Chris Andersen

At 45 years old, Chris Andersen has this physical status:

Christopher Claus Andersen (born July 7, 1978) is an American professional basketball player for Power In The Big Three League. Andersen, nicknamed "Birdman" after being born in Long Beach, California, grew up in Iola, Texas, and spent one year at Blinn College.

Andersen started his coaching career in the Chinese Basketball Association and the American minor leagues.

He appeared for the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets in the NBA.

In 2006, he received a two-year suspension for violating the league's drug policy, but the Hornets re-signed him on March 4, 2008.

In 2008, he returned to Denver and remained with the team until 2012.

In January 2013, he signed with the Miami Heat and won a championship with them the same year.

He and Oliver Lafayette are the only Blinn players to play in the NBA.

He now plays for Power in the Big3 league.

Early life

Andersen is the second of the three children of corrections officer and Danish immigrant Claus Andersen and Linda Holubec, a Tennessee native who served as a waitress at the Port Hueneme naval base and played basketball in high school. When Andersen was four, his family moved to Texas, where they obtained a 10-acre tract in unincorporated Iola, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, using a Texas Veterans Land Board loan. The Andersens lived off the land, with Linda now living in low-end jobs and relying on neighbors and Linda's brother, who was a Navy supply boat captain. During Andersen's middle school years, he and his siblings were sent to a three-year group home in Dallas.

Personal life

Andersen is best known for his brightly colored tattoos on his arms, chest, neck, back, hands, and legs. His mother gave him his eighth birthday gift, but she has some body art of her own from her days of being associated with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. John Slaughter, Andersen's regular tattooist, claims to have tattooed 56% of his body. In PETA's "Ink Not Mink" ad campaign to protest the fur trade, he displayed those tattoos.

Andersen's home was the object of an investigation into a suspected internet criminal case by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, which was published on May 10, 2012. Andersen was not charged with any criminal offences. Andersen, as well as Internet model Paris Dunn, were the victims of a complex catfishing ruse in Easterville, Manitoba, carried out by Canadian woman Shelly Chartier. The article was covered by ABC News' 20/20 and MTV's Catfish: The TV Show.

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College career

Andersen was encouraged to play basketball by his high school coach, who said that the sport would provide him with a college scholarship. Andersen could not get the right to attend the University of Houston, but the instructor took Andersen's high school coach to Blinn College in Brenham. He spent one season with the Blinn Buccaneers, leading the National Junior College Athletic Association's players in blocks.

Professional career

Andersen dropped out of Blinn in 1999, not knowing he had to register for the NBA draft to be selected up. Andersen's high school coach arranged for him to compete in a series of exhibition games with the Chinese Ambassadors, and Andersen was invited to join the Chinese Basketball Association's Jiangsu Nangang Dragons.

Andersen played in the New Mexico Slam of the International Basketball League in March 2000, where he averaged just 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds in six regular-season games and four playoff games.

Anderson was drafted by the Dakota Wizards of the IBA later this year, but was fired before the season began. He played seven games before being released in January 2001 and joined the Fargo-Moorhead Beez of the IBA, where he was also a member of the Fargo-Moorhead Beez.

Andersen played for the IBA until he joined the Sugarland Sharks of the Southwest Basketball League later in 2001.

Andersen made his Cleveland Cavaliers debut in the 2001 NBA Summer League in July 2001. He signed with the Phoenix Suns on September 28, 2001. Nonetheless, he was later waived by the Suns on October 7, 2001. He was the first overall pick by the Fayetteville Patriots in the NBA Development League's inaugural draft on October 31, 2001.

Andersen became the first D-League player called up by an NBA team, signing with the Denver Nuggets on November 21, 2001, after just two games for Fayetteville. He was quickly recognized as one of the best per-minute rebounders and shot-blockers in the league. Andersen "Birdman" is a term used by junior Harrington and Kenny Satterfield of the 2002 Rocky Mountain Revue for his arm span and penchant for aerial acrobatics.

He re-signed with the Nuggets on September 29, 2003.

Andersen signed a multi-year contract with the New Orleans Hornets on July 19, 2004. For the second year in a row, he competed in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, where he unsuccessfully attempted the same dunk eight times at the Pepsi Center.

