Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Biedrins does the dirty work

I couldn't be happier for Andris Biedrins, who re-upped with the Warriors for $60 million or so. He's one of my favorite NBA players to watch. In the words of Bill Duffy, his agent:

"He has the work ethic. He's compliant. He does the dirty work. He's unselfish. These are the guys who should be rewarded."

Most scouting reports on Biedrins go something like this:

Relentless on the glass...runs the floor...loves to slip on the pick-and-roll...rolls hard to the rim...scores off teammates' penetration dish and garbage points...active...catches in traffic...finds open offensive areas around the rim...has limited range...poor foul shooter.

Having given your team this report, it's hard to take many of Biedrins' strengths away. He's not a go-to guy, but he continually finds a way to help his team. And if you check the box score, on most nights, he finishes with a double-double. In fact, he posted double-doubles in the last seven games of the 2007-08 season.

On top of that, I have heard he's a genuinely nice person.