<font face="Tahoma, Arial, Verdana"><font color="#004993"><font size="4">Andris the Giant</font></font></font> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1">by <font color="#cc0000">AJ Hayes</font> / November 26, 2004</font></font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"> There?s a reason 18-year-old <font color="#003366">Golden State</font> rookie <font color="#003366">Andris Biedrins</font> was taken with the 11th overall pick of last summer?s NBA Draft.</font></font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2">The 6-foot-11 Latvian, with two years of pro ball experience in Europe under his belt, has a feathery touch in the paint, ballhandling skills that belie his lanky frame and NBA-ready size that?s only a few protein shakes and weightlifting sessions away from bumping him to the top of this year?s rookie class.</font></font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2">In short, Biedrins' future in the league has the potential to soar way higher than the ceilings he?s been scraping his head on since he was a kid. Biedrins has worked hard, made friends on the veteran-laden Warriors roster and not complained about only sniffing the court a few times so far this season.</font></font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2">But there?s one area that Biedrins lags sorely behind other top picks: Living Large. While other players of Biedrins' pedigree and age splurge once they hit the NBA, he has kept things decidedly dialed down. He wears no earrings or jewelry, lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Oakland and goes about his business sans entourage ? that is unless you count his mom, who was in town recently to whip up some stuffed cabbage dishes before returning home to Latvia to do the same for Andris? pops.</font></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"></font></font> More... http://www.hoopshype.com/articles/biedrins_hayes.htm
Maybe if Biedrins mom makes her famous stuffed cabbage dish for Monty, he's at least get a couple of minutes a game. I know the warriors don't want him to play because he'll lose weight but the combination of the Latvian Cabbage Dish and Taco Bell should keep him at his current weight.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Air Pietrus:</div><div class="quote_post">He should go to Sizzler amd have a steak evrey night, that might work.</div> Actually since he exercises so much one steak wouldn't do much. He has to go on the Skitishvili diet which is 3,000 calories of healhy food per day. He gained 15 pounds of muscle in one summer.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">I really haven't seen this guy in action much but i hope the hype is true.</div> Don't worry. Biedrens isn't a Blue Devil so I think the hype is true.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Air Pietrus:</div><div class="quote_post">Then maybe he would play?</div> Next year buddy. Usually the biggest gains in body mass are done in the offseason because players hire personal trainers, hit the weights and don't play in 3 hour long games.
I hope Biedrins doesn't put on too much weight. I think he's fine the way he is plus a few pounds, but he doesn't need too much. The thing Biedrins is good at is being active, and it is more difficult to be active with extra weight. If he gains some weight then great, but I think there should be more reasons to why he isn't playing than weight, and I don't think weight is the answer. Look at AK47, he's not big at all but he's a good player. Don't make players into things they aren't. The Warriors have been doing this a lot with how they have formed this team, and it doesn't make things good. I'm all for improving but don't make a team that needs to be uptempo into a half court team and don't make an active-athletic player into a big less-athletic-active player either. I think in the article it says he's already added 25 pounds of upper body strength. I think that is enough for a year. Now let him play!
If he has a good weight trainer, he won't sacrifice much quickness. Look at some of those football players. They are just explosive and strong. I think it's important for Biedrens to be tough around the basket so he can finish despite being bodied in mid air.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">If he has a good weight trainer, he won't sacrifice much quickness. Look at some of those football players. They are just explosive and strong. I think it's important for Biedrens to be tough around the basket so he can finish despite being bodied in mid air.</div> AK47 is a SF. The warriors want Biedrins to be a center. If you gain muscle, you'll get more explosive as long as you don't gain body fat. That won't be a problem for a 6'11 18 year old kid whose profession is basketball.
The kid has a sense of humor too. Did you see the part in the article where he referred to Foyle as an All-Star? That's rich.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Air Pietrus:</div><div class="quote_post">I want to see him play a lot this year adn maybe even start</div> Same here, especially if the we are eliminated from the playoffs. Kind of like how we played Arenas after the all star break a few years ago...
One thing that was not mentioned in that article is that he has realy good work etics. He totaly acepts everything that Montgomery is saying and is working hard all day long to gain more weight and strenght. Now when he is on "injury" list he can even practce more, because he can do all his routine practices and skip prepearing for next game... I read an interview with his agent, and he said that everything is going well, and there is no reason to bother about. He said that he will get his time in 20-30 games this season. Note the fact that Biedrins is the youngest player in NBA at this moment.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hipokrat_x(LV):</div><div class="quote_post">One thing that was not mentioned in that article is that he has realy good work etics. He totaly acepts everything that Montgomery is saying and is working hard all day long to gain more weight and strenght. Now when he is on "injury" list he can even practce more, because he can do all his routine practices and skip prepearing for next game... I read an interview with his agent, and he said that everything is going well, and there is no reason to bother about. He said that he will get his time in 20-30 games this season. Note the fact that Biedrins is the youngest player in NBA at this moment.</div> Which is probably why he wasn't playing when he wasn't injured...
Little things tell a lot. During the timeouts and breaks in the action at the last game, Andris was right there, acting like a part of the team while not acting put out that he was not in the game. The highlights I saw from the summer were promising. The tide may be swinging.
I think Biedrens will be a very good player and if he turns out to be only a role player, he'll be a very good one. He'll be a valuable source of putbacks, rebounds, and blocks. But he'll need to work on that free throw shooting though. He'll probably do it his shooting touch is as good as they say.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Spliff:</div><div class="quote_post">The kid has a sense of humor too. Did you see the part in the article where he referred to Foyle as an All-Star? That's rich.</div> I bet Adonal Foyle is feeling so bad right now after Biedrens referred to him as an all-star. I mean, that's like complimenting the ugliest kid in school that they are fashion models. If it wasn't O.D. and his winning personality then that would be a black eye right there.
