Joel Anthony is one of those NBA veterans universally known as a good guy, a great teammate. When Miami traded him to Boston last winter to save money on its tax bill, LeBron James made it known how distasteful he found the decision.
So Anthony makes fast friends and builds strong bonds in whatever locker room he joins and that made saying goodbye to the teammates he’d only known for a matter of months in Boston difficult.
But if leaving Boston was tough, coming to Detroit is easy. Because he knows that the motivation for this trade was purely about what he has to offer, not about his contract.
“It makes things easier,” he said after his first Pistons practice, another three-hour-plus session. “That first trade was obviously more difficult because of the history and all the time I spent (in Miami, six-plus seasons after going undrafted out of UNLV in 2007). I’ve been fortunate to have those years over there and right now I’m just looking forward to this new chapter in my life as a professional basketball player.”
Boston, like Miami, was motivated by money to trade Anthony for Will Bynum, who was due to make nearly $1 million less this season, the last year on both contracts.
The Pistons acted out of uncertainty over the status of Aaron Gray, signed over the summer as a backup center. When the Pistons are at full staffing, center minutes will be consumed by Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. But Monroe will split time at power forward with Josh Smith, as well, so they would be always one injury or foul trouble away from being without a backup center while they wait on Gray, who remains out indefinitely while awaiting further testing for the “cardiac episode” that has sidelined him since late August.
With Monroe suspended for the season’s first two games, Anthony becomes the first option whenever Drummond sits.
“Joel came in and adapted very quickly to what we were doing,” Stan Van Gundy said. “We didn’t do everything we had in the playbook, but we did enough and he had no problem playing.”
One of Van Gundy’s closest friends in the business is Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, with whom he worked throughout his time in Miami, first as an assistant to Pat Riley and later as a head coach. He knows what he’s getting in Anthony as well as anyone could without actually having coached him. And he knows that a player who was still averaging around 20 minutes a game in the playoffs two and three seasons ago has a lot to offer on several levels.
“They’re looking forward for me to do the things I do,” Anthony said. “They feel my energy, my focus and my ability on defense could really help this team, and my shot-blocking. Those things are what I’m going to continue to focus on, continue to work into how this team plays – just play that role to the best of my ability.”
Just as Van Gundy believed Gray would be valuable to the Pistons even if he wasn’t a part of the everyday rotation, he knows Anthony, too, will be nothing but a positive influence on Andre Drummond.
“From the brief time we talked, it’s more about the team and different things I can do to help the team,” Anthony said. “But, obviously, anything I can do to help a talented young big like that. It’s more of a collective thing. That’s the biggest thing I’ve always been a part of – it’s always been a family. It takes a village to raise a child; we have to help each other. In practice, guys are helping me out. We’re all helping each other. That’s a big key for us.”