So you’d rather have them having fun in the offseason than working hard to improve their game? I’m not sure if everyone understands what it takes to be a great player – it’s a lot of work, and there are NBA players out there with all the talent that put that work in all year round….

The number of players who enter the league as terrible FT shooters who get better is real real low. Unless you accept that every last one of them is not a hard worker (and to accept this goes contrary to what coaches have said about many of them) then there’s much more to it than this. It seems that improving FT shooting substantially, especially for those who aren’t good at it, is one of the most difficult things to do. Seems like it should be easy, but empirical evidence suggests otherwise.

Yeah, he’s offensively limited, but he’s also able to play within his limits to the order of being very, very efficient. I disagree that he’s added nothing. I’ve seen him on occasion put the ball on the floor to get by someone. He’s much better at receiving a pass while cutting than he was. No, he’s not Olajuwon. No, he never will be, but the statement that he hasn’t improved just isn’t true.

You seem to be using the word “abundantly” in a manner different from the way most people do. It’s not abundantly clear that he’s not a hard worker. If it were abundantly clear, one would expect that a coach, especially Nellie who doesn’t seem to favor Andris anyhow and has never been afraid to call out a player as being lazy in public, to have mentioned it. But they don’t. They don’t criticize his work ethic because there’s nothing to criticize.

The reason I posted this is to alert Warriors fan base and prepare them for a not so good season by Andris. Here’s what he could’ve done instead of drinking:

1. Use Eurobasket to develop own potential. If you remember then the last off season there were Eurobasket qualification. During that AB played major role on the team both on defense AND offense. Averaged >20 points a game and single-handedly made sure Latvia qualifies for Eurobasket finals. I clearly remember how psyched GSW fan base was to see the videos posted during that off season. I was sort of expecting a similar progress this year. Of course, AB didn’t care, didn’t try etc. So it left a lot to be desired. He should have taken an advantage of his special role on the national team and develop, so the GSW would benefit from that this coming season.

2. If you want to party rather than set an example for young players, refuse to play for National Team. Everyone will understand. Hell, I understand that it is a lot to ask to play 82 games a year, relax a month, and then again start practicing and playing (without pay). But there is always an opportunity to take time off (see Kirilenko, Nowitzki etc)

3. The work ethic that AB has demonstrated leaves guessing if he hasn’t gotten too comfortable and perhaps he’s done improving. He got a contract extension, why bother trying?? This is what I’m most afraid of, because he has potential and I’d like to see him continue to develop. He’s only 21 y.o.

On other note, I acknowledge a poor choice of word “degrade” in the original post. What I wanted to say is – "alert fans overseas of AB’s recent work ethic.

And again, I really don’t mind athletes partying during off-season. I even advocate for that if that’s the medicine that works. I cannot imagine intensively training and playing for 9-10 months a year, that must suck not to be able to relax on occasion. Just do it on your own time, not national team’s time!