Warriors get Biedrens!

I was reading some reports on Biedrens last night and it reminded me of how I was hoping he would drop to us. This guy has some strength to him, but does he need to bulk up some? He averaged over 21ppg for his team. That has to say something. I do not know what you guys mean by potential though. What potential? Just because he is young? That does not warrant potential. I have never see this guy play, so I am not going to be too hard on him, or just give up on him. I am looking forward to seeing him play. I just think I would have rather had Pavel based on size alone. I was also excited about the prospect of Kirk Snyder.

 

We say he has potential because he is 18. Yes, that does mean he has a lot of time to mature into a much better player. He also has natural skills and needs to adjust to the NBA. He is a crafty lefty but needs to develope some inside moves. He is a lengthy shot blocker. The guy is full of potential.

 

What do you mean he has to develop some inside moves? People does not say he has a good jump shot and only shoots 50% from the line. So where is he scoring his 21ppg?

 

Here is a peice out of ESPN the Magizine:

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
ANDRIS BIEDRINS
6'11, 240, Skonto Riga (Latvia)

Name the last star to come from Latvia. You can think about it for a minute. Go on. Exactly. And thats what nags many GMs in the NBA about Biedrins. He is a drop step dunker, a long, lean shotblocker and a hard worker, but as raw goes, he's two steps beyond sushi. Scouts say Biedrins, 18, projects as a PF, but one team official says, "If he doesn't become a center, his value drops." Thats because he's a 38.5% free throw shooter whose range stretches to 10 feet, max. It doesn't help that he has no go-to post move. Some even say he skepped the Hoop Summit in San Antonio, an annual matchup of top Europeans and the best U.S. preps, to aviod damaging his stock. But others say recently added bulk combined with his agility and cooridination will get him into the lottery. A lefty with crafty moves under the basket is always a hot commodity. Five years ago, he'd have been a nice Ginobili-like choice, a second rounder kept in Euope so he could evolve. Time have changed.</div>

 

I think Biedrins is in a very good situation to be coached by Mike Montgomery who is good at developing high potential big men(Tim Young, Mark Madsen, Collins twins, Borchardt, and even Little and Davis last year), trained by Mark Grawbo(or the team's trainer) who seems like he can get his players to bulk up(Murphy and Dunleavy), even though last year almost all of them got injured, but he also has Clifford Robinson, Murphy, and maybe Foyle to help him along in the NBA, to show what it takes to survive. If he has the tools like people are saying, then he's in a very good place to develop his game. I heard he is supposed to grow to be 7-2 still. That would be very good for him and the Warriors. Right now he's probably a PF though at 6-11 I guess.

 

I trust Mullin's instincts on this one. We need an athletic big man who can provide some good interior defense. Let's hope his man-to-man and team defense is enough to earn him minutes.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">What do you mean he has to develop some inside moves? People does not say he has a good jump shot and only shoots 50% from the line. So where is he scoring his 21ppg?</div>

Putbacks, long arms and a huge advantage athletically over a lot of his compeitition mean he gets a lot of easy baskets close to the hole. There's a huge difference between scoring in Latvia and scoring in the NBA however, and one of the reasons he dropped to 11 was because his workouts were a lot rawer than teams initially thought he would be. That's not to say he won't be a very good player in time, but you have to remember he played in a league where he could use his athleticism to perform a lot more than he will be able to in the NBA. Josh Smith is in the same boat, in that regard.

For anyone interested, JBB poster Iron Shiek played professional basketball in Latvia out of college, and was actually a teammate of Biedrins when he was 16.

 

I think the key to Biedrens is his preference to play inside the paint instead of going outside and take jumpshots. He also has a mean streak according to the interview they had of him after he got draft by the Warriors. Biedrensat least adds a new dimension to the Warriors and he seems genuinely happy to be with the Warriors.
I look forward to see him play this coming season.

 

I think he'll be brought around really slowly, but I think he can earn his minutes. Just look at the improvement he made in the professional league he was in playing against much older competition.

 

Monty is the best coach that this guy could have at this point. This guy can really develop nicely with Monty as his mentor. Do you think Monty will play this guy in his rookie season? Or will we see another muss situation where the veterans get the majority of the minutes?

 

I bet it will Montgomery's job to play him. He's got 4 years of guranteed salary and he's supposed to be one of Mullin's right hand guys next to Elie and Higgins.

 

I think Montgomery will play Biedrens the amount he believes he should play him based on his development. The Warriors plan should be to win. If playing Biedrens helps the Warriors to win this season, then he'll play him. But this season is not the time to develop 18 year olds by giving them too much playing time. The whole team is at the stage where they should seriously be contending for the playoffs. Speedy, JRich, Dunleavy, and Murphy along with the vets don't need to be held back from winning because of one 18 year old draft pick. Giving Biedrens too much time would be a disgrace to the players and the fans who want to have a playoff team this year. I think the Warriors should add players to this team as if Biedrens wasn't even going to get any playing time this season.

 

Good to see you back here again Clif! As I probably mentioned earlier, I think playing time should be earned so if Biedrens earns it he should get to play more. Plus if the team seems to be doing better on both ends of the floor when he's out there, I think he should stay in. I think Pietrus this year should have gotten those minutes with the impact he made, but I guess you can't diss a quality veteran such as Calbert Cheaneyand take away his playing time after he signed the minimum.

 

My fellow moderator of our dutch nbaforum (www.nbaforum.nl.tt) is a huge Sonics fan and was really hoping for Biedrins. He was really pissed when we snatched Biedrins just before the Sonics. He hasn't spoken to me since the draft haha lol

 

Well there was no way Biedrens was getting by Mullin. He actually flew out Latvia months in advance to see him play and was impressed by him. I still want to see clips of him on defense. I heard this was why he was picked even though he's mostly a project who is a few years away from being a true nba professional.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting DutchWarriorFan:</div><div class="quote_post">My fellow moderator of our dutch nbaforum (www.nbaforum.nl.tt) is a huge Sonics fan and was really hoping for Biedrins. He was really pissed when we snatched Biedrins just before the Sonics.</div>

You can say that again...

I doubt the Sonics would've picked him if he was available.........

Anyway, great pick by the Warriors...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SonicsHEAT:</div><div class="quote_post">You can say that again...

I doubt the Sonics would've picked him if he was available.........

Anyway, great pick by the Warriors...</div>

Sure Sonicboy...but that's because the Sonics GM sucks...and you know it

 

Hey welcome, SonicsHeat! LOL DutchWarriorFan

 

Remember that people thought Yao lacked agility, finesse and strength and played against poor competition when he came out. Will Biedrins be Yao? Probably not. But at least the Warriors did not make the "safe" pick.