Shandon Anderson is looking for a new beginning with the Miami Heat.
The former Jazzman was waived last week by the New York Knicks, who unsuccessfully tried to trade him and made him a free agent by buying out his contract. Miami was one of many suitors for the 6-foot-6 forward, who signed Sunday with the Heat and was in uniform for their game against Milwaukee.
"I don't want to dwell on it and this is the last time I'll talk to you guys about it," Anderson said before he scored two points and added two assists in 11 minutes of Miami's 112-110 double-overtime win. "It was a situation where there was no upside for me. Getting out of there was the best situation."
He sees plenty of upside in Miami, and acknowledged that playing alongside Shaquille O'Neal weighed heavily in his decision to sign with the Heat — who made room for Anderson by waiving rookie forward Matt Freije and placing forward Christian Laettner on the injured list with patella tendinitis in his right knee.
"I started my career off being in a winning environment and I want to get back to that," said Anderson, who's averaged 8.2 points and 3.3 rebounds in 607 regular-season games with Utah, Houston, the Knicks and now Miami. "Anytime you've got the big fella on your team, you're in title contention."
Miami envisions Anderson as a defensive stopper, and the acquisition may eventually mean fewer minutes for starting forward Rasual Butler and reserve Wesley Person.
"When a guy like Shandon became available, a guy we think is a very good defender, it was pretty much a no-brainer to be able to pick him up," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said.
In parts of four seasons with the Knicks, Anderson — who was owed $24 million on the final three years of his deal with New York before the buyout — averaged 8.1 points. He started just 46 of his 215 games with the Knicks.
The relationship between he and the team really began to dissolve last season, when coach Lenny Wilkens kept him on the bench in a game at Atlanta — ending Anderson's streak of 543 consecutive games played. Anderson had purchased several dozen tickets for family and friends, because the game was in his hometown.
Anderson sat out the following game because of a migraine headache, then refused a request by the Knicks to go on the injured list.
PAIR PUNISHED: Seattle forward Danny Fortson was suspended for one game without pay after a foul in Friday's game against Toronto was upgraded to a flagrant. Fortson threw an elbow to the head of Raptors forward Chris Bosh in the game at Seattle. Fortson was to miss Sunday night's game against Memphis because of the suspension. The NBA also said Sunday that Clippers forward Elton Brand was fined $7,500 after his foul against New York Knicks forward Tim Thomas on Friday was upgraded to a flagrant.