George O'Brien
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After watching Andrei Kirilenko cause the Suns endless problems with his defense and shot blocking, I started thinking about the draft prospect often compared to him: Andris Biedrins of Latvia.
Biedrins currently ranked #4 nbadraft.net, #3 by College Hoops,#7 by draft city, #10 by Inside Hoops, and #11 by ESPN and HoopsHype. Assuming the Suns draft #7, it looks they they have a roughly 50-50 chance he would be available.
He is being listed by some mock drafts at 7'0" and roughly 240 pounds. What is more important is that he is compared to Kirilenko in that he has extremely long arms, is very agressive defensively, and is very good at rebounding and blocking shots. The other guy he gets compared to is Milicic due to his combination of athleticism and size.
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According to Draft City:
Stengths:
He possesses about the same combination of size and skills - already at this young age - that made Darko Milicic the 2nd Pick overall in last years NBA draft. His precociousness is unbelievable, he's playing 30 year old pros every day and dominates them. Unlike most European sevenfooters, Biedrins is more of a back-to-basket player. He works strong in the paint and scores mostly from the lowpost. A strong rebounder, too. But the brightest aspect of his game is his natural shot blocking ability. He wants to block virtually every shot. Last year he finished second in the Latvian League in block shots. While his defense was already great last year, his improvement on the offensive end this season shows his great work ethic. He was working on his offensive skills every day in the off season. That's why his scoring average increased from 3.3 last year to 19.5 this year.
Weaknesss:
He is not as versatile as Milicic. He lacks Milicic' type of athleticism, which would have allowed him to play on the wing (he would have been surefire no.1 overall if he had it). His ballhandling is not on a level NBA GMs would like to see of a European guy of his size, same with his outside shot. He's a lefty, so most of his post moves are going to the left side. He has to add some moves to the right side, too. Biedrins says he will be 7-2, which is within reach, but he has to add some muscles to hold his place in the paint then.
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Biedrins is being described as a power forward rather than as a center. He is certainly smaller than Pavel Podkolzine and Kosta Perovic. Pavel is huge. Perovic is more experienced and is probably a lot better on offense.
In spite of this, I think Biedrins could be the better pickup for the Suns. He could emerge as the same sort of shot blocking presence that Ratliff and Camby are with the athleticism to go on the permimeter like Kirilenko.
If he can develop just enough offensive skills to prevent teams from ignoring him, he could make a big difference on a team that really needs an athletic shot blocker.
Biedrins currently ranked #4 nbadraft.net, #3 by College Hoops,#7 by draft city, #10 by Inside Hoops, and #11 by ESPN and HoopsHype. Assuming the Suns draft #7, it looks they they have a roughly 50-50 chance he would be available.
He is being listed by some mock drafts at 7'0" and roughly 240 pounds. What is more important is that he is compared to Kirilenko in that he has extremely long arms, is very agressive defensively, and is very good at rebounding and blocking shots. The other guy he gets compared to is Milicic due to his combination of athleticism and size.
-----------------------------------------------------
According to Draft City:
Stengths:
He possesses about the same combination of size and skills - already at this young age - that made Darko Milicic the 2nd Pick overall in last years NBA draft. His precociousness is unbelievable, he's playing 30 year old pros every day and dominates them. Unlike most European sevenfooters, Biedrins is more of a back-to-basket player. He works strong in the paint and scores mostly from the lowpost. A strong rebounder, too. But the brightest aspect of his game is his natural shot blocking ability. He wants to block virtually every shot. Last year he finished second in the Latvian League in block shots. While his defense was already great last year, his improvement on the offensive end this season shows his great work ethic. He was working on his offensive skills every day in the off season. That's why his scoring average increased from 3.3 last year to 19.5 this year.
Weaknesss:
He is not as versatile as Milicic. He lacks Milicic' type of athleticism, which would have allowed him to play on the wing (he would have been surefire no.1 overall if he had it). His ballhandling is not on a level NBA GMs would like to see of a European guy of his size, same with his outside shot. He's a lefty, so most of his post moves are going to the left side. He has to add some moves to the right side, too. Biedrins says he will be 7-2, which is within reach, but he has to add some muscles to hold his place in the paint then.
-------------------------------------------
Biedrins is being described as a power forward rather than as a center. He is certainly smaller than Pavel Podkolzine and Kosta Perovic. Pavel is huge. Perovic is more experienced and is probably a lot better on offense.
In spite of this, I think Biedrins could be the better pickup for the Suns. He could emerge as the same sort of shot blocking presence that Ratliff and Camby are with the athleticism to go on the permimeter like Kirilenko.
If he can develop just enough offensive skills to prevent teams from ignoring him, he could make a big difference on a team that really needs an athletic shot blocker.
