2k6-2k7 REPORT CARD: Andris Biedrins

by Atma Brother ONE on Oct 4, 2007 8:47 AM PDT in Report Cards

Since it appears that the Warriors and Andris' reps are in the midst of hashing out a contract extension and given the "excitement" I seem to have stirred up with my take on the contract extension decision, I thought it would be a great time to drop the man's 2k6-2k7 GSoM Report Card.

Here's 5 things that made Biedrins' 2k6-2k7 campaign absolutely golden and 5 things that hopefully he can work hard on and improve upon for We Believe 2.0.

Absolutely Golden

Healthy- The man just shows up nightly. He played in all 82 regular season games plus all 11 playoff games.
Near Doublicious: Andris pulled down 9.3rpg and scored 9.6ppg. Guys with those numbers don't grow on trees.
Low Volume, High % Scorer- It sounds kind of funny, but that's exactly what he is. He's far from a big time scorer or threat, but he's effective when he does take shots.
Hand it to Him- This guy has amazing hands for a big man. He's the polar opposite of Erick "hands of stone" Dampier in that regard.
Run 'Dris, Run!- Very few big men can run with the likes of Boom Dizzle, JRich, Monta, Jax, Barnes, MP2, and Harrington. Luckily one of them rocks #15 for the Dubs.

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Andris kindly puts those great hands to work by supplying his John Hancock for some We Believers.
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

To Take the Next Big Step...

Stop the Fouling- With 304 fouls (3.7 per game) Biedrins was tops in the league in whistles. (Interestingly enough Al Harrington led the league in fouls the previous season- check out Basketball-Reference.com)
Change that Shooting form- I don't know if he'll ever be able to completely correct that hideous shooting stroke, but he'll never be a prime time player without some type of jumpshot or hookshot a la Shaq. No one's asking for Ray Allen here, but if Biedrins is going to be a high impact player on both sides of the ball he needs to add a lot to his offensive repertoire.
Improve Dribbling- For as much as he's billed as an athletic basketball player, Biedrins has virtually no handle. That highlight dunk against the Suns where Biedrins drives to the hole for a thunderous dunk pretty much came out of nowhere (the dribbling part). If he can add some type of handles to his game he'll be a much more dangerous offensive weapon as that highlight emphatically illustrates.
Avoid Fatigue- Their were stretches last season where Biedrins looked worn out. He was pretty much the Warriors' only big man and it had to be tough to have to face the bigs of the Western Conference, but let's see if he can improve on this. Much of the Warriors success' is tied to Biedrins becoming a more consistent rebounding force this season.
Coming up Big Against Big Players- If the Warriors are going to make the jump from 8th seed darlings and him from exciting young player to legit star or All Star, Biedrins is going to need to come up against the likes of Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol, Elton Brand (probably 2 seasons from now though- very sad to see), the big and brutal Nuggets' frontline, Tyson Chandler (he can't be getting 14, 11, 9, and 15rebounds when he faces the Warriors like he did last year) and even Al Jefferson who will be putting up big numbers in the West for at least the next 5 years or so. When the Warriors needed him most to give Boozer some trouble in the 2nd round he came up with some pretty dismal performances (Game 1: 4 points, 5 boards; Game 2: 4 points, 6 boards; Game 5: 2 points, 5 boards). I'll spare you Boozer's lines since those are utterly painful for us We Believers to look back at.

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Andris asks future teammate THud if he believes.
(AP Photo/George Nikitin)

A report card you don't want to miss after the jump!

Our grades for Biedrins are probably going to surprise you, but first let's check out some footage of the man in action:

[PFortyy]

[nes1us]

Simply Marvelous: "And Biedrins... with a FACIAL!"

[nbalive2k707]

And of course here's the obligatory highlight against the Mavs in the playoffs...

[DavStern]

Adam Lauridsen (Fast Break)

Grade: A-
Thanks to Nellie's play-if-you-earn-it system, Andris broke into the Ws' rotation early and only got better. His lateral and vertical quickness are second-to-none for a big guy. He needs to add a few more moves to his offensive game and a little bulk, but all signs point to him being a tenacious worker. Plus, every time he had to go 1 against 4 or 5 on the boards, my heart went out to the guy.

Fun Score: 7
I can now find Latvia on a map. That has to count for something.

Atma Brother #1

Grade: A
After his disastrous sophomore campaign, I honestly didn't think Andris would even be in the league that much longer. Yes, he was just that bad. Thankfully, Latvia's #1 hoops star rebounded big time and produced a very solid season. His game is ugly (even uglier than Antawn Jamison's unorthodox shot puts and scoop shots), but his energy and hustle are really fun to watch. The weird part is Biedrins will didn't contribute all that much in the Warriors clutch finish to the regular season or in the playoffs as Nellie elected to start Al Harrington for most of that run. I'm not sold that he'll get that much better given his awkward body movements, nonexistent shooting stroke (I have no idea why he still shoots free throws with that disgusting form), and propensity rack up fouls at a league-leading rate, but I hope he keeps proving me wrong.

