I know Baron has been awesome, but Andris is my MVP. This is kid that's been stuck in the middle of a small-ball line-up and asked to hold down the fort, sometimes against TWO opposing bigs, and what... he's the ONLY player on the team to play EVERY game, he's gotten better each and every game, has held up against injury, he brings 10 and 9 EVERY night, along with 2 or 3 blocks, plenty of defelections, and most importantly... the best FG% in the league! And, he makes NO MISTAKES -- He doesn't turn the ball over, no bad passes, no bobbling the ball, he's just solid gold every time the ball gets anywhere near his hands. The ONE and only thing I've been able to count on with this team this year is that Beans will be there to hold down the middle game, after game, after game. He's my MVP. I think he HIGHLY deserves consideration for most improved player (if not Monta) this year.
I don't know if hes the MVP, but hes definitely right there. For all the crap Baron gets there have been a lot of games where hes the only guy playing with any passion and the only guy stepping up and playing well. Hes been doing everything for the team this year; scoring, rebounding, distributing, defending and made many clutch plays at the end of games. We know what we're getting from Biedrins, and its been great, but Baron's 20 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 9 apg, 2 spg, 0.5 bpg plus very good defense have been HUGE. Hes just been great and doing everything for this team, still has his faults but his FG% is up at an acceptable 43%, his 3 pt attempts are down, hes been at least as important as Biedrins IMO although Biedrins has been huge. I wouldn't say Biedrins makes no mistakes either. There are a lot of plays where he overplays on help defense way too much and ends up getting burned by his man. Theres also many times when he'll be playing with foul trouble and you can see a foul coming from a mile away but he still makes a poor decision and goes for a shotblock in poor position when the refs haven't been giving him any calls. I love the guy but hes definitely not flawless.
I don't think we have an MVP yet, but Baron, Biedrins, JRich and Ellis are good building blocks. People are forgetting how much of a scoring threat JRich could be and he could be out doing what Pietrus and Barnes are doing out on the glass. We JRich back to the way he was playing last year and Baron and Ellis throwing him lobs, look out!
I agree that no one's flawless, I didn't mean that, but the mistakes Beans does make usually come on defense from trying to help someone else. He's always trying to help weakside, but he doesn't take charges. That crap isn't part of his game. He cahllenges shots. That's what the coaches want him to do, and I agree he's too foul prone, but they're not silly fouls -- Like Harrington tonight with no legs just reaching his arm in a half-ass attempt -- Beans never makes a defensive mistake from lack of effort, they usually come from trying to contest shots when he shouldn't. But I can't fault him for that. He always plays in control, it seems. Barnes and Pietrus' over-exuberance leads to knucklehead moments. Beans over-exuberance just leads him to try to block EVERY shot that comes his way. Sometimes he gets called for it, sometimes not. But they're not knucklehead mistakes. Even that charge he made tonight was a good move, and a dubious call. It wasn't out of control like Pietrus or barnes going 200mph. Offensively, Beans hardly ever does anything wrong, it seems. Whenever the ball is anywhere near him, he sucks it up with his magnetic hands. And he never makes lame-brained passes, like many of his teammates. Honestly, I feel very comfortable when the ball is in his hands at the high post. Baron is the BEST player on the team. But so far, in these first 50 games, I have a hard time arguing against Beans being at least as important if not moreso to the overall team effort. He's my MVP hands down. Without Beans.... my word. Ask yourself: where would GS be?
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think we have an MVP yet, but Baron, Biedrins, JRich and Ellis are good building blocks. People are forgetting how much of a scoring threat JRich could be and he could be out doing what Pietrus and Barnes are doing out on the glass. We JRich back to the way he was playing last year and Baron and Ellis throwing him lobs, look out!</div> Cus? is this you? i don't believe it..... a 100% positive post? no sarcasm dripping? You have come a long way.
I think Monta is right there with Beans. The only mistakes these kids make are offensive fouls. Monta has one at least 2 games for us in the closing seconds. Monta's shot last night was basically the game winner while the FTs were icing the game...
Of course FT shooting is another flaw of Biedrins'. His FT shooting looked very bad last night, even though he has made strides, though it didn't show last night. Andris' arch-nemisis is the zebra with the whistle - make that a blind one too. Without Biedrins this team is not very good. Teams would be scoring outside, inside, penetrating, etc. We would still have Murphy at center and maybe Dunleavy at PF. Andris Biedrins is definitley an MVP candidate for this team, along with Baron and Monta. However if this team doesn't make the playoffs does MVP of the team really matter? Of course it is a great complement and a deserving one for Andris Biedrins. Monta and Baron have some clutch shots that delude our memory along with some great statistical games, as well since they are the leaders of the team as the point guards; however without Andris' defense and rebounding late in games it's tough to imagine that this team would be able to stop anybody to even set up Baron and Monta for their late game heroics. My hopes is that Baron/Monta/Andris and soon Jason can come in and carry the team to the playoffs. But OK, I'll agree AB is MVP
<div class="quote_poster">boogielew Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Cus? is this you? i don't believe it..... a 100% positive post? no sarcasm dripping? You have come a long way.</div> What was I thinking? It must have been the sammy adams talking.
I thought Ellis was probably the biggest factor in games. He's been clutch down the stretch, he doesn't disappear, he seems coachable, he doesn't always settle for threes, he rebounds, he doesn't pick up ticky tack fouls, but stays as aggressive on ballhawking D like Pietrus does. He's a naturally smart player and once he gets more experienced he'll be way better than Tony Parker type point guard. I can't compare to Arenas just yet because Arenas actually has some post up game since he's stronger than most points and he's got some serious consistency on his long range shots. Plus he makes lots of foul shots and gets to the line like a madman. But I'd say if I compare Ellis to Arenas, it's their ability to score while on the move or while in the air. They just finish really well, especially off the pullup, slashing down the middle or throwing something up off the drive. That's just very smooth guard play.
