| Is Biedrins The Key? Authored by Payam Jahromi - July 18, 2005 - 12:16 am
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Calm down, take a deep breath, stop cursing at your screen and let me explain.
Baron Davis is the MVP of the team. He’s their best player, with Jason Richardson not too far behind. As a matter of fact, Biedrins probably wouldn’t crack the top five of best Warriors right now.
But he’s the most important and biggest wildcard for how far the Warriors will go this year.
Everybody knows that Baron cannot get hurt or this team is in trouble. So I’m factoring out injuries. Given that, you pretty much know what you’re getting from Baron, Richardson, Dunleavy, Foyle and so on.
At 19 years old, Biedrins has the most potential to improve and strengthen the Warriors. Personally, I think he’s a good year or two from any type of breakout season. But I think he can improve enough to make a difference this year.
He’s the guy that can take the Warriors from being a borderline playoff team to a No. 6 seed. He’s the guy who can make other teams fear the Warriors if he develops a respectable low-post game and continues improving on defense.
He’s the guy who the Warriors aren’t necessarily counting on to be a major factor this season, making him the biggest wildcard and difference-maker when it comes to how good they CAN be. He is that important.
Biedrins also plays a position where the Warriors haven’t had a great player in…..well, it’s too long to remember. In many ways, he’s the most important Warrior heading into the future.
He may also be their best rebounder if given the minutes. Troy Murphy, the team’s leading rebounder and sixth best in the league last season, averaged 10.8 rebounds in 33.9 minutes. That’s one rebound every 3.14 minutes. Biedrins, who averaged 3.9 rebounds in 12.8 minutes, pulled one rebound every 3.28 minutes. The Warriors ranked last in the NBA in rebounding. Something tells me he needs more minutes.
He can also make his presence felt defensively. I personally think he can be a Marcus Camby/Ben Wallace type of defender in a few years. Call me crazy, but I think he can be one of the best in the league. But that’s looking ahead and being very optimistic.
Again, he’s only 19. He’s younger than Monta Ellis, the high schooler they drafted in the second round. But he has star potential. I love Biedrins. I don’t think that’s a secret if you’ve read some of my past columns.
Foul trouble was and will be a big problem for Biedrins, but he’s not expected to play 40 minutes. He should get as many minutes as his fouls allow him – whether it’s 20 or 35.
Off the bench, he’s a 7-footer who provides athleticism, rebounding, soft hands, defense and shot-blocking. He could also provide low-post scoring.
Just for fun, let’s look at a couple other players and how they improved in their sophomore season.
Dirk Nowitzki, who was two years older in his rookie year, averaged 8.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 20.4 minutes a game. In his second season he improved to 17.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 35.8 minutes.
Andre Kirilenko, who was 21 in his rookie season, averaged 12 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 27.7 minutes his rookie year. In year two, he improved to 16.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in 37 minutes.
Those guys were both older and play a different position than Biedrins, but you can see that it didn’t take them long to adjust to the NBA game.
Biedrins played 12.8 minutes last season, averaging 3.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.8 blocks a game. What kind of leap will he make?
Again, I think his breakout season is at least a year away, and perhaps this article is a year early, but he still might be the difference-maker for how good the Warriors will be in 2005-06.
Email me at pjahromi@sbcglobal.net |
