I really don't understand how people can talk about his "questionable character" and at the same time want the Celtics to sign Marbury who has had questionable character everywhere he's gone. The fact that somebody called him a ticking time bomb baffles me... if you're going to make a statement like that can you atleast back it up? Has Chris Andersen ever done or said anything that could prove your point?
Yet when he learned of his positive test, he felt like anything but a man condemned. "I was torn up emotionally, but I realized it was time to make a drastic change," he says, his voice catching. "I could've ended up killing myself."
This doesn't sound like a ticking time bomb or somebody who could relapse.
The thing is he would have absolutely helped our bench and he would have absolutely been an upgrade, a huge one at that, over POB. I have always been behind Danny's moves and I can honestly say not signing Birdman was the only move that has ever really made me mad.
Somebody also mentioned that his tattoos adds to him having questionable character... that is one of the most ignorant statements I have ever heard on here. Tattoos are a part of society right now, Eddie House has tattoos, is his character questionable? Everybody's favorite possible backup guard right now, Stephon Marbury, has a nice new tattoo on his head. Please stop making lame arguments that Chris Andersen is such a bad guy when you really have no idea... Do you know before he started using the drug he was using he had just split up with his girlfriend, his mother stopped talking to him, his house was destroyed in hurricane Katrina, and his team was sent to play in OKC, he showed up 20 pounds overweight. The only clue he has ever given as to what drug he was using was that he said "Let's just say all that [excess] weight went away." I have reason to believe he was using cocaine.
Chris Andersen knows a lot of kids looked up to him, he became a cult hero with his Birdman persona. The fact that he won't mention what drug he was on, probably because he doesn't want to influence kids... and the fact that he now says all of his life struggles at that time are not an excuse for what he did, show some pretty strong character in my opinion. I'm willing to bet on it that Chris Andersen will never relapse, or have another disciplinary problem in his days in the NBA. It's a shame nobody else can see this.