A lot of John Hollinger’s purported surprises thus far this season don’t seem very surprising. Like he lists Rudy Fernandez’ good play as a surprise, and then immediately concedes “OK, most folks aren’t surprised by the idea that Fernandez can play, not after he lit up the U.S. squad in the second half of that epic gold-medal match in Beijing.” Right. I expected good things. People forget that the caliber of play in the Spanish league is higher than in Division I college basketball. Lots of European prospects get drafted very young and with minimal professional experience. Fernandez isn’t that kind of rookie, he’s 23 years old and he’d played extensively and well in the ACB and in international competition.
Likewise, why is Hollinger surprised that Andris Biedrins is playing well? He’s a good player, he played well last year. Young very good big man plays somewhat better than he did the previous year! Not so surprising. Do I need to write my Biedrins blog post again.