Montgomery: "Biedrin is too, Light in the Butt" SF Gate Six months after he was drafted by the Warriors, Andris Biedrins plunked down $100,000 on a new Porsche Cayenne Turbo. The SUV -- with its V-8 engine and 450 horsepower -- is a hulking, intimidating, 2 1/2-ton machine. In other words, it's everything Biedrins isn't. Yet. Warriors vice president Chris Mullin tabbed the slender Latvian as his big man of the future when he took Biedrins with the 11th pick in the 2004 draft. The 19-year-old remains as much of a project now as he was then, but with three centers departing via trade since Biedrins was drafted, Golden State needs its teenager to contribute this season. "I'm ready," Biedrins said. He will have to be. Just before he left for training camp, Biedrins said he wanted to play 12 to 15 minutes per game -- or slightly more than he averaged after joining the Warriors' rotation in March. The minutes are available with Biedrins serving as Adonal Foyle's primary backup. Playing them all is the issue. Biedrins took just 21 minutes to foul out of the Warriors' exhibition opener. He checked in with 5:29 remaining in the first quarter and picked up three straight fouls. Warriors coach Mike Montgomery screamed at him to dig in faster, to beat his opponent to the post. When Biedrins came out four minutes later, Montgomery was still giving him an earful. "Andris is a little light in the butt," Montgomery said. "He's got to do his work early. Once you get buried down there, you start reaching in, trying to get your spot and they're going to call a foul." For Biedrins, it all goes back to bulk. Opponents see him in the game and are taken back to high school or college, where they dominated because of their size. The Lakers' Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown both called for the ball and pounded it inside against him during Tuesday's game. They knew he was vulnerable. So does Biedrins. "The first thing when I go on the court, some big guy will say 'Oh, he's weaker than me. I'm bigger, stronger. Now I will get him,' " Biedrins said. "I worked all summer in the weight room to try to get stronger, but still, I need a lot of work. So I have to be ready." Biedrins added about 10 pounds of muscle in the offseason to push his weight close to 245 pounds. He also measured a half-inch taller during team physicals, which puts him at just under 7-feet without shoes. His ability to stay out of foul trouble is crucial for the Warriors, who brought nine big men into training camp but are currently without much depth or experience. Source
He'll get there. When your only 19 years old, weight is hard to put on, unless you have that body type. Andris has probably been as thin as a rail his whole life. As he matures the weight will come much easier. He does have big bones to his advantage. Unlike certain players, Shawn Bradley, Teshaun Prince, who will always be thin. Andris is gonna get called for everything under the sun, until he can convince the refs around the league that he's for real, and not some project player who doesn't deserve the calls.
ANDY---New York Super Fudge Chunk!!! You'll have that low center of gravity like Vic Alexander in no time.
Andris will get there, he just needs to be brought along slowly so he doesn't develop bad habits out of instinct. He'll probably get where Jermaine O'neil is in no time with age and motivation. He's got the same degree of athleticism more or less and both are power forward/center type tweeners. I've got faith in the kid, but not much else to go on. He's a project what can we say?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting REREM:</div><div class="quote_post">ANDY---New York Super Fudge Chunk!!! You'll have that low center of gravity like Vic Alexander in no time.</div> You should become a personal trainer, Rerem! Biedrins actually sounds like he eats a lot, from all those past posts about his personal life, but as was said, at his young age metabolizes a lot of it. He's a growing boy (literally). Biedrins will certainly get minutes, but he's certainly got work to do both in the weight department and in the mental department like the article says. When it comes down to it, big guys can only score on you 3 ways in the post - shoot over you, fake you out, or muscle you around. It's nice that Biedrins gained a little height, but he gets faked out a lot, drawing fouls, and muscled out when he doesn't have superior position. Right now, he's best playing off his defender and he's ok at help defense, but playing his man one on one looks to be a challenge. Hopefully he listens carefully to Monty's scolding and maybe even follows Foyle's example in the post. Too bad he doesn't get much in practice trying to guard Foyle though.
victor alexander...now there's a name i haven't heard in forever. on topic though, the more i watch this kid, the better i like him...true, he does have a fouling problem...but for just 19?? i have high hopes for him...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 707to805:</div><div class="quote_post">victor alexander...now there's a name i haven't heard in forever. on topic though, the more i watch this kid, the better i like him...true, he does have a fouling problem...but for just 19?? i have high hopes for him...</div> I think this kid could be the real deal with the right development. So as long as we don't take away from that, he'll develop into a pretty good player, I think. He could wind up anywhere from Tyson Chandler to Jermaine O'neil right now in the future. I see him kind of as a forward/center but he'll start out with blocking shots, rebounding, but he can grow into an emerging offensive player much like we saw with Andrei Kirilenko in Utah or Jermaine O'neil after Portland, who in the beginning didn't have much offensive game to start out with. I think Biedrins has excellent shot touch from close range, but if he can find some way to get rid of that ugly hitch in his shot, he should have no problem extending it to at least 15 to 20 feet. I mean in early scouting reports, the guy was knocking down Euroleague 3-pointers and we saw flashes where Biedrins was knocking something like 8 of 10 at the free throw line in summer league which is great! I think he's got serious potential if he's brought along the right way and he continues being motivated to become something great. He likes to play physical and bang. He's got a nice drop step move and some okay ballhandling skills when he has to put it on the floor, and he's just only going to get better with time. People say he's a center and he wants to be a center, but at this point he seems like a power forward because of his athleticism and skinny frame.
You know, I dont care if he is skinny. Sure it would be ideal if he was built like Damp or Shaq but there are plenty of successful skinny guys out there. You mentioned AK-47, man that guy was a rail and still is for the most part. Just play this kid and let him learn from his mistakes! The gamble is worth the risk...
We need to put him in the time machine and set it to year 2008. I gues he needs 1 thing - playing time. I think that he picks up those fouls due to lack of expieriance. If he gets those 15-20 minutes a game, then at the end of this year he should become more confidnent of what he can do. At this moment I think we could see the same what we saw in last few games, where he mostly sets screens for teammates, and tries to get open look at the basket at short range. I hope he will add some more strenght and muscle during this season and offseason, because he still gets pushed around to much, like in the game with Lakers where he drawed 2-3 fouls fighting for position with Kwame. .. then again he can do more, than he showed in this few games.
