Long, rough road to top for Grundy

MANILA, Philippines - For Petron Blaze import Anthony Grundy, basketball isn’t about personal glory – it’s about team play. And in the PBA Governors Cup finals, he’s making a strong statement that whether Petron wins the title or not, the Boosters will leave it all on the floor.

Grundy, 32, could’ve been voted Best Import of the conference but wasn’t as individually explosive as either Rain Or Shine’s Arizona Reid or Alaska’s Jason Forte. Besides, Reid and Forte played since the start of the tournament. Grundy showed up only from the last game of the eliminations. In Grundy’s mind, the most important thing is he’s still playing while Reid and Forte aren’t.

Petron coach Ato Agustin said what makes Grundy stand out from the rest is his high basketball IQ. He’s smart, wily and experienced. Grundy likes getting his teammates involved in the offense and isn’t a ball hog. In Petron’s 89-88 win over Talk ‘N’ Text in Game 1 of the finals last Aug. 7, Grundy wasn’t as proud of his 17 points as his 13 rebounds and 12 assists. It’s not as if he’s not a prolific scorer. When he wants to turn it on, Grundy can light up the boards as the 6-2 guard from North Carolina State did in torching the Tropa for 35 points in the semifinals last Aug. 5.

Last Sunday, Grundy presided in Petron’s third quarter breakaway as he fired 11 points to ignite the surge that led to the Blaze’s 105-83 win over Talk ‘N’ Text in Game 4. A rare four-point play highlighted Grundy’s eruption. When the smoke of battle cleared, Grundy came away with 16 points, four rebounds and eight assists in 43 minutes. In contrast, the Texters’ import Scottie Reynolds had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists.

At the end of the semifinals, Grundy led the league in assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and minutes played. He was second to Reid in scoring. No doubt, Grundy was the key to Petron’s advance to the finals. How far Grundy will lead the Blaze is a question mark. Petron confounded the experts by making it to the Last Dance and tying the title series at two wins apiece was another feat that defied the odds. Grundy will be at the forefront of Petron’s charge in Game 5 tomorrow.

Grundy’s road to prominence was hardly smooth. He was kicked out of high school in Louisville, Kentucky, as a junior for bringing a gun on campus. According to writer Tim Peeler, he had been threatened by four gang members after practice and took the gun to school for protection. Grundy transferred to Warren Central High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to escape his troubles but was not allowed to play in the first half of the season because he lived with a non-legal guardian. He got a court injunction to play and went on to hit at a 26.2 clip. Anticipating his move to the collegiate level, Grundy signed a national letter of intent to play for Bradley, the only school that recruited him, but the NCAA rejected it, ruling that his legal guardian had no affirmation. While the NCAA sorted out his status, Grundy played with the Hargrave Military Academy varsity in Virginia, averaging 18 points and 11 assists, then moved to North Carolina State, gaining eligibility in the second semester. With the Wolfpack, Grundy slowly gained coach Herb Sendek’s confidence. He averaged 16 points and 7.8 rebounds in his last four games as a starter. “Combined with long arms, his quickness allowed him to become a good defender, finishing second on the team with 37 steals in only 25 games,” wrote Peeler. “He’s a great defensive player who uses his long arms to deflect and steal lazy passes. He’s not a classic shooter but is a capable scorer who can drive or hit from the outside.”

Before his sophomore season in 1999-2000, Grundy stamped his class as a crack guard during the Wolfpack’s four-game summer exhibition tour of Italy. He played both backcourt positions in averaging 12.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 30.1 minutes as North Carolina State posted a 20-14 record that campaign. “Anthony is a versatile player,” said Sendek. “He is somebody on a given night that can beat you in a variety of ways. He doesn’t have just one way to be effective or one way to beat you. He’s more comfortable off the ball. That is not to say that in a pinch, he can’t play point guard.” The highlights of his sophomore campaign were his 30 points against Wake Forest, 26 against Georgia Tech and 29 against Duke.

As a junior, Grundy was arrested the day before the Wolfpack played the University of North Carolina for allegedly assaulting a former girlfriend. He was later found not guilty of the charge but the distraction was a damper that contributed to bring down the varsity’s record to 13-16. Grundy averaged 13.6 points that year. The Wolfpack rebounded in Grundy’s final season and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, winding up at 23-11. Grundy averaged 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists as, according to Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, “he finally stepped into the spotlight to become a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference pick, the first player ever recruited by Sendek to make any of the league’s three all-conference teams.” He emerged as the Wolfpack’s leader in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals as a senior. Grundy led North Carolina State to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in 11 years.

From the NCAA, Grundy tried his luck in NBA camps with Golden State, Atlanta and Dallas but never made the jump to the majors. Instead, he carved out a niche as a playmaking import all over the world, bringing his act to Germany, Cyrpus, Sweden, Israel, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Italy, Greece and Turkey before landing in Manila.

It’s been a long basketball journey for Grundy but the road is far from reaching its end. There will always be a job waiting for Grundy in a league somewhere in the world because his style suits an import’s role – he can do it all.