Background
Born on the 23rd of June 1980, David Emil Andersen is the second
youngest of five children. His parents, Mary and Danny raised their four
sons and one daughter in Frankston, an outer south eastern suburb of
Melbourne.
David was introduced to basketball at an early age. His mother Mary played
netball and basketball and thought it would be a good sport to get all
her children involved in. At the age of five, David was playing in the
school basketball team at Frankston East Primary with one of his
brothers, Stuart. Mary coached the team and because there was only one
team at the school, David always played a year above his age. Also while
at primary school David tried his hand at many different sports before
deciding to focus on basketball. He had found a game he loved to play, a
game where his above average height would be an advantage.
The local representative basketball club was the
Frankston Blues. David joined the club when he was 11 years old and in
his first year at the club, the under 12 team David played in, won the
championship. This was to be one of the first of many successes that
David would experience with a team in basketball. David played with the
Frankston Blues Junior Program until he was 15 years old and then joined
the Frankston Blues Mens Team. He played in the South Eastern Mens
Conference Final, a game that was televised on the ABC TV. Standing at
197cm tall, David caught the eye of Gordie McLeod, the head basketball
coach at the Australian Institute of Sport. This was yet another step
towards David’s dream of one day playing in the NBA.
As a Victorian State player in the Under 16
Australian Junior Championships, David was again spotted by the AIS
scouts and was selected to join the Australian Institute of Sport
Basketball Development Program. The program was based in Canberra and
required David to pack his bags and move away from his family to follow
his dreams. David lived in Canberra at the AIS for three years,
training, studying and making life long friends, not to mention adding
another 15 centimetre to his already imposing height. David knew though
that height alone would not get him to where he wanted to be. He worked
hard to hone his skills while he was at the AIS and still does to this
today.
David
has represented Australia on many occasions. As a junior in 1996 and in
1998 he played at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament where he was voted
the tournament MVP, that same year David was also awarded the Australian
Junior Male Player of the Year, ABA Most Improved Player and the ABA
All-Star 5. In 1999 David travelled to Portugal with the Australian
Men’s Under 20’s team to play in the World Championship for Junior Men
and then Japan in 2001 for the Under 22’s World Championship for Junior
Men.
At the age of 17, David signed his first professional
contract to play in the National Basketball League in Australia. The
signing, with the South East Melbourne Magic, offered David a chance to
return back home to Melbourne. This was never to happen though as
shortly after David signed his contract, the South East Melbourne Magic
merged with the North Melbourne Giants leaving David as a free agent.
The Wollongong Hawks signed David, so, once again, David packed his bags
and headed up the coast to Wollongong in New South Wales. David played
one year of his two year contract with the Hawks before signing with
European basketball club Virtus Bologna in Italy.
David played with Virtus Bologna for four years and
in that time the team won two Italian National Cups, an Italian National
Championship and the Euroleague Championship in 2000-2001 season. In
2002 David Andersen became the seventh Australian basketball player to
be selected in the NBA Draft. The Atlanta Hawks picked him at 37 and
held his rights for seven years. David returned to Virtus Bologna for
the 2001-02 season where the team earned the title Italian National Cup
Champions in Italy. In the off season in 2003, David was selected to
play in the Australian National Team (the Boomers) in the Olympic
Qualifying FIBA Oceania Championship against New Zealand. The Boomers
won the series and secured a place in the 2004 Olympic Games to be held
in Athens.
Following his successful Oceania series in 2003,
David had to leave Virtus, due to club going into bankruptcy. His
contract that still had 1 more year left on it was null and void leaving
David to find a new team. David signed a contract with a new club was
Mens Sana Siena Basketball Club. Mens Sana Siena made it to the
Euroleague Final four in Maccabi, Tel Aviv for the first time in the
history of the club they also won the Italian National Championship
another first for the club. That season David was awarded the Most
Valuable Player in the Final Series.
In 2004 David was selected to represent Australia at
the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Playing alongside old Wollongong
teammate’s Glen Saville and Calvin (CJ) Bruton. The Boomers placed 9th
at Athens, a result they would improve upon in 2008.
After
playing at the Olympics, David made another move, leaving Italy to go
to Russia. David signed a 2 year contract with Russian powerhouse CSKA
Moscow. In his first season with CSKA Moscow the team were crowned
Russian National Champions and Russian National Cup Champions, along
with also making the final four of the Euroleague. David was also named
in the All-Euroleague First Team 2004-05. David had a fantastic start to
the 2005-06 season until mid-way through when he dislocated his ankle
and fractured his fibula. David returned to Australia for surgery,
specialist treatment and rehabilitation, heading back to Russia to
continue rehab and to support his team for their Euroleague Final Four
campaign. The next two years at CSKA Moscow saw more success with two
more Russian National Champion crowns, a Russian National Cup and the
title of Euroleague Champions in Madrid 2008.
In the June of 2008, David signed with FC Barcelona
and then headed off to his second Olympics, this time in Beijing. The
Boomers placed 7th at the Olympics, again David was playing alongside
his old Wollongong teammates and some new big names in Australian
basketball.
At the end of the Olympics David would head to his
new club “FCB” in Spain and start playing in the Spanish “ACB” league
and Euroleague. In May 2009 David went to Berlin with FC Barcelona for
the Euroleague Final Four. FC Barcelona placed third and then went home
to take out the Spanish ACB National Championship. David’s contract with
FC Barcelona had an NBA out option which meant that should he sign with
an NBA team he would be released by FC Barcelona to go and play in
America. On July 2009, the Atlanta Hawks who held David’s NBA rights,
did a deal with the Houston Rockets. The deal involved trading David’s
rights for cash and future draft considerations. The only thing left to
do was for David to head to Houston, Texas and sign his first NBA
contract with the Houston Rockets. With everything signed David attended
the NBA Rookie Transition Program and made his move to America to
realise his dream of playing at the highest level of basketball, the
NBA.
After playing with the Houston Rockets for the
2009/10 NBA Season, David was traded to the Toronto Raptors before the
beginning of the NBA 2010/11 Season. The trade took place while David
was playing at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
David played 11 games for the Raptors before being
traded to the New Orleans Hornets on November 20, 2011. David signed a
3-year deal with Mens Sana Siena of Italy in July 2011, he currently
wearing the number 7 singlet. In June 2012 David helped Siena win its
6th straight Italian National Championship and 7th championship in 9
years.