MIAMI, February 23 – The Miami HEAT announced today that they have acquired guard/forward Derek Anderson from the Houston Rockets in exchange for guard Gerald Fitch. Anderson was acquired using the trade exception received in the Malik Allen-Steve Smith deal made with the Charlotte Bobcats on Feb. 24, 2005.

“We feel very fortunate that we were able to acquire the services of a multi-faceted player in Derek Anderson, who we had interest in this summer before he signed with Houston” said HEAT President and Head Coach Pat Riley. “We feel that he will be able to play three positions for us, giving us added versatility in our quest for a championship. We will miss Gerald Fitch, who is a good young player, but this will be a great opportunity for him out there.”

Anderson, a 6’5”, 220-point guard/forward, has averaged 13.0 points, 3.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.20 steals and 31.0 minutes in 514 NBA regular season games (355 starts). The nine-year veteran was the 13th pick of the 1997 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers after playing at the University of Kentucky where he joined Antoine Walker as a member of the Wildcats’ 1996 NCAA championship team. Anderson played two seasons (1997-99) with the Cavaliers and has also had stints with the Los Angeles Clippers (1999-00), San Antonio Spurs (2000-01) and Portland Trail Blazers (2001-05) before signing as a free agent with the Rockets on Aug. 23, 2005 after being an amnesty waiver by the Blazers on Aug. 3, 2005. For his career, Anderson has connected on 41.1 percent (2,206-5,373) of his field goal attempts, 34.0 percent (551-1,620) of his three-point field goal attempts and 85.4 percent (1,721-2,016) of his free throw attempts. Additionally, Anderson has appeared in 16 NBA postseason contests, making nine starts, and has averaged 8.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 24.7 minutes while shooting 34.2 percent (40-117) from the floor, 27.6 percent (8-29) from three-point range and 83.3 percent (55-66) from the foul line.

A Louisville, KY native, Anderson has averaged double figures in scoring in seven of his first eight seasons and is currently averaging 10.8 points during the 2005-06 campaign. He averaged a career-high 16.9 points during the 1999-00 season as a member of the Clippers and also registered career highs in field goal percentage (.438) and free throw percentage (.877) that same season. Anderson has started eight of the 20 games in which he has appeared this year and in addition to averaging 10.8 points, he has averaged 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.75 steals and 29.1 minutes while shooting 39.3 percent (68-173) from the floor, 28.4 percent (19-67) from three-point range and 83.6 percent (61-73) from the foul line. He has scored in double-figures on 11 occasions this season, including a season-high six consecutive games from Nov. 20-29, and has recorded a pair of 20-point performances. Anderson scored a season-high 23 points against Phoenix on Nov. 23 and also had a 20-point, six-rebound, five-assist effort against the HEAT in Miami on Nov. 10.

Fitch, a 6’3”, 188-pound undrafted rookie point guard from the University of Kentucky, appeared in 18 games with the HEAT, after re-signing as a free agent on Nov. 18, 2005, and made one start (Jan. 14 at Utah). He averaged 4.7 points, 1.8 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 13.3 minutes while shooting 33.7 percent (30-89) from the floor, 26.9 percent (7-26) from three-point range and 73.9 percent (17-23) from the foul line.