It has started to sound like Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson is changing his tone about center Andris Biedrins lately. But Jackson says that's not necessarily true.
On Friday, Chris Ballard of SI.com published an article about Golden State Warriors center Andris Biedrins' confidence problems, which included a few quotes about Warriors coach Mark Jackson that have been the subject of quite a bit of discussion.
Today after Warriors practice, Matt Steinmetz of CSN Bay Area reports today that Jackson has not in fact changed his tone toward Biedrins.
"The way Nellie (Don Nelson) coached him, some people said it was too hard and it didn't work. I have a totally different style and obviously last year didn't work as far as thinking he was going to get back to his old self. But I still think he can help this basketball team. And I'm not down on him at all."
The key here, as mentioned in Ballard's article and our post here on Friday, is the other part of this story: Jackson says that Festus Ezeli is his backup center and, as we all know, Andrew Bogut is clearly the starter whenever he's healthy. So Jackson is sort of responding to Biedrins the way many of us here have: the Warriors' success this season is not dependent on Biedrins, whether he is competing for the backup spot or contributing at all.
Ultimately, if Biedrins can find a way to regain his confidence and become a productive contributor again, that's great. If they don't, they're "going to keep it moving" without much detriment to the team's success. Contract concerns aside, that's almost a luxury given what this franchise has been through over the past three decades in search of a center.
http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2012/10/14/3503632/golden-state-warriors-mark-jackson-andris-biedrins
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