Willie Anderson (basketball)

Willie Lloyd Anderson Jr. (born January 8, 1967)^[2] is an American former professional basketball player. During his professional career, Anderson played nine seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and three seasons in the EuroLeague. He was named to the 1988–89 NBA season's All-Rookie First Team. While he was a member of the Greek Basket League club AEK Athens, he played in the 1998 EuroLeague Final. Anderson won an Olympic bronze medal as a member of the United States national team in 1988.

Willie Anderson

Personal information
Born	(1967-01-08) January 8, 1967 (age 58) Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school	East Atlanta (Atlanta, Georgia)
College	Georgia (1984–1988)
NBA draft	1988: 1st round, 10th overall pick
Drafted by	San Antonio Spurs
Playing career	1988–1998
Position	Small forward
Number	40, 35
Career history
1988–1995	San Antonio Spurs
1995–1996	Toronto Raptors
1996	New York Knicks
1996	Olympiacos
1997	Miami Heat
1997–1998	AEK Athens
1998	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Career highlights
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1989) Greek League All-Star (1997) First-team All-SEC (1988)
Career NBA statistics
Points	6,771 (12.2 ppg)
Rebounds	2,082 (3.8 rpg)
Assists	2,105 (3.8 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States Pan American Games 1987 Indianapolis Team competition Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Team competition

Anderson wore #40^[1] for nearly his entire career, including his seven-season run with the Spurs.

College career

After playing high school basketball at East Atlanta High, Anderson played college basketball at the University of Georgia, with the Georgia Bulldogs, from 1984 to 1988. In his junior season, Anderson averaged 15.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game, in 30 games played. During his senior season, Anderson averaged 16.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game, in 35 games played, and he was named to the SEC's All-Conference Team.

Professional career

After attending and playing college basketball at the University of Georgia, Anderson was selected by the San Antonio Spurs, with the 10th overall pick of the 1988 NBA draft. Anderson was selected to the 1989 NBA All-Rookie Team. During the 1990 NBA Playoffs, Anderson averaged playoff-career-highs of 20.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game respectively.^[3] The Spurs advanced past the Denver Nuggets in the first round, before losing to the eventual Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers, in a hard-fought seven game playoff series.^[4]

Anderson played for the Spurs until the 1994–95 season. He spent 1995–96 season with the Toronto Raptors, after he was selected in the 1995 expansion draft. He also played with the New York Knicks that season. Anderson spent the 1996–97 season playing in Greece, where he played with the Greek Basket League club Olympiacos Piraeus, and with the NBA's Miami Heat.

He moved to the Greek club AEK Athens, for the 1997–98 season. He helped AEK make it to the EuroLeague's 1998 Final, which they lost to the Italian League club Virtus Bologna, by a score of 58–44. Anderson signed with the Israeli Super League club Maccabi Tel Aviv, for the 1998–99 season. However, he was waived by the club at the beginning of the season. After signing with the club, he declared that season would be his last season in professional basketball, and after he was waived by the club, he did in fact retire from playing pro club basketball.

National team career

Anderson won a silver medal with Team USA at the 1987 Pan American Games. He also won a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Anderson is the older brother of former NBA player Shandon Anderson, and the father of former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Lady Mocs player Alex Anderson.^[5]

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1988–89	San Antonio	81	79	33.8	.498	.190	.775	5.1	4.6	1.9	0.8	18.6
1989–90	San Antonio	82	81	34.0	.492	.269	.748	4.5	4.4	1.4	0.7	15.7
1990–91	San Antonio	75	75	34.6	.457	.200	.798	4.7	4.8	1.1	0.8	14.4
1991–92	San Antonio	57	55	33.1	.455	.232	.775	5.3	5.3	0.9	0.9	13.1
1992–93	San Antonio	38	7	14.7	.430	.125	.786	1.5	2.1	0.4	0.2	4.8
1993–94	San Antonio	80	79	31.1	.471	.324	.848	3.0	4.3	0.9	0.6	11.9
1994–95	San Antonio	38	11	14.6	.469	.158	.732	1.4	1.4	0.7	0.3	4.9
1995–96	Toronto	49	42	31.9	.440	.305	.856	3.8	3.0	1.2	1.0	12.4
1995–96	New York	27	2	18.4	.421	.200	.613	2.2	1.8	0.6	0.3	5.0
1996–97	Miami	28	1	10.8	.453	.421	.850	1.5	1.2	0.5	0.1	3.0
Career		555	432	28.8	.471	.266	.786	3.8	3.8	1.1	0.6	12.2

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1990	San Antonio	10	10	37.5	.518	.400	.806	5.4	5.2	0.9	0.4	20.5
1991	San Antonio	4	4	39.8	.485	.200	.615	4.3	4.8	1.5	0.5	19.0
1993	San Antonio	10	0	21.9	.451	.545	.882	2.3	2.8	0.9	0.2	9.5
1994	San Antonio	4	4	26.5	.378	1.000	.571	2.0	3.0	1.3	0.5	8.3
1995	San Antonio	11	0	8.8	.450	.000	.667	1.1	0.9	0.5	0.0	1.8
1996	New York	4	0	16.0	.318	.167	.857	2.3	0.3	1.0	0.0	5.3
1997	Miami	9	0	13.3	.367	.250	.900	1.9	0.6	0.4	0.2	3.7
Career		52	18	21.9	.464	.333	.785	2.7	2.4	0.8	0.2	9.3