What happened to Biedrins?

[SUN]

Did he contract Herpes during the off-season after his good year? Lol? Why is he so bad now?

[Debaser]

[flipwise]

This seems to get asked every once in a while. The general consensus is that he got paid and stopped caring.

[HomoSapien]

He has major confidence issues. Confidence issues in the Nick Anderson type of way.

Those who know Biedrins offer theories as to what happened. They talk of how he suffered a succession of injuries, including a groin issue that limited his mobility. They note that Biedrins was affected by the departures of Davis and Stephen Jackson, who were adept at finding him in the half-court offense. They talk of how Biedrins became tentative once he started missing free throws -- how you could see him shying away from the basket. And they'll tell you of the about-face of Nelson, who began to publicly question the desire of his center in 2008.

"He really revered Nellie," said Bill Duffy, Biedrins' agent since his first year in the league. "When he fell out of favor with Nellie, it was almost like falling out of favor with your father."

Biedrins professes to be at a loss. At this year's media day, after the beat writers cleared out, we talked a bit. There was no defensiveness or bravado. He spoke about how "my goal is to feel good about myself"; how he'd avoided reading any articles about himself for years but to no avail -- his friends see them and text or call. And he spoke of how "free throws are more emotional for me than anything else."

Plenty have tried to help. A few years ago, Nelson brought in Rick Barry to teach Biedrins to shoot underhanded from the line. Biedrins declined, miffed at the suggestion. Others mentioned the idea of shooting right-handed, for Biedrins has a soft release with his opposite hand. "I kind of tried for a week and it felt weird," he said. Every day, there is a new suggestion. "They think it's always something wrong technically, your release," he said. "I don't think so. I don't have the perfect shot but I can be in the gym shooting and do really well. " He paused. "It doesn't matter how you shoot. It's how you think on that line."

For Biedrins, the free throws have infected the rest of his game -- he avoids contact, plays tentatively -- even though this needn't be the case. Three of the most dominant big men of the last 40 years have been poor foul shooters -- Wilt Chamberlain (51.1 percent), Shaquille O'Neal (52.7) and Dwight Howard (58.8) -- but none ever stopped bulling to the basket. Over the years, the Warriors' staff has tried to address the issue. Smart went to Latvia for two weeks one summer to work with Biedrins, then returned for 10 days a year later. "We're still trying to make sure he doesn't get frustrated on the floor with the one thing he's doing wrong," Smart said at the time, "when he's doing 99 things well."

Then, last year, the Warriors and Duffy's agency, BDA, put together a "reclamation regimen" that included a "mental training program," but nothing worked. By last March, Biedrins had lost his starting job to Jeremy Tyler, an unheralded rookie, and was being booed by fans during pregame introductions. It was mystifying: He was a healthy 7-footer in the prime of his career, a player who'd once averaged a double-double, and the Warriors were considering using the amnesty clause on his contract.

To hear Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson tell it, Biedrins still has his. Last fall, during the NBA lockout, Jefferson and Biedrins worked out together in Santa Barbara, Calif., alongside other Jazz players. The two did it again last month, and Jefferson remains perplexed by the contrast. "The player I see in the workouts is not the player I see in games," Jefferson said by phone from Jazz training camp. "His footwork is great, he can finish with either hand around the basket." Jefferson goes on, talking about how Biedrins attacks the hoop, how he uses his spin moves and height and athleticism to get to the rim, how every action is explosive.

Jefferson advises Biedrins to pretend he's the one guarding him in games. Biedrins tries, but it's hard. "He always tells me to play in the game like I do in the practice," Biedrins said. "He says, 'C'mon, you can be so much better than that.' " Biedrins pauses. "And I kind of agree with him."

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... z2DYKAirbZ

[funkatron101]

^ That is where Royce White is headed if he ever ends up playing.

[OOO]

He lost his confidence. I watch a few games and he looks like he scared of getting the ball. You can see his teammate trying to help. When he airballed a free throw against the Lakers, David Lee was was trying to comfort him by saying it's no big deal.

[Debaser]

I read that all the Warriors players showed up for the voluntary camp this season except Biedrins. The guy doesn't care anymore.

[LamarMatic7]

Being Latvian and having followed his career really closely I can add some thoughts:

He really suffered from Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson leaving the team. Even during his better seasons, the Warriors would go through stretches of shooting ill-advised threes for a whole quarter and during that time Biedrins wouldn't get a single touch. He got most of his points from offensive rebounds or from Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson who knew how to find him of pick-n-rolls or penetration. Monta, of course, isn't a pass-first guard, so after they left, Biedrins started getting less good looks at a dunk/layup.

For some reason, I've always felt like he never has really got the benefit of the doubt from officials. He's already a veteran in the league, but he continues to struggle with racking up early fouls and they always seem to be these silly, little bumps that the refs like to call against him. I don't know what that's about, hey, maybe Andris never really learned how to go through longer stretches without committing such stupid mistakes, but I think Warriors fans would agree with me on this one.

Devil's advocate point of view - he always was a contract year player. Dude got paid, repeated a 11pts/11rebs season in 2008/09 and just fell off. Most of his stats did come from hustle plays on the offensive glass and active and energetic, so I believe this theory for about 50%.

He never was the same after that 2009 summer. During that summer he took part in the infamous European Basketball Championship of '09 for Team Latvia whose leaders (Biedrins of course being among them) reportedly showed up hungover for practice pretty often during the summer, started a fire in a hotel room while partying, was marked with a slogan "Now or Never" because we had assembled all of our best players, yet ended up not making it out of group stage. His best friend got tossed from the team just before the tournament started for his behaviour and Biedrins considered going along with him. This probably has a place on the big picture as well.