Fun Score: 6
His interviews are always pretty funny.

DJ Fuzzylogic

Grade: B+
The leap that AB made last last season is phenomenal. Who knew tripling his playing time would mean tripling his stats too? More than just the "rebounding" guy, AB actually became an offensive option within Nellie's offensive system. I hope he develops a post move and some finesse in the paint. A major worry is that his frame makes it difficult for him to D up bigger guys. Also, how did he always keep his hair looking perfectly gelled even as he's bangin' up against dudes in the post 30+ mins a game? Was he fixing it during time-outs? Do the Warriors have hair/makeup artists on the sidelines that we don't know of? Is that Abdenour's job, too?

Wow. Besides improving his defense in ways that helped him stay out of foul trouble, it's amazing how Biedrins (or his coaches) learned to maximize his output with him just having to learn one move (that relies on someone passing him the ball) and transforming that into a nightly double-double. If you were to look up Biedrins in the thesaurus, the antonym under his name would probably be "range" since any shot beyond semi-circle looked like he was throwing up shot puts-Foyle style. Ironically, he was the best free throw shooter on the team during the playoffs. Another Warriors conundrum that will never make sense...

Fun Score: 10
For the hair.

Fantasy Junkie

Grade: B+
Interesting season Andris had. He started out HOT and hit the NBA scene. People began to notice the Latvian. He finished with a near double-double average and shed the "One Minute Man" label. Whether he'll be a great center or not is up in the air, but what I do know is that he's got great hands, excellent footwork, and knows how to get open. If he can work on his offensive game further than 2 feet from the bucket he'll become much much better. I'm looking forward to his progress.

Fun Score: 6

Hash

Grade: A-
Great turnaround year for Andris. In the coming years he can really develop into a premiere center for us. High points included improved boarding and better control of his fouls. Low points included bad free throw shooting. Still, one of the most improved players of the league this year in my humble opinion.

Fun Score: 9
He gets a bonus point for the amount of gel he uses.

YaoButtaMing

Grade: B
Does everything we need him to do. The complete role player. Can he work on the fouling and maybe get an offensive move? I can't wait to see him next season!

Fun Score: 5

Overall Grade: A-

Also see Andris Biedrins' 2005-2006 GSoM Report Card

Now let's pass the mic to the man himself...
(Major props to anyone who can understand the subtitles)

[rusher666latvian]

What's your grade for Andris Biedrins for the 2k6-2k7 season? How good will this Latvian big man be this year?

2006-2007 GSoM Report Cards

Chris Mullin & Rod Higgins (B+)
Don Nelson (A+)
Jason Richardson (B)
Mickael Pietrus (C)
Matt Barnes (A-)
Sarunas Jasikevicius (D+)
Zarko Cabarkapa (F+)
Troy Murphy (D+)
Mike Dunleavy Jr. (D-)
Josh Powell (C)
Adonal Foyle (D+)
Ike Diogu and Keith "Who?" Mcleod (Double D+)
Kelenna Azubuike (B-)
Patrick O’Bryant (F)
Monta Ellis (B+)
Al Harrington (B)

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

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Comments

Wow...

A quick word count on Office says that your negative points on AB are over 3X more than the positive ones. But you still give him an A/A-? How confusing, or rather, inconsistent?

If War brings peace Dubz wit' it den!

by gsdubz on Oct 4, 2007 8:51 AM PDT 0 recs

about those handles...

I never saw AB have bad handles a la J-Rich, just didn't see it. Not saying he has good handles, I just can't remember him losing the ball off the dribble, that's all. I'm sure he has, everyone has, but I think he plays within himself thusly cutting down on mistakes. One of his attributes is he doesn't need that dribble when he gets the ball down low, sometimes he takes it, sometimes he doesn't.

I'd like to see him refine his hook before working on his jumper...

by sfhand on Oct 4, 2007 8:59 AM PDT 0 recs

no handles?

Atma, you must be kidding.. okey, I'm from Latvia (homer), but anyway - it is as far from truth, that I can imagine (okey, I overistimate here).

So, I don't know what you think about Euro teams, but he lead Latvia national team on several fastbreaks by himself and felt VERY comfortable with that (btw those fastbreaks were something like 3 on 2). I don't know how much big man like that I have seen in nba - one, that clearly comes to mind is Camby, but aside him, I can't mention anyone else on the heartbeat.

by ramiism on Oct 4, 2007 9:40 AM PDT 0 recs

Actually

I think atma's saying Biedrins would be better if he was able to step out a little or be able to rely on more post-up moves due to better dribbling. He doesn't seem horrible at dribbling at all, but he WOULD be a more complete player if he had better handles.

And also, I don't think atma's being hypocritical at all. I feel the same way about Andris. There are a lot of variables and unknowns with respect to his game this coming season, but you can't deny the improvement and growth he has shown from 2 years ago. That's the reason I would say it makes sense to give him a good grade for last year, but still be unsure of what kind of player he may become this season.

by Point Of Blame on Oct 4, 2007 10:44 AM PDT 0 recs

If I remember...

