HOLLYWOOD, Fla. _ Kenny Anderson has a mantra: "Basketball is easy. Life is hard."
The story of the New York point guard prodigy turned 14-year NBA veteran backs up that notion for him.
Hoops often came easy to Anderson, the No. 2 pick in the 1991 NBA draft, but life has dealt him his fair share of obstacles _ from growing up in rough section of Queens, to sexual abuse as a child and filing for bankruptcy after NBA retirement.
"I've been through it all," Anderson says.
Most recently, it was a health scare. Anderson, 48, suffered a stroke in his Pembroke Pines home on Feb. 23.
Basketball is easy. Life is hard.
"It's something that I always believed in," Anderson said, "and when I got the stroke, I really believed in it."
Like he has done with his past issues, he is proving resilient once again in overcoming the stroke. Anderson's athletic background is what Dr. Alan Novick, medical director at Memorial Rehabilitation Institute in Hollywood, believes has helped Anderson reach different goals in rehab.
"He has been a very determined and very hard worker," Novick said. "And I suspect his athletic training, where he's used to putting in the work to get the results, I think that really paid off in his rehabilitation.
"We set goals in every phase of the recovery _ whether it's we want to get you walking 50 meters with a cane, you know, we set all types of goals," Novak continued. "Usually, patients aren't used to that sort of goal-setting, but in Kenny's case, I think because of his basketball career, he was very used to that. You're coached toward a goal, you work toward a goal, and he very much was goal-oriented and hard-working, and he achieved."
Nearly five months since the stroke, Anderson, has made enormous strides in recovery.
"I'm feeling great," he said. "I'm almost back to normal."
