Best theft: DeJuan Blair to San Antonio

[Man Mountain]

Best theft: DeJuan Blair to San Antonio
I don't understand how a player projected to be a top-15 talent can slide all the way to 37th based on reports about his knees. Here's why: At some point, the injury risk is a "so what." As in, "so what if he can only play for three years, he's so much better than the average 25th pick in the draft that he'd still be worth it."

This a player who absolutely destroyed the second pick in the draft when they went head-to-head. His rebounding numbers are something out of a video game -- I'm not sure NBA personnel people have put together quite how dominant Blair was on the glass in college, but he had a better rebound rate than Blake Griffin. His offensive rebound rate of 20.5 was double that of most other big man prospects -- the next closest prospect was Santa Clara's John Bryant at 14.4.

But Blair has bad knees, and someday they might catch up to him. In the meantime, the Spurs got a lottery talent for a second-round salary while the rest of the league was drafting Sam Youngs and Taj Gibsons.

HOLLINGER!! (http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=BestWorst-090626)

[EricB]

Damn.

Hollinger slobbering over this guy.

You knew he would his PER number bullcrap.

[whottt]

Tim Duncan's been playing on one knee since the 3rd year of his career...

Ligaments are overrated.

[Tully365]

For the record, I agree completely with the risk the Spurs took and think it was a great gamble. And if, by a plausible twist of fate, DeJuan goes down mid-season with knee problems, or has constant Jonathan Bender-like problems, I will ABSOLUTELY NOT start bitchin' and complainin' on spurstalk about what a terrible pick he was. I stand by this pick right now as a great one.

Anyone else care to join me in this vow?

[EricB]

I'm with you 100%.

As soon as Casspi was gone, Dejuan Blair was next on my list.

Dejuan Blair as has been mentioned thousands of times is a lottery talent. I mean its still shocking he fell this far.

[bigdog]

Who gives a shit about the ACL's. either way it's a great pick, low risk, if it doesn't turn out good.

We got a 1st team AP All American, for the price of a Malik Hairston. This is fucking great.

[Spursfan092120]

I'm with you 100%.

As soon as Casspi was gone, Dejuan Blair was next on my list.

Dejuan Blair as has been mentioned thousands of times is a lottery talent. I mean its still shocking he fell this far.
I actually wanted Blair more than Casspi...but only after the Jefferson pick. After Jefferson, I didn't think we needed another SF...at least not using our top pick for it when Blair was there.

[TampaDude]

Chad Ford rated the Spurs draft an A+...the only A+ on the list...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftGrades-090626

The Drive for Five begins in November!!! GO SPURS GO!!!!! :flag:

[GhostofAlfrederickHughes]

Yup, there's NO WAY you can complain about this pick, even if the fears about his knees come to pass. At #37, they barely have to spend a dime on him. I'd rather gamble on this guy than blow our MLE on Antonio McDyess---who's knees are more likely to give out sooner?

[Of course, since we stole this guy---it frees us up to gamble more with the MLE money].

He may or may not pan out, but that's what a second round pick does.
The point is, given our current roster, he can come in right away and help us. And not many guys picked in his spot (or higher) can do that!

[Cry Havoc]

For the record, I agree completely with the risk the Spurs took and think it was a great gamble. And if, by a plausible twist of fate, DeJuan goes down mid-season with knee problems, or has constant Jonathan Bender-like problems, I will ABSOLUTELY NOT start bitchin' and complainin' on spurstalk about what a terrible pick he was. I stand by this pick right now as a great one.

Anyone else care to join me in this vow?

I think most Spurs fans are with you on this.

At worst, he gets injured and flames out early. This is probably at worst only as likely as the 37th pick not contributing to an NBA team and going overseas to play ball.

At best, we just got one of the best players in the draft (probably top 10) and he'll be someone who is a big who can give us 25 quality minutes per game and rake the glass like no one we've had since prime Duncan or David.

What we'll be satisfied with: Blair coming off the bench for 15-20 per game and picking up 10 points and 6-7 rebounds. In which case, we are precisely one quality big away from probably being a top 2 team in the NBA.

