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In fact, when Anderson played at the recent Reebok All-American Camp here, a showcase of 119 of the top players in the nation, he didn't play much of his natural position.

"His problem is, when he comes to these camps, he immediately gets put at a four and a five even though he's played the one all his life," Kyle Anderson Sr. said as he watched his son from the stands at Philadelphia University.

"It's hard when you have four or five kids on your team that are 5-10, 5-11, 6-foot, and then you have this 6-foot-7 kid handling the ball even though he's probably a better point guard than anybody on that team."

That 6-foot-7 kid who wears size 16 shoes but won't turn 16 until September is now a rising sophomore at Paterson (N.J.) Catholic High School, the same program that produced NBA forward Tim Thomas and a slew of Division I college players, including Seton Hall point guard Jordan Theodore.

Anderson, who said that he models his game after point guard Shaun Livingston of the Oklahoma City Thunder, helped Paterson Catholic win the Passaic (N.J.) County championship last summer and knock off Bob Hurley's powerhouse St. Anthony team in the state tournament.

The eyes of virtually every major college coach in the country are watching Anderson this week in Las Vegas, and his father lists Georgetown, Kansas, Texas, Pittsburgh and La Salle as some of the programs with high early interest.

"A lot of schools are coming at me, but I haven't looked into any of them," said Anderson, who lives in North Bergen, N.J. and competes for the Playaz Basketball Club AAU program. "I'm still neutral."

Asked who had been showing him the most love, he replied: "Probably Georgetown because I've been to their Midnight Madness. That's the only school I've been to."

Knowing that his son would one day grow to be very tall, Kyle Sr., a former head coach at Ferris High School in Jersey City and a former assistant at St. Peter's College, began playing him at the point on teams where he was the youngest player.

Anderson attended his first basketball camp at 3 years old, the Sharp Shooters Camp in Ocean City, N.J. That summer, he attended five camps and played with kids who were as old as eight.

"I didn't really know anything but just being out there was fun," he said.

Because he was younger and smaller than his teammates, it was natural for him to play the point.

"I wanted him to be a point guard because I knew he would eventually grow to be 6-5, 6-6," Kyle Sr. said.

"I happened to grow so I just always knew how to play the point guard," Anderson said.

If there is a knock on Anderson at this stage, it's that he needs to improve his foot speed and agility.

"He is slow-footed," said one Division I head coach who is recruiting him. "That's why I don't like him as a wing player. He's got to watch the Magic Johnson tapes and see how he got the ball up the floor.

"He's a late maturer. He's not going to be the same when he's 18 years old as when he's 15. He's going to get better."

Anderson was named to the USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team this year but wasn't selected as part of the final team that won a gold medal in Argentina.

"They said physically, he's not ready," Kyle Sr. said. "His physical maturation is not there."

Still, Scott Smith, an assistant coach at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark who coached Anderson at the Reebok Camp, said Anderson showed signs of improvement just in that week alone.

"I was afraid at first to let him handle at the point but as the week progressed he did a great job," Smith said.

"He's very surprising. He can get the ball to the basket from the perimeter and he can finish. He can get low on his dribbles and he can get by guys. He was getting it on the elbow and he did a wonderful job turning and facing. He's got soft hands and he can shoot from the perimeter.

"By the end of the week he was an all-star."