Andris Biedrins
From Hoopedia
Andris Biedrins (Latvian: Andris Biedriņš), born April 2, 1986 in Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR, is a Latvian professional basketball player who plays the power forward and center positions for the NBA's Golden State Warriors. He was drafted by the Warriors with the 11th overall selection in the 2004 NBA Draft.
FIBA
Biedrins' professional career started at the Latvian team BK Skonto in the 2002-03 season, when he joined at age 16. He soon established himself as an impact player, appearing in 41 Latvian Basketball League (LBL) games, averaging 2.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.32 blocks, while shooting 59.8% from the field. For his feats, he was named Latvian League Newcomer of the Year. In eleven games for the FIBA European league (2003-2004), he averaged 18.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.82 blocks. In his second year, Biedrins appeared in 28 LBL games, averaging 18.0 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.86 blocks, while shooting an incredible 61.5% from the field. After that season, Biedrins made himself eligible for the 2004 NBA Draft.
NBA
Biedrins was drafted at 11th position by the Golden State Warriors. In his rookie season (2004-05), Biedrins only got little play time, and often quickly getting into foul trouble (3.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.8 blocks and 2.9 fouls in 12.8 minutes, total 30 games). To Biedrins's credit, it must be added that he also was the youngest player in the league during his rookie year. In his second year, the 2005-06 season, Biedrins played in 68 games, posting 3.8 points and 4.2 Rebounds, with 14.1 minutes per game. However, he failed to improve much, and was ridiculed for his horrifying free throw percentage (.306) and his inability to stay out of foul trouble, committing 190 fouls in exactly 1,000 minutes of playtime. The Golden State fan base was not kind to the sophomore; he was called "The One Minute Man" by the Golden State Warriors blog for his alleged inability to play without a foul for longer than these 60 seconds. Biedrins made some news when he was involved in a car accident on his way to a home game on the 880 freeway in Oakland. His Porsche Cayenne Turbo was totaled in the accident, and his missed that night's game and the next game due to back spasms.
In his third year, Biedrins got a lucky break when the Warriors decided to replace coach Mike Montgomery with ex-Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson, elected one of the NBA's "Top Ten All Time Coaches". Nelson needed just five games to bench the consistently underperforming Warriors' center Adonal Foyle and give Biedrins the starting spot on center, calling him "the best big man I've got". Biedrins thrived in his new role, posting up impressive averages of 10.3 points on an incredible .621 field goal percentage (1st in the NBA), 9.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game and earning himself 28.9 minutes of playtime. His breakthrough game came in November 2006, when the Warriors beat the title favorites San Antonio Spurs 119-111. In this match, Biedrins asserted himself against Spurs superstar Tim Duncan, only being narrowly outscored 18-22 and outrebounded 15-16, but did block six shots, including three straight shot attempts by Duncan in the third quarter. As of 2007, the newly blossomed Biedrins is seen as one of the candidates for the NBA Most Improved Player Award So far this season he has set career highs in points (31 vs Denver 11/24/2006), rebounds (18 vs Charlotte 02/03/2007), blocks (7 vs Denver 11/22/2006), assists (4 vs San Antonio 11/27/2006) and steals (5 vs Lakers 01/22/2007).
