of minutes, but he's not tall enough to be a center. And Fab Melo is a project with potential. He was drafted to develop. There were guys available to draft at that spot who could help this year. Melo was not one. He might turn into the next Perk, but like Perk he will need a few years of seasoning.
So Andersen? What does he give you? He gives you tons of energy and is still a great shot blocker. Won't load up the stat sheet, but can score a bit and rebound and more importantly is a solid defender. He got squeezed out of Denver's rotation last year because of their youth movement. Basically he's a bigger better shot blocking version of Wilcox who has a better motor. I doubt Danny will bite. He could have signed him in the Summer of 2008, but chose Patrick O'Bryant instead. My guess is Danny is simply not a fan. But my question is are you?
