Monday, October 17, 2005

Can Biedrins Man the Middle?

Andris Biedrins' second season is looking much like the end of last season, few minutes, lots of fouls. Things are looking up for the Euro-project though as he spent the offseason putting 10 pounds of muscle onto his frame. Marcus Thompson wrote a small piece on Biedrins and his progress over the summer.
Warriors Coach Mike Montgomery has two main options when starting center Adonal Foyle goes to the bench.

He can put second-year player Andris Biedrins in at center and continue with a traditional lineup. Or he can go small, using three guards and moving Mike Dunleavy to power forward and Troy Murphy to center.

Biedrins wants those 15 or so minutes behind Foyle. But is he ready? The jury is still out.

``The coach will give me an opportunity to play, and I will prove I can play,'' said Biedrins, 19.
...
Montgomery said Biedrins is good at helping teammates, especially using his long arms to come over for blocks. His struggles are at defending man to man, specifically stronger players. He sometimes picks up a lot of fouls while trying to hold his ground (six in 21 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday).
Muscle might be one of the problems, but knowing how to play low post defense without fouling is something he needs to work on. It's good that he can give Adonal a breather, but it doesn't help if you foul every low post player or guard that drives the lane. His liabilities will be magnified with the increased exposure of the Warriors. So if he's going to play 15 minutes per game, he needs to play tough D, grab boards, and bring some energy off the bench. He's got a long way to go, but I'm excited about his development as he could be our starting center in a couple years.


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