Look Under the Basket For This Year's Breakout Players

The New York Sun believe Andris Biedrins is one of three potential breakout players this year.

Looking at the draft class of 2005, three inside players stand the best chance of having breakout sophomore seasons: Boston's Al Jefferson, New Jersey's Nenad Krstic, and Golden State's Andris Biedrins...

Biedrins was busy collecting 12 rebounds in 25 minutes against Utah on Monday. Biedrins, a 19-year-old center from Latvia, may be one of the bigger surprises of the season. He fell to the Warriors late in the lottery last year, a likely reflection of the skepticism surrounding European big men following the failures of Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Darko Milicic, and - as Knick fans painfully know - Frederic Weis.

But after spending the first three months of last season at the end of the bench, Biedrins began paying dividends for the Warriors, shooting 62.7% from the field in March and finishing the season by averaging a double double (11.4 pts/12.3 boards) per 40 minutes. The Warriors finished 16-7 after he moved into the rotation. This year, with only Adonal Foyle ahead of him in the pivot, Biedrins should get much more burn. Duplicating his numbers from last season would be an accomplishment, but with a good touch on a midrange jumper to go with other natural gifts, he figures to add to the impressive totals.

I don't think Biedrins will "breakout" this year, but he will surely play a bigger role than he did last year. This will allow Adonal to rest since he should not be playing more than 25 minutes per game.