Some Warriors fans on RealGM seriously believe that he is on drugs, blaming his inconsistent behaviour and performance on the court... I don't know... I can say that it isn't hard to find him in Riga's night clubs during the summer.

He is definitely having some psychological issues. You just can't explain his troubles at the free throw line any way else. I'd also like to point out that before entering the draft, he was a 16/17 year old playing for the second basketball team in Latvia. Believe it or not, he could make the mid-range jumper and occasionally would fire up a three (which went in at a good rate). I even remember him facing the Serbian team Hemofarm which had a 17 year old Darko Milicic. Random fact that I looked up - Darko scored 37 points and grabbed 9 rebounds during one game against Riga in the FIBA Cup. He was still 17... Talking about guys who were equipped to be big names, that dude supposedly was going to be a 7-footer who runs the floor and passes the ball around.

All in all, was Biedrins ever good enough? When he was motivated he was a solid starting center who would give you a double double and some good defense. You also have to acknowledge that those Nellie's Warriors teams were the perfect fit for him. So, when he was in the best place for him possible he was a double double guy. When he went through some certain personal struggles and the team wasn't a fit, he's a second string center. I believe that it's that simple. I still do remember those days of way back when he would shock Latvia with a 20 point, 15 rebound game every now and then. A lot of people were staying up during the night to watch him play and you can certainly feel how the league has become way more popular. So, you have to give him some credit for that.

[HornetJail]

It blows my mind how a 22-year-old averaging 14/13 per 36 minutes can drop off so severely until the age of 26, where he's averaging less than two points per 36 minutes. That is mind blowing. My 5-foot-nothing, 50+ year-old mom could get more than that in 36 minutes.

[Yunsen]

It blows my mind how a 22-year-old averaging 14/13 per 36 minutes can drop off so severely until the age of 26, where he's averaging less than two points per 36 minutes. That is mind blowing. My 5-foot-nothing, 50+ year-old mom could get more than that in 36 minutes.

[Guy986]

If you listen to GSW warrior fans, its meth and euro hookers.

[Zarko]

Needs a change of scenery or something.

[HornetJail]

Needs a change of scenery or something.

By scenery, I hope you mean somewhere besides a basketball court.

[ferk]

If you listen to GSW warrior fans, its meth and euro hookers.

i would think a meth head would would have tons of energy maybe he quit meth ?

[Flash Falcon X]

I think some people don't even realize how good his potential was back then.

He was a guaranteed double-double, very quick and athletic, too.

It got to the point where even Jeff Van Gundy said he thought Biedrins was a Top 2 center in the NBA.

Then out of nowhere he started to just suck. I don't know why. Maybe he only plays well with Baron Davis? His decline really started once Baron signed with the Clippers. Or maybe, Biedrins would benefit from playing with any good passing point guard. Ever since Baron Davis, the Warriors haven't had a good playmaker. Ellis and Curry are more like scorers/shooters than playmakers.

So maybe if Biedrins gets traded to a team like the Celtics or Clippers he could be back on track again. Playing with CP3 or Rajon Rondo does wonders.

[Ganji]

I read that all the Warriors players showed up for the voluntary camp this season except Biedrins. The guy doesn't care anymore.

Because he was working out in santa barbara with Jefferson and other guys from Utah. Just like year before, and year before that. And Jefferson was puzzled, why he can't play like that in NBA games.

Injuries happen. They misdiagnosed him, he played a year with groin injury, aggravated it, lost quickness, and whole his game was bases about outrunning everyone. He is at a point where he redefines what himself layer. His bigger, slower, still can block shot, decent at rebounding, still has some post moves around basket. Frankly he has been playing great during his minutes on floor now, he is only player on Warriors roster, who can just fill the C spot, and other teams can't abuse them with cutters and post up bigs. Warriors don't use him much, but when his contract is up, i see some team picking him up, there are really few NBA bigs who can fill and protect the paint like he does.

What do you think is going happen to Blake when his knees are done, and he won't be able to jump over everybody?

[Ganji]

It blows my mind how a 22-year-old averaging 14/13 per 36 minutes can drop off so severely until the age of 26, where he's averaging less than two points per 36 minutes. That is mind blowing. My 5-foot-nothing, 50+ year-old mom could get more than that in 36 minutes.

Think about Omer Asik who would pass out every time he would get offensive ball, rather then chucking up a bad shot.
And they don't run any plays for him at all. They never look for him, frankly team just treats him like s***it.

[Ganji]

Needs a change of scenery or something.

or a coach. Marc Jackson runs small ball half of the game, even tough he has Festus Ezeli who is a great rookie center, and Biedrins is playing really well, i have not seen a bad word about him in game treads effort wise, stats might not be great, but he is guy who does the little stuff like box out at rebounds, good at help defense and sets good screens on offense. He should be more aggressive fighting for offensive boards, but since refs love to dump fouls on him, he is quite passive there....

[Chocobanana]

i was watching a wolves-warriors game and im pretty sure i saw that he cut late on during play on purpose so that he wouldnt be in position to score.

[Debaser]

I read that all the Warriors players showed up for the voluntary camp this season except Biedrins. The guy doesn't care anymore.

Because he was working out in santa barbara with Jefferson and other guys from Utah. Just like year before, and year before that. And Jefferson was puzzled, why he can't play like that in NBA games.

A lot of players practice with other players from different teams but when your teammates sets up a camp and you are the only one that doesn't show up, you got issues. And if he goes to Santa Barbara every summer, clearly it's not working out for him because he's getting worse. His coach and the entire organization made it clear how disgusted they were that he didn't show up and he quickly lost the back up job. The guy gave up on his team despite getting paid millions.