NBA

NJ product Kyle Anderson near NBA dream

When Kyle Anderson was just beginning to blossom as an adolescent basketball player, he told his father his goal was reach the NBA one day. Kyle Anderson Sr. nodded, as all fathers do when hearing of their sons’ dreams, but he didn’t exactly begin to dream.

“Being a school teacher, I hear all the kids say they want to be in the NBA and the NFL,” Kyle Anderson Sr. recalled with a laugh.

Less than a decade later, Anderson is on the cusp of reaching that lofty goal, a projected first-round pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft. Arguably the most unique talent in the draft, the 6-foot-8 forward from Fairview, N.J., with point-guard skills and through-the-roof basketball IQ has worked out for 11 teams, with his final workout scheduled with the Hawks on Tuesday — the second time he will be looked at by Atlanta.

Kyle Sr., who was an assistant coach at Division I St. Peter’s and still coaches AAU basketball, said he never had to push his son. One time, he remembered his son not wanting to work out — yes, just once — and the next day he was up at 6 a.m. ready to get back in the gym.

“He’s driven,” Kyle Sr. said.

There are concerns about Anderson’s lack of foot speed — hence the nickname “Slow Mo” — and limited athletic ability, knocks he has heard for years. Anderson isn’t blessed with a vertical leap that makes scouts drool.

“I’m prepared to hear what I can’t do at the next level, and I’m ready to go out and show what I know I can do,” Anderson said. “I don’t pay attention to what other people say about my foot speed. They’ve said that my whole life and I’ve shown they’re wrong.”

Despite those limitations, he has won at every level. He won back-to-back New Jersey state titles and a mythical USA Today national championship at St. Anthony of Jersey City, going 65-0 across two years, won national AAU titles with the New Jersey Playaz and led UCLA to consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, including a Sweet 16 appearance, as he averaged 14.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 48 percent from 3-point range last season.

“He has a coach’s brain in a 6-foot-8 body with a skill set of someone who can play multiple positions,” is how Hall of Fame St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley Sr. described his former star pupil. “People like to play with him. If you’re open and he has the ball, you’re going to get it. He prefers to pass. There are few of those guys out there.”

Hurley previously compared Anderson, 20, to Magic Johnson. While he has backed off that bold comparison, he did say there remain similarities, though the one NBA player scouts liken Anderson to is Spurs forward Boris Diaw.

“There’s only one Magic Johnson — there are qualities in [Anderson’s] game that make you think about Magic Johnson,” Hurley said. “His game and what he does is different from anybody that’s going into the league next year. The question is how much do people value his uniqueness and variety he can bring to a team.

“He’s a conglomerate of a bunch of things.”

NBA draft consultant Chris Ekstrand said with the right team, in the right system and with the right coach, Anderson can be effective. The concern regarding Anderson is on the defensive end, NBA scouting director Ryan Blake said.

“Coaches in the NBA get paid a couple million bucks for just these exact situations,” Ekstrand said.

Anderson said some teams see him as a small forward, others a power forward, a few on the wing. He will play where the organization which selects him chooses, of course, but if he had it his way, he would be running the show, where his gifts can be accentuated.

“I think that’s where I’m most effective, playing point,” Anderson said. “It’s what I’ve done [since] I was a little kid.”