Henderson a study in steady

[MavsFanFinley]

Henderson a study in steady

By Mercedes Mayer
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - You can call him all business or simply fundamentally sound. Whatever the description, it's exactly why the Mavericks are happy to have Alan Henderson.

The 6-foot-9 power forward provides a steadying influence, and, after nine NBA seasons, has been around long enough to know the right way to prepare and play.

"He's what you call a blue-collar worker -- he just puts his hard hat on and comes to work," said Mavs guard Jason Terry, who spent the past five seasons with Henderson in Atlanta. "It's always the same ... you know what you're going to get out of him, and that's hard work every time."

Henderson, 31, isn't the most flashy player on the court, but he's a quiet force who's ready for a new start after nine seasons in Atlanta, where he endured lengthy bouts with illness and injury with the struggling Hawks.

Henderson isn't expecting extended minutes with Dallas, but he'll make the most of his time by hitting the boards and playing sound defense. And in the meantime, he'll do all he can to challenge his teammates -- Dirk Nowitzki included -- in practice.

"I'm definitely going to try to [push Dirk]," Henderson said. "I've been enjoying that -- working against Dirk and Damp [center Erick Dampier]. Hopefully, we can help them work hard in practice and help them to be even sharper in games."

But it's not just the big-name players who are feeling "the Henderson effect."

"[Mavs coach Don Nelson] is really trying to instill in me what I need to do if I want to play the power forward position," center Calvin Booth said. "A lot of times he uses Alan as an example to follow. If you make a mistake, [Henderson will] take advantage of it."

With defense once again a hot topic in training camp, Nelson also is impressed by what he's seen of Henderson.

"He never makes an error defensively," Nelson said. "He's a little limited athletically, but he's a very, very solid guy."

A solid guy? What else would you expect from a product of basketball-crazed Indiana?

From his time at Brebuf Preparatory High in Indianapolis to his All-America days playing for Bobby Knight at Indiana, Henderson worked relentlessly to maximize his ability. And it didn't hurt that he was usually taller than just about everyone.

In seventh grade, when Henderson was 6-4, his future high school coach, Mike Miller, was impressed without ever seeing him play. All Miller needed to know was Henderson had broken his arm while trying to dunk in the gym during his lunch break. Henderson claims to this day that moment made him a better player -- it taught him how to shoot left-handed.

"That catches a high school coach's eye," Miller said. "From then on, I kept an eye on him."

So did NCAA Division I college coaches. Henderson started receiving recruiting letters in the eighth grade, but Indiana University didn't start showing interest until the ninth grade. So one of Henderson's friends -- who wanted him to remain in-state for college -- sent Knight a letter to give him a heads-up on Henderson.

"He said coach Knight wrote him back and said, 'Thanks for your support, but we already know about him,' " Henderson said.

But Henderson didn't just ride through high school on his height and reputation. He quietly kept improving his skills while keeping his grades up (Miller said he scored a 1,300 on his SAT). He never drew attention to himself and tried to be one of the guys -- despite scoring 21 points as a freshman in his first high school game. He went on to average more than 30 points as a senior and scored 41 points three times.

"For him to be as talented as he was ... he had all the ingredients to be a pain," Miller said. "But he wasn't. That sums him up. He's certainly a guy who doesn't take anything for granted."

In college, Henderson was the perfect "Bobby Knight guy" -- learning from his mistakes during film sessions and keeping his fundamentals sharp. Henderson scored nearly 2,000 points in his four-year career at Indiana, earning All-America honors twice.

He was the 16th overall pick by Atlanta in the 1995 draft and was traded to the Mavericks in August, along with Terry and a future first-round pick for Tony Delk and Antoine Walker.

Maybe even more impressive than his basketball success is Henderson graduated from Indiana with a bachelor's degree in biology -- then was accepted to medical school at Indiana.

"I told them I was going to play basketball first," Henderson said, "but they're holding my spot."

A spot in medical school. A possible spot in the rotation. The Mavericks are hoping it'll be a while before Henderson decides to halt his continuing education in basketball for a continuing education in medicine.

Day in camp

After playing three games in four days, including back-to-back games last weekend, the Mavs took Monday off.

With the regular season starting a week from today, the Mavs are trying to get their core players healthy.

Guard Marquis Daniels (left ankle sprain) has yet to play in the preseason and is out of tonight's game against the San Antonio Spurs at American Airlines Center. If Daniels is unable to practice Wednesday, he'll also miss Thursday's preseason finale against the Sacramento Kings because coach Don Nelson won't use players who are unable to practice.

Forwards Michael Finley (sore right hamstring) and Jerry Stackhouse (right thigh contusion) also have missed most of the preseason.

Dirk Nowitzki, who returned to play against the Knicks after missing three games because of stomach flu and the death of his grandmother, said it's been difficult establishing any continuity without the regular rotation on the floor.

"We have a lot of guys playing out of position," Nowitzki said. "We've had a center playing the shooting guard at some point, so it's kind of hard.

"We'd love to have everybody [healthy] so we can kind of find our rhythm, but we've got to make the best out of what we've got. Let's get better, especially working on the defense, working on the rotation and getting sharp there."

A new gig

Rolando Blackman's workload for the Mavericks just got a little heavier.

Blackman, the Mavs' director of player development, will work as an analyst on the team's television broadcast crew this season, the Mavs announced. He'll join play-by-play man Matt Pinto and color analyst Bob Ortegel beginning tonight, when the Mavs-San Antonio Spurs preseason game will air on HDNet.

[Evilmav2]

I certainly hope Alan works his way into the lineup. The more Indiana University basketball players making productive careers in the NBA the better, so say I!