Well Baron has definately had better stats - Baron should have been an all-star. And Beans has had FT problems, too. But what I'm talking about is what the player has meant to the team. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Andris Biedrins is starting to become the heart and soul of this team, IMO. He means everything to these guys. The Warriors are completely dependent on his activity inside. Tipping shots, tipping-in loose balls, grabbing offensive boards, tipping loose balls to teammates, altering shots, deflecting shots, helping out his fellow defenders, setting picks, scoring on the pick-n-roll (like nobody's business), scoring on the block, developing an up-n-under, a spin move, even a nice jump hook, running the floor, setting the pass-n-pick, passing well, making the other guy tired...... The only two things he does wrong are shoot 55% FT (which doesn't really hurt the team much because going to the line isn't a big part of his game) and foul trouble (which is a result of trying to block EVERY shot which I can't fault the kid for). I dunno -- by season's end it will probably be Baron and JRich who decide whether we go to the playoffs or to summer vacation. Baron is the best player on the team -- but to me, Andris has been the most important to their success.
I agree Biedrins is definitely one of the anchors this team needs and can't afford to lose. Without a quality big man that can cover the floor we're totally going to be one of the top worst teams in this league. Right now we're hanging around in between the bottom half and top half. Biedrins is a big part. I wish we could find out if he's a scorer if we give the ball to him. I thought he was on a roll to get 15/10 with his drop step moves. They should throw this guy an alley oops sometimes. The guy can hop.
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well Baron has definately had better stats - Baron should have been an all-star. And Beans has had FT problems, too. But what I'm talking about is what the player has meant to the team. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Andris Biedrins is starting to become the heart and soul of this team, IMO. He means everything to these guys. The Warriors are completely dependent on his activity inside. Tipping shots, tipping-in loose balls, grabbing offensive boards, tipping loose balls to teammates, altering shots, deflecting shots, helping out his fellow defenders, setting picks, scoring on the pick-n-roll (like nobody's business), scoring on the block, developing an up-n-under, a spin move, even a nice jump hook, running the floor, setting the pass-n-pick, passing well, making the other guy tired...... The only two things he does wrong are shoot 55% FT (which doesn't really hurt the team much because going to the line isn't a big part of his game) and foul trouble (which is a result of trying to block EVERY shot which I can't fault the kid for). I dunno -- by season's end it will probably be Baron and JRich who decide whether we go to the playoffs or to summer vacation. Baron is the best player on the team -- but to me, Andris has been the most important to their success.</div> And to consider that he averaged less than 15 minutes per game last year, haha...sorry I had to add that in. If we had JRich of last season to go along with Monta and Biedrins of this season, that team would be pretty good I think. Of course the boss will be the boss, but this JRich injury sucks. Hopefully the team can hold it and bring it back toward .500 or above by the time when JRich can return, then the team could really explode and hopefully into the playoffs. Yeah it was quite frustrating last season watching Montgomery not play Biedrins or Monta as much as they probably should have been playing. A frustration that might compare to AB only getting less than 15 minutes per game is the fact that Chris Taft could never get medically cleared to hit the court.
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">But what I'm talking about is what the player has meant to the team. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Andris Biedrins is starting to become the heart and soul of this team, IMO. He means everything to these guys. The Warriors are completely dependent on his activity inside. Tipping shots, tipping-in loose balls, grabbing offensive boards, tipping loose balls to teammates, altering shots, deflecting shots, helping out his fellow defenders, setting picks, scoring on the pick-n-roll (like nobody's business), scoring on the block, developing an up-n-under, a spin move, even a nice jump hook, running the floor, setting the pass-n-pick, passing well, making the other guy tired......</div> I think all of those statements apply to Baron as well. How many games have we seen where Baron is the only guy doing anything productive and the only guy showing any emotion? I'm sure Biedrins has as much passion as Baron does but he doesn't show it as much and hes limited to mostly defense and rebounding where he can help the team. Its not a knock on him at all, he just can't do what Baron can and has been doing. Obviously Baron isn't altering shots and rebounding like Biedrins but hes scoring, penetrating, attracting the defense' attention, getting in the passing lane, shutting down his man, pushing the ball, finishing plays, being a leader, helping on the boards, creating good shots for others, hell the guy is even blocking shots. Hes been very good in the clutch, hes in great shape this season, shooting a decent FG%, shooting less 3's even though he's in a more open and free system, and his FT % has improved to being more tolerable. They're probably co-MVPs as of now, we would be horrible without Biedrins and playing Foyle/Murphy/Dunleavy big minutes at PF/C but also terrible without Baron scoring, making plays for everyone, playing defense, rebounding, pressuring the opponent, etc. Baron is a much better leader and hes much more vocal, Biedrins is much more durable, I'd say they're easily the two most important players on the team but its tough to pick one or the other.
Yeah, they're very different, and Baron is obviously the better player, I just feel like w/o Baron this team has still won some tough games (like last night) but, without Andris, I don't see it happening. What would nellie do, start Harrington at center lol? Actually it's not funny because he probably would.
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, they're very different, and Baron is obviously the better player, I just feel like w/o Baron this team has still won some tough games (like last night) but, without Andris, I don't see it happening. What would nellie do, start Harrington at center lol? Actually it's not funny because he probably would.</div> Yeah, the Warriors have beaten the Jazz, Spurs, and Bulls without Baron Davis this season, I believe. And when Biedrins gets in early foul trouble (which hasn't been very frequent) or when he gets in foul trouble late in games, I do become slightly more pessimistic. But also since Andris hasn't been injured this season, I suppose we can't say which teams the Warriors would have won without him.
