i took this from Chris Ford on ESPN Insider.......
We all love Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Yao Ming and Peja Stojakovic. But is there a more complete international player right now than Andrei Kirilenko? After watching Kirilenko's 19-point, five-rebound, seven-assist, eight-steal and five-block performance versus the Rockets Wednesday night, I'm ready to start the campaign for Kirilenko on the all-star team.
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
17 17.5 7.5 3.3 .507 .889
The Jazz are a surprising 10-7 and, if they keep up their winning ways (and they sure look like they will), they deserve a representative at the All-Star Game. While they are getting great play from Matt Harpring, Carlos Arroyo, Greg Ostertag and Raul Lopez, no one does more to make this team tick than Kirilenko.
Kirilenko's numbers over the last five games have been stunning. 18.2 ppg, 8 rpg, 5.2 apg, 4 bpg, 3.4 spg while shooting over 50 percent from the field and from the beyond the three point line.
The knock on Kirilenko before the season was that he was just a so-so perimeter shooter and would struggle defending bigger power forwards in the post. But he's improved on both aspects this season. He's done a decent job sinking his outside jumpers and is shooting 51 percent from the field. He's also playing great defense in the post, despite his skinny frame.
"He frustrates people because they underestimate his length," teammate Raja Bell told the Salt Lake Tribune. "I'm a wiry guy. I believe in wiry strength, and he's stronger than he looks. He gets up there, and that's all you have to do. You don't have to block it, you just have to change it, and he does that [to] just about every shot."
like a real Guru...ive felt this way about this guy for a few years now and have told my folks to watch out...who's been sleepin???
We all love Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Yao Ming and Peja Stojakovic. But is there a more complete international player right now than Andrei Kirilenko? After watching Kirilenko's 19-point, five-rebound, seven-assist, eight-steal and five-block performance versus the Rockets Wednesday night, I'm ready to start the campaign for Kirilenko on the all-star team.
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
17 17.5 7.5 3.3 .507 .889
The Jazz are a surprising 10-7 and, if they keep up their winning ways (and they sure look like they will), they deserve a representative at the All-Star Game. While they are getting great play from Matt Harpring, Carlos Arroyo, Greg Ostertag and Raul Lopez, no one does more to make this team tick than Kirilenko.
Kirilenko's numbers over the last five games have been stunning. 18.2 ppg, 8 rpg, 5.2 apg, 4 bpg, 3.4 spg while shooting over 50 percent from the field and from the beyond the three point line.
The knock on Kirilenko before the season was that he was just a so-so perimeter shooter and would struggle defending bigger power forwards in the post. But he's improved on both aspects this season. He's done a decent job sinking his outside jumpers and is shooting 51 percent from the field. He's also playing great defense in the post, despite his skinny frame.
"He frustrates people because they underestimate his length," teammate Raja Bell told the Salt Lake Tribune. "I'm a wiry guy. I believe in wiry strength, and he's stronger than he looks. He gets up there, and that's all you have to do. You don't have to block it, you just have to change it, and he does that [to] just about every shot."
like a real Guru...ive felt this way about this guy for a few years now and have told my folks to watch out...who's been sleepin???
