<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - The Golden State Warriors on Tuesday activated forward Andris Biedrins from the injured list. The 18-year old Biedrins - the youngest player in the NBA - has missed the Warriors' last 15 games after being placed on the IL on January 14 with a strained left hamstring. The 11th overall selection in the 2004 draft, the 6-11 Biedrins, a native of Latvia, has scored a total of six points in four games. </div> Source FINALLY! With Uncle Cliffy shipped off, and I imagine DD right behind him, the Warriors have activated Biedrins. I've been waiting all season to see how well he can compete at the pro-level. It's time to throw him into the mix and get him acclimated to the physical style of the NBA. Getting Biedrins playing time now, will give the Warriors and their fans a chance to gauge his development, when he increases his role next season. The Warriors don't have much to lose at this point.
Step 1: Activate Biedrins from the IR. Step 2: Biedrins plays more than 2 minutes per game. Step 3: ? Step 4: Biedrins rocks the house. Step 5: Warriors are good once again and I don't have to cry myself to sleep anymore.
I dunno, I don't see Biedrins getting that much playing time the rest of the way. I think the team wants DD's cap relief, so they'll hold on to him the rest of the way and I see Zarko taking most of Cliff's minutes. Hopefully Biedrins will get some garbage minutes pretty soon and maybe some meaningful minutes by the end of the year, but I'm not expecting anything like the contributions Pietrus made at any point last year. I'd love to be wrong though, I'd love to see the kid play.
Tonight: Claxton to Biedrens alley oop play (all they got to do is look at each other). Biedrens takes off, catches the ball, and airs out his trunks on Dampier's face with the double pump, two handed slam hanging off the rim.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Tonight: Claxton to Biedrens alley oop play (all they got to do is look at each other). Biedrens takes off, catches the ball, and airs out his trunks on Dampier's face with the double pump, two handed slam hanging off the rim. </div> Haha, who is letting optimism getting the better them of now?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">I dunno, I don't see Biedrins getting that much playing time the rest of the way. I think the team wants DD's cap relief, so they'll hold on to him the rest of the way and I see Zarko taking most of Cliff's minutes. Hopefully Biedrins will get some garbage minutes pretty soon and maybe some meaningful minutes by the end of the year, but I'm not expecting anything like the contributions Pietrus made at any point last year. I'd love to be wrong though, I'd love to see the kid play.</div> Why give Zarko those minutes? Zarko is a role player at best, so why invest the minutes and experience in him, when the Warriors can use it on a potential superstar. Getting more wins doesn't mean much at this point in the season for the Warriors. Instead they should use the remaining 30 games to experiment with the lineup and break Biedrins in. With Murphy injured, there's even more reason to play Biedrins.
Well you see, that's not all. Zarko goes all iso-loco on Michael Finley rocking the ball back and forth, Finley goes for the steal, Zarko crosses over, spin moves passed the help defender, pro hops into the lane between Dirk and Terry, for the tomahawk flush all over Shawn Bradley AND1. Zarko pumps both fists to his forehead a la Darius Miles.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Well you see, that's not all. Zarko goes all iso-loco on Michael Finley rocking the ball back and forth, Finley goes for the steal, Zarko crosses over, spin moves passed the help defender, pro hops into the lane between Dirk and Terry, for the tomahawk flush all over Shawn Bradley AND1. Zarko pumps both fists to his forehead a la Darius Miles.</div> I'm currently at school, did Zarko do this tonight? Man!!!
