LamarMatic7 wrote: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.
I dispute the notion that Biedrins' game suffered a large amount without Baron. If you remember correctly, the first 30-40 games of the season after Beans had signed his extension and Baron left, he was averaging something around 15 points and 11 boards a game. The Warriors ran plays in the post for him, his free throws were improving, and his defense was solid and then Biedrins got injured. I'm still convinced that the injury is what really threw him off. If I recall correctly (too lazy to get links), Biedrins was misdiagonsed with a groin strain when in reality he had oestis pubis which affected his groin as well as his back. Biedrins tried to play through it, If I recall, played poorly and was called out by Nellie, and then went back on the injured list and since then he has never been the same.
