<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> If you had to identify what it is Andris Biedrins does best for the Warriors, it would probably be this: For a big man, he's pretty good at not irritating coach Don Nelson too much.</p> Big guys who play for Nellie tend to live half in and half out of the doghouse. When Nelson discusses his big guys, it's often in tones usually reserved for someone who has been stealing the coach's parking spot.</p> Young centers who play for Nelson find it convenient to keep an apartment in Bakersfield, home of the Warriors' Developmental League team.</p> For two years now, Biedrins has been OK in Nelson's book. That's partly because Biedrins never takes a bad shot. He and Nelson have defined Biedrins' shooting range, and it is about 18 inches, and you just don't see the young man chucking up any wild seven-foot jump shots, ever.</p> Biedrins is the least spectacular player in the Warriors' playing rotation, kind of like the catcher in a circus flying-trapeze act.</p> In fact, a catcher is exactly what Biedrins is.</p> "He's one of the best catching big men in the league," Stephen Jackson said. "In traffic, we throw some crazy passes, and he can catch 'em. Not many big guys can run and catch like he can."</p> Biedrins can also shoot. He leads the NBA in field goal percentage, 63.3 percent going into Wednesday night's game. In the Warriors' 120-90 cruiser of a win over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, Biedrins shot one post-up, five-foot hook shot, the Warriors' first points of the night. Then he put the wild and crazy stuff away and went with the dunk-tip-flip repertoire. Because of a couple well-contested missed layups, he finished 4-for-8 from the floor.</p> Noting that first-play post-up, Biedrins said he's slowly beginning to get those looks, adding, "You can build on that."</p> Since he is only 21, it is assumed Biedrins will continue to grow as a player, and as an offensive force, but nobody is really sure how or when that will come about. Probably some time before he turns 30, but there seems to be no sense of urgency.</p> Nelson, asked what he'd like to see in terms of Biedrins' ongoing development, said, "More of a dominance, where you can throw him the ball down there (low post) and get something done. It's a chicken-egg thing."</p> <font size="4">Whatever offensive skills Biedrins is working on in super- double secret workouts, he never really has a chance to show them, not in games and not even in practices.</font></p> Nelson said Biedrins works on low-post moves every day with the coaching staff, but the team neither posts up the centers much in scrimmages nor feeds the ball inside often during games.</p> Nelson added, "Right now, he's pretty much rebound, pick-and-roll, real good hands and finisher (dunks and lay-ups)."</p> Wednesday night, not so much. Once in a while Biedrins' hands will desert him, and they took some time off against the Bucks, as he mishandled at least three clever interior passes from teammates.</p> When that happens, Biedrins doesn't seem to get discouraged. He's a cheerful kind of guy, anyway.</p> Wednesday he said he's constantly working on his post-up game, including a little jump shot. But, "Even in practice, we don't do those."</p> So he works constantly with assistant coach Russ Turner, one-on-one. They work on Biedrins' right hand, since he's still way too lefty. They work on the jumper, which will probably always be kind of Frankenstein-clunky, but if it goes in ...</p> "He's shooting from 10 to 12 feet comfortably," Turner said, adding that Biedrins has improved his passing this year, and looks less frightened, and frightening at the free-throw line (63 percent this year, to 52 last season).</p> Hey, Biedrins is no Dwight Howard, but Wednesday he was coming off back-to-back 15-rebound games, which will work.</p> He does his job. Sets about 50 picks per game for Baron and the boys, averages double-doubles (11.2 points, 10.4 rebounds), doesn't whine when Nelson pulls him out of the starting lineup, doesn't complain about his salary (the Warriors didn't give him a contract extension in the off-season, which would normally call for whining - except it's not the way on the New Warriors), and he doesn't complain about touches.</p> That's a key for a Nelson center. Keep your mouth shut. Take criticism. Nelson had once-promising forward Ike Diogu shipped out shortly after describing Diogu as "a blamer" (player who deflects criticism others).</p> Biedrins is a gamer, not a blamer.</p> As Matt Barnes said of Biedrins. "He does a great job of doing what he does."</div></p> Source: SF Gate</p>
