| Do The Warriors Have Their Big Man? Authored by Payam Jahromi - May 22, 2005 - 6:59 pm
With the draft lottery on Tuesday, many Warriors fans are crossing their fingers, hoping the team can land in the top three and possibly get Utah center Andrew Bogut.
The likelihood of them winning the lottery is miniscule, and the odds of landing that impact big man with the ninth pick are just as small.
But there is potential good news. Great news.
The Warriors may already have that guy. You know him. Last year he was the youngest player in the NBA, the second youngest ever to play in the league. He turned just 19 in April. He didn’t play much in his rookie season, but when he did he showed promise.
In 13 minutes a game, he averaged four rebounds, almost one block and he shot an astounding 57.7% from the field. But his hustle plays, defense and energy could not be measured with stats.
He also had a great attitude. Fans and teammates loved him and his infectious personality. Great kid. You can’t help but anticipating that he’ll be a star.
Of course I’m talking about Andris Biedrins, the 6-foot-11-who-grew-to-a-legit-7-foot Latvian wonder.
It should be noted that it could take several years for Biedrins to fully realize his potential. But if he is going to be special, we’ll see a lot of it next year, and he’ll be a major factor in the middle for the Warriors.
Last year he had two great mentors in Dale Davis and Cliff Robinson before they were traded. That’s 32 years and 2270 games of experience he got to work with every day in practice.
The Warriors then traded for Zarko Cabarkapa and Nikoloz Tskitishvili, and the kid bonded with the other European players, making his transition to American life easier.
Biedrins showed flashes of tough, hard-nosed defense, shot-blocking and shot-altering ability, excellent rebounding, great hands and the ability to finish strong around the basket.
He isn’t afraid to compete and bang with grown men, yet he’s humble and anxious to get better.
With Foyle’s knack to get off to bad starts, it’s not inconceivable that Biedrins could find himself as the starting center sooner than later.
In the past, the Warriors have been criticized for playing it safe and passing on high school kids. It’s well documented that they took Todd Fuller over Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O’Neal, Adonal Foyle over Tracy McGrady, Joe Smith over Kevin Garnett and Mike Dunleavy over Amare Stoudemire.
But for every Kobe or KG, there are five kids who are drafted and never make it. In other words, the risk is high.
But GM Chris Mullin rolled the dice with Biedrins and it could pay off. He didn’t play regular minutes until the end of the season, and from that small sample, I’d guess he’s closer to Jermaine O’Neal than Dontonio Winfield.
O’Neal didn’t become a star until his sixth year. McGrady played in Vince Carter’s shadow his first three seasons and averaged less than 10 points his first two. Kobe averaged seven points his rookie year. Garnett didn’t reach star status until season three. If you want to compare him to a European player, Dirk Nowitzki averaged eight points and 3.5 rebounds in his first season – at 21 years old.
You get the point. The truth is, we don’t know how good Biedrins will become. But like all those names mentioned above, he showed glimpses of brilliance as a rookie.
The Warriors are only a couple pieces away from becoming something special. One of those pieces is an athletic big man with low-post prowess.
Many have discussed different ways to acquire that player in trade and draft scenarios. But maybe, just maybe that player is already on the team.
I can be reached at pjahromi@sbcglobal.net.
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