Whooo!! I've wanted him to play so long. C'mon Monty! Garbage time! Garbage time! Garbage time! Garbage time!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting upsidedownside7:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm currently at school, did Zarko do this tonight? Man!!!</div> Yeah he did... On my play station, he did.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Why give Zarko those minutes? Zarko is a role player at best, so why invest the minutes and experience in him, when the Warriors can use it on a potential superstar. Getting more wins doesn't mean much at this point in the season for the Warriors. Instead they should use the remaining 30 games to experiment with the lineup and break Biedrins in. With Murphy injured, there's even more reason to play Biedrins.</div> It goes back to the '03 draft. Mullin was really high on Zarko, but Saint went with Pietrus. Now that Mullin is running the team, he jumped at the chance to acquire Zarko. As for his potential, there are a lot of people on the Warriors staff that are really high on him. He's got a great mid range game, and is actually kind of a combination of Murphy and Dunleavy, so I can see Mullin wanting him to get minutes to see if he could make Dunleavy expendable.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">It goes back to the '03 draft. Mullin was really high on Zarko, but Saint went with Pietrus. Now that Mullin is running the team, he jumped at the chance to acquire Zarko. As for his potential, there are a lot of people on the Warriors staff that are really high on him. He's got a great mid range game, and is actually kind of a combination of Murphy and Dunleavy, so I can see Mullin wanting him to get minutes to see if he could make Dunleavy expendable.</div> Mullin has officially become Captain Ahab, constantly in search of Moby Dick. Mullin needs to end his quest for tall players to shoot the ball. Murphy, Zarko, and his recent visits scouting Gigli in Italy. The Warriors don't need anymore scorers, they don't need another big capable of shooting the from the outside. They already have Murphy, Dunleavy, and JRich to provide plenty of perimeter offense. What they need is exactly what Biedrins is capable of bringing to the table. Shotblocking and a physical inside presence. Reading some of the articles and posts, I would venture to say Dunleavy is already expendable, and Pietrus is the likely replacement.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Mullin has officially become Captain Ahab, constantly in search of Moby Dick. Mullin needs to end his quest for tall players to shoot the ball. Murphy, Zarko, and his recent visits scouting Gigli in Italy. The Warriors don't need anymore scorers, they don't need another big capable of shooting the from the outside. They already have Murphy, Dunleavy, and JRich to provide plenty of perimeter offense. What they need is exactly what Biedrins is capable of bringing to the table. Shotblocking and a physical inside presence. Reading some of the articles and posts, I would venture to say Dunleavy is already expendable, and Pietrus is the likely replacement.</div> It's a lot like that, actually. Him and the offseason signings... are like capital W, capital T, capital F? They need a player to score 50% in the paint, but who on this team does that? It's why fans are pissed at Mullin because he's reduced the team to playing small ball (without a decent center to protect the middle and score 50% in the paint we're forced to shoot a lot of outside shots). The worst was he collectively agreed on getting Montgomery to be coach when small ball isn't his style of coaching, it's Musselman's and they fired him. Monty would want a big man or at least one player to draw double teams and shoot higher than 50% in the paint and rebound the ball and protect the paint. So now our defensive capability or awareness in the middle is absolute crap, we're horrible at the foul line, we can't score from the 5 spot because neither center that we have is a good finisher or has any moves in the post and we settle for too many damned 3's... a skill we are not good at. Fisher adds even more to the pain because that's all he does. Kwan put it best when he said these off season signings was like getting a plasma 50 inch screen for your living room instead of worrying about paying the mortgage and your kids' college tuition. It's more like we bought a plasma 50 inch screen after somebody put their darn foot through it and sold it to us at full price. We simply are not focussing on the right talent we need to compete in the West and that starts with the man in the middle and some form of inside scoring. Right now we are a donut squad. No middle and too easy to dunk. I mean if we wanted stiffs at the center position, we might as well bring in that guy who starred with Billy Crystal in the movie, "My Giant", back from retirement. I used to love Foyle's energy, but when he gets paid starting center type of money when everyone knows he's not a starting center, I just loathe the fact he's there breathing up all the good air on the court. Guy has got to start producing consistently or bring his own oxygen tank.
Well, I'll tell ya, I'd be very surprised if Mullin makes a decision on any of his young core, including Cabarkapa, before next year's trade deadline. And actually, I can't think of any reason why he should, unless a terrific trade proposal comes along. The thing that's been missing from this team for so long is continuity. I'd really like it if Mullin stopped trying to find the savior of the franchise and just let the guys on the team develop.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I'll tell ya, I'd be very surprised if Mullin makes a decision on any of his young core, including Cabarkapa, before next year's trade deadline. And actually, I can't think of any reason why he should, unless a terrific trade proposal comes along. The thing that's been missing from this team for so long is continuity. I'd really like it if Mullin stopped trying to find the savior of the franchise and just let the guys on the team develop.</div> Amen to that. You have to stick with it and make sure it's a good pick to begin with so your team can grow some chemistry. The thing I question about all of the players we have... is can they try to play a true position and do they have enough talent to compete on both ends and make their teammates better? Dunleavy looks lost at the 3, but excels at the 4 in transition. Jrich is a power guard meant for the 3 spot, but is way too short to play it at actual height of 6'4. Pietrus is simply a tweener in the same mold as Jrich at 6'5-6'6. Murphy is a center/power forward suited to playing on the wing almost like a 3. I'm hoping we can find some way to make these pieces work, because they're good, just not great together. I think if we played some defense, stopped shooting the low percentage shot, we'd be okay.