Following Hurricane Katrina's devastation in August 2005, the Hornets relocated to Oklahoma City for the 2005-06 season, becoming the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Andersen played 32 games (two starts) in 2005–06, averaging 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Andersen was suspended from the NBA for breaching the league's anti-drug policy by testing positive for a banned drug on January 25, 2006. Andersen's suspension fell into the league's "drugs of abuse" group, in breach of which may be reasons for expulsion from the NBA under the league's collective bargaining agreement. Andersen attempted to appeal the decision by arbitration, but the arbitrator refused to keep his dismissal in March 2006. As Andersen waited for his reinstatement, Mark Bryant, a Denver lawyer, was aided by a lawyer friend who became his advisor. Andersen spent a month in a Malibu rehabilitation facility, worked out, and coached a boys' basketball team.

Andersen's request to be reinstated as an NBA player was accepted by the NBA Players Union on March 4, 2008. The reinstatement was immediate, and the rights to his services were transferred to his former team, the New Orleans Hornets, who re-signed him on March 5, 2008 for the remainder of the 2007–08 season.

Andersen signed a one-year contract with the Denver Nuggets on July 24, 2008. Andersen finished second in the league in blocks per game with 2.5, despite playing only 20.6 minutes per game.

Andersen re-signed with the Nuggets on a five-year contract on July 8, 2009.

The Nuggets waived Andersen by the amnesty clause on July 17, 2012. Masai Ujiri, a friend of Andersen, reluctantly made the deal in order to remove $9 million from the team's payroll cap in order to avoid the luxury tax.

Before being waived by the Nuggets, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra had repeatedly pleaded with Pat Riley to buy Andersen.

Andersen signed a 10-day deal with the Miami Heat on January 20, 2013. On January 30, he began his second 10-day deal and then signed for the remainder of the season on February 8, 2013.

Andersen participated in just 42 games during the 2012–13 season, but the Heat also contributed to the Heat's success by putting up 4.9 points per game on 57.7 FG% and 4.1 rebounds in 14.9 minutes of play. Since joining the Heat, he began a 27-game winning streak, overall going 37-33 in regular-season games in which Andersen competed. Andersen has also inspired legions of followers by his head-to-toe tattoos, Mohawk haircut, and trademark hustle.

Andersen shot 15–15 against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, including a 7-for-7 record in Game 1 that tied a franchise playoff record, beating Alonzo Mourning's record of 6-for-6. Andersen was suspended for Game 6 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals without compensation for making a flagrant foul on Tyler Hansbrough in Game 5.

For the first time in his career, he made it to the NBA Finals for the first time in his career at 34 years old. Andersen exploded three points, four rebounds, and a block against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, deciding Game 7. Andersen set a new NBA Playoffs record for the highest field goal percentage in the 2013 NBA Playoffs with a field goal percentage of 80%.

Andersen re-signed with the Miami Heat on July 10, 2013. He appeared in 72 games during the 2013–14 regular season, averaging 6.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game. Andersen would miss Game 4 and subsequently Game 5 due to a series of nagging aches and pains he had been suffering for some time, but not before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Heat advanced to their fourth straight NBA Finals and Andersen's second game after Andersen returned for Game 6 with 9 points and ten rebounds. In the 2014 NBA Finals, the Heat fought the Spurs again, but they were defeated in five games.

Andersen resigned with the Heat on July 19, 2014. Andersen played 20 games in a single season of his career over the course of the 2014–15 regular season.

In a three-team trade involving the Charlotte Hornets, the Heat traded Andersen and two second-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies on February 16, 2016. In a 109-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, he made his Grizzlies debut, recording four points, three rebounds, and one block in 11 minutes. Andersen made his first playoff appearance in his career by defeating the San Antonio Spurs in a first round sweep.

Andersen signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers on July 22, 2016. After suffering an ACL injury that required season-ending surgery, he was out for the remainder of the season on December 16, 2016.

The Cavaliers exchanged Andersen and cash considerations to the Charlotte Hornets on February 13, 2017 in exchange for a 2017 protected second-round pick. On his first day of ownership, he was immediately waived by the Hornets.

BIG3 career

Andersen was reported to have signed a big3 contract to join the draft pool on March 23, 2018, making Andersen's draft eligible in the BIG3.

He was drafted in Power's 2018 BIG3 draft and helped the team win the 2018 BIG3 championship.

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