Denver's Birdman soaring high after some career turbulence

DENVER -- Chris Andersen has some career mileage on him, but he likes to compare himself to a car owned by that little old lady who drove only on Sundays. Which, coming from soneone known around the NBA as the "Birdman," sounds strange enough.

"I didn't put on miles for two years," insists Andersen, 30. "So, really, I've got 30-year-old knowledge in a 28-year-old athlete's body."

However the Birdman puts it, his low-mileage pitch to the league last summer was initially a difficult sell. Andersen had been suspended from January 2006 to March 2008 for violating the NBA's substance abuse policy, and he played sparingly in five games in his late-season return to New Orleans.

But last July, the Nuggets were in a tough spot. Trying to save money, they had dispatched center Marcus Camby, the three-time defending NBA shot-block champion, to the Los Angeles Clippers. Gritty power forward Eduardo Najera bolted to New Jersey as a free agent.

The Nuggets needed a big man. And fast.

So they worked out the 6-foot-10 Andersen. He had been a fan favorite when he began his NBA career with the Nuggets from 2001-04, picking up the "Birdman" moniker for his ability to get up and block shots. Andersen didn't exactly blow Nuggets officials away this time around. But he did enough to get a one-year contract for the NBA minimum of $998,398.

It might be the best money spent this season in the NBA.

"We have been given a gift by the basketball gods," said Nuggets coach George Karl. "To lose Marcus and replace him with a similar player. He's an excellent dude ... I don't think I've ever had a bigger surprise from a free agent that kind of calls you."

The energetic reserve would be an ideal candidate for Comeback Player of the Year if the NBA still had the award. He averaged 6.4 points and a career-high 6.2 rebounds while finishing second in the NBA in blocked shots with a 2.46 average, despite logging a modest 20.5 minutes a night.

"I'm real proud of Birdman," said Hornets coach Byron Scott, whose team is locked in a first-round series with the Nuggets and his former player. "I am just so happy for him he got his life back together."

Scott was entering his first Hornets season in 2004 when Andersen left Denver to sign with New Orleans as a free agent. After a promising 2004-05 season in which he averaged 7.7 points and 6.1 rebounds, Andersen earned the first big contract of his career, $14 million over four years.

"I told him, 'Now, Bird. Remember everything you did to get this, all the hard work you put in. Don't [mess] it up,'" Scott said.

Andersen, after all, had gained a reputation for being a free spirit. His tattoo count has grown each season by Rodman-like bounds, with a recent entry being bird wings under his arms. He's had wild hair styles that once changed almost weekly.

Hornets forward Ryan Bowen will never forget when he and Andersen were with Denver in the 2004 playoffs. Andersen showed up for a game with a spiked hairstyle, leading then coach Jeff Bzdelik to order him back to the locker room to get rid of it.

"Everybody was kind of like, 'Bird, you've gone overboard. You need to tone it down a little bit,'" Bowen said.

All of his zaniness, though, helped Andersen become big news in the Big Easy. Not long after he arrived in New Orleans, billboards touting the "Birdman" popped up throughout the city.

But in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit, severely damaging Andersen's house and his Hummer and leading Andersen, like many residents, to flee. In addition, Andersen was becoming estranged from his mother, who raised him in the tiny town of Iola, Texas.

"The problems just kept coming, and it was like a domino effect," Andersen said of the fall of 2005, when the hurricane-displaced Hornets moved to Oklahoma City, where they would play two seasons. "I just fell apart. I had nobody to turn to. And the people I could turn to, I really didn't turn to.

"I guess it was a sense of pride I thought I could handle [the problems] by myself. I made some decisions, and they weren't the right decisions."

Andersen had begun missing games and practices. He said it was the flu. But it made Scott wonder.

"A lot of things were going on that were suspicious and, as a head coach, you just don't catch them all," Scott said. "There were a bunch of signs that, when it finally came out, I said, 'Man, I wish I had paid more attention to this and that.' We were all like, 'The flu doesn't go that long.'"

The word finally came down Jan. 27, 2006 that Andersen had been suspended and his contract voided for testing positive for a drug "of abuse." Andersen, who says he never will reveal the drug, would be eligible to apply for reinstatement in two years.

"I broke the rules," Andersen said. "But I took it like a man. I did what I was supposed to do. I told myself, 'I'm going to get motivated, to change the way I've been living, and dig myself out of the hole I was in.'"

Andersen went through a 30-day rehabilitation stint at a Malibu, Calif., clinic. He credits his Denver-based attorney, Mark Bryant, and his fiancée Brandy Newman for straightening him out.

Andersen moved back to the Denver area and began to work out regularly while waiting for his hopeful NBA return. His ticket finally came when he was re-signed by New Orleans on March 5, 2008.

"I was very thankful they brought me back, but I guess they had higher expectations," Andersen said.

Andersen was rusty, and, with the Hornets' rotation set, played little upon his return. He became a free agent after the season, and he made it known he'd love to return to the Nuggets.

"I saw him [in downtown] Denver, and he said he was trying to make a comeback with the Nuggets," said Denver guard Anthony Carter. "I thought he was just playing with me."

The Nuggets signed him in July. By the time training camp arrived, a serious Andersen, who had been working out intensely, showed up with a conservative haircut, saying it was a "new me."

The Nuggets soon found out how serious he was.

"I don't think anybody expected what he's done," said Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. "Nobody believed he was going to come back and do what he's done."

It didn't take long for Andersen to again win over Denver fans, who regularly hold up "Birdman" signs. In fact, Anthony jokes he might be "losing my touch" as Denver's most popular player.

"I'm thankful [the Nuggets] have allowed me to do what I do, roam around and help everybody out on defense," Andersen said. "I knew I was going to play like this. I was hoping I was going to play a little better, but I had a couple of injuries [the most serious a broken rib that cost him nine November games]."

Andersen, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and wants to return to Denver, believes there's plenty of time for him to improve.

"For two years, I wasn't putting miles on my shoes," he said. "That means I get to play two extra years."