...Biedrins had his best game of the regular season while going tow to tow with Tim Duncan. Warriors beat the Spurs, and I think AB had something like 16 rebounds and 5 blocks? Anyways, my point is, Boozer may be a uniquely bad matchup for him, but I think some people are underrating just how elite a defender Biedrins is already and will be in the future.

by Zack Vank on Oct 4, 2007 11:06 AM PDT 0 recs

you ar right

in the first game against spurs he was great - he blocked TD 3 times in a row in the 4th qt.

p.s. about those subtitles - the are Estonian - not the country where a lot of AB fans live.

by ramiism on Oct 4, 2007 11:56 AM PDT up 0 recs

Not much difference

In four games against Duncan last year, Duncan scored 22, 15, 20 and 28 points to go with 16, 8, 8, and 15 rebounds. That's pretty much what Duncan did against the rest of the league. No evidence that 'Dris has a harder time against Duncan than other guys did.

In four regular season games against Utah (that the teams Boozer scored 17, 4, 25 and 17 points to go with 14, 10, and 21 and 11 boards. Boozer's regular season scoring was down a bit when he faced the Warriors while his rebounding was up a bit. In the playoffs, Boozer did quite a bit better, but his increase in scoring and rebounds in the playoffs was almost completely proportional to the increase in PT that he saw. Sure, his scoring and rebounds were up, but so were his minutes played. No one handled him well last year. He wasn't lighting up Biedrins any worse than he lit up the rest of the league over the course of the season.

Boozer and Duncan are both very good if not great players. Neither really played better against Biedrins than they did against the rest of the league. Andris had very little help down low. That these guys didn't hurt the Warriors more than they hurt everyone else is actually a bit surprising.

by jae on Oct 4, 2007 12:43 PM PDT up 0 recs

hahha

this is better than that other grade you gave him last year. A- is pretty high though considering you say that he wasnt an integral part of our late run. Its high in general imo, I'd give him a B+/B probably.

by djchuckdeez on Oct 4, 2007 11:33 AM PDT 0 recs

Dude, R U Kidding?

If you were told that AB would finish the season at 15 mins/game, 6pts/game, 5boards/game, 1block/game at the BEGINING of last season, we'd all think that was a good season for him. Who'd actually thought he'd survive the year as the starting center.

Compared to what was expected of him, he had tremendous year... A+ for exceding expectations.

THIS IS OOOAKLAND!!!

by Tim N Chris Burger on Oct 4, 2007 1:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

um

B+ is only one grade lower than an A-?

by djchuckdeez on Oct 4, 2007 1:33 PM PDT up 0 recs

but

A's sound better than B's.

THIS IS OOOAKLAND!!!

by Tim N Chris Burger on Oct 4, 2007 1:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

Needed to foul less: This is the single biggest factor in his success. I'm not sure how much of it was his fault. I saw a number of fouls last year that were phantom, more so from him than from anyone else.
Long term conditioning: In the last month of the season his minutes got cut by 10 per game and his points and rebounds,which were in the 10/10, neighborhood every month, went to like 5/6. I'm not sure how much of that was the lineup change or fatigue but his fouls per game was the same despite less minutes.

Positives:

Rebounding: He was the only steady rebounding presence at the PF/C position averaging 9.3 a game per game and 15.4 per 48. That also doesn't necessarily account for all of the balls he tips and keeps alive with his length and jumping quickness. That ability to elongate between opposing rebounders and tip at the ball with his rate of success is something that is fairly unique to Andris and something I noticed even in his one minute spurts under the dreaded Monty.
Shot blocking: He was top 20 statistically (1.7bpg/2.75bp48), but the fact that this small team has a good shot blocker that doesn't hurt them in other ways (read: Foyle, Adonal) is more impressive considering the complete lack of interior defense this team has outside oh Andris. What would have happened to the FG% agianst without him?
Free Throws: Yah, he's a crappy free throw shooter but he did improve 21 percentage points from last year posting a career best 52% and kept it consistent in the playoffs where they went to the "Hack-a-Dris" to exploit him. That shows a lot mentally when the other team picks on your mental weakness and you perform the same as you had all season. Lesser minds would have melted down.
HE PLAYS WITHIN HIMSELF: He knows his limitations and performs within them making him an extraordinarily efficient player. He only shoots 5 feet from the basket. If he gets an offensive rebound farther away, he'll dribble it out or pass/tip it out to one of the guards. He rebounds, defends, blocks shots and takes the shots he knows he's going to make most of the time.
Bang for the buck: All that production at that price? I don't know if the NBA has a site like they do for baseball that shows the most production per contract dollar, but I was very pleased with this value.

Fun Score: 10

I love his interviews.
He looks like he's having fun.
Hustle is fun to watch and he hustles.
The little but of flare when he finishes his dunks, kind of like a "hanging worm".
The "C'mon man!" he gives to the refs when he gets called for a ticky-tack foul is so G-rated, especially for pro sports.