I doubt there's a bigger Biedrins fan than me, and I can tell you that he's going to need help to guard Oden. I don't know how effective he will be in pushing that monster out of the paint. There's going to be a lot of fronting and fouling by many Warriors, probably. I wouldn't look for a lot of points from Beans in that matchup, either.
Beans is a good offensive center. IMO Oden will be in foul trouble a lot more tonight....if he even plays
You guys seem to forget that the Warriors made Joel Pryzbilla look like an offensive monster last year. If Oden plays - he will eat them up - and the perimeter defense and ball handlers are much better this year for the Blazers - so the biggest advantage they had will be somewhat negated. http://www.nba.com/games/20071212/GSWPOR/boxscore.html
I'm a huge Biedrins fan and don't want the Ws to trade him for anything (within reason) but there's no question he isn't strong enough to get Oden out of the paint. The thing I'll be interested to see is if Oden can keep up with him on the pick and roll. Beans is way quick and if the W's use him, which I think they should, he should be able to score plenty cutting to the hoop and put Oden on the bench with fouls pretty quick.
Um, I think you're going to be surprised by Greg's footwork and quickness. I'm not saying he'll be able to keep up with every guy out there, but he got caught a couple times last night on quick Kings' guards and they weren't able to blow by him or quick-cut him to get an open shot. He moves extremely well for a big man. -Pop
Biedrens strikes me as a quick footed big who has benefited greatly from Nelson's quick up and down style ... if the Blazers can force them into a half court, grind it out style of offense (lots of traps, and our guards playing hawkish man-to-man D) then I don't think Andris is going to be able to leverage his talents. But if this team gets into its transition game I think Greg is going to tire out pretty quickly, and could get beat quite a bit. Should be an interesting contrast in style.
I like Biedrins' game, but you've got it right. He's a great player for Nelson's system, but he's going to have a Spencer Hawes-made snowball's chance in hell against Oden in the paint.
That's ridiculous. Hawes is a second year player, well below average athlete and notorious for poor defensive play/softness. Oden definitely has the weight advantage on Beans but Biedrins is now in his 5th year in the league, one of the smartest C's in the league, fantastic quickness and very solid defense even on bigger players. This will be an interesting game for Oden because Nellie's big man defense is to wait for the post player to start the dribble then throw a rush of guards at the big man to try and get a steal or force the big into a bad pass. We'll see how Oden does passing out of the double team in this game. I'm sure we'll see Oden overpower the Warrior's frontline several times in this game when we're talking about Don Nelson defense against big men its going to be as much about the guards vs. Oden as it is the other bigs.
The issue with Nellie's system is that he tries to force you to adjust to his player's advantages. If you resist it and attack him where his players have issues - you come out smelling like roses. Nate is very good at that - as we have seen Joel Pryzbilla (not the greatest offensive force) feast on the Warriors... Oden is already twice the offensive force Joel is... Draw your own conclusions.
Yeah, Biedrins has no chance defensively against Oden one-on-one. It's going to be interesting to see what Nellie does with Biedrins on the offensive end against Greg. A good test for him.. certainly better than Spencer Hawes..
Oden is just so powerful when he gets the ball deep. Biedrins won't have a chance if Oden has good position.
I guess we'll see. As I said, I like Biedrins, I think he'd give Aldridge a tough time, but Oden is a different sort of beast.