I bet Duncan, Parker, & Co. were going nuts when they saw him fall to #37.

[Tully365]

Nothing is a risk at pick #37. It would be insane to give these guys major props on this pick, too. It was common sense, especially with the needs of the team. Now, if this kid out of Miami or the foreign kid turn out to be contributors, THEN you can say... wow, what a great job the front office did this year.

Mostly, I'm remembering how after George Hill had a few bad shooting games in a row in the summer leagues last year, there were posters here saying the the FO was completely clueless and even a few threads saying that Pop and RC should be fired!

I would disagree that it was common sense. Draft express had Blair ranked as the 11th best prospect in this draft, so there were many opportunities between 11 and 37 for other teams to get him and they shied away. Obviously the longer it went on the lower the risk, but still, there's a reason that Ford, Hollinger, Simmons, etc., are all giving the Spurs the highest grade in the draft and it's because they had the guts to take a chance on a guy that nobody else was willing to gamble on. Teams with far less talent than the Spurs didn't take that chance.

[Solid D]

Put Bonner on Blair in practice...thus saving Timmy and Ian from further injury. :smokin

[slayermin]

Heart and desire can go a long way. I didn't really pay attention to college b-ball this season but from what I have saw, read, and heard about this guy, he has San Antonio written all over him. Pittsburgh is a blue collar town and he's gonna fit right in here.

Did I hear correctly in his pre-draft interview that he lost 40 pounds in less than a month? 40 pounds!

[Marcus Bryant]

Best theft: DeJuan Blair to San Antonio
I don't understand how a player projected to be a top-15 talent can slide all the way to 37th based on reports about his knees. Here's why: At some point, the injury risk is a "so what." As in, "so what if he can only play for three years, he's so much better than the average 25th pick in the draft that he'd still be worth it."

This a player who absolutely destroyed the second pick in the draft when they went head-to-head. His rebounding numbers are something out of a video game -- I'm not sure NBA personnel people have put together quite how dominant Blair was on the glass in college, but he had a better rebound rate than Blake Griffin. His offensive rebound rate of 20.5 was double that of most other big man prospects -- the next closest prospect was Santa Clara's John Bryant at 14.4.

But Blair has bad knees, and someday they might catch up to him. In the meantime, the Spurs got a lottery talent for a second-round salary while the rest of the league was drafting Sam Youngs and Taj Gibsons.

HOLLINGER!! (http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=BestWorst-090626)


Right. It's stats plus the level of competition a player has played against. Blair's rebounding rate is absolutely disgusting, as was his play against other "elite" players. If Blair's PER and rebounding rate were earned against Division VAAA players, that'd be one thing. But those weren't. Millsap showed that great rebounding in college does translate over to the pros. Also, plenty of reports have made it clear that Blair dropped, not because of his game, but rather because of the knees. It's not like conventional wisdom isn't occasionally wrong (see: Iraq and other domestic NCAA bigs who have been overlooked in favor of the Zkkkfhkhskh Tskhivilliissss from Georgia and wherever else).

[PM5K]

How do you play with no ACL, and what does it mean for the length of your career?

[Go For Tree]

Chad Ford rated the Spurs draft an A+...the only A+ on the list...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftGrades-090626

The Drive for Five begins in November!!! GO SPURS GO!!!!! :flag:

almost equally exciting, La Lakers received a D.... the lowest grade of any team.:flag:

[noob cake]

Rockets A, not bad.

There are three things that I hated in this draft (in order)
1) Min drafting Rubio, delaying his dominance in the NBA
2) Blazers drafting Mills at 55 (WTF).
3) Spurs drafting Blair at 37.

[DPG21920]

Tim Duncan's been playing on one knee since the 3rd year of his career...

Ligaments are overrated.


Put Bonner on Blair in practice...thus saving Timmy and Ian from further injury. :smokin

Love it.

[tomtom]

I like Mills but he has no chance of any playing time. Blazers have too many guards already. At best he'd be their third string point guard. Too bad too cause I really like him

[sexinthatsx]

I think Patty Mills was definitely the better pick between Nando De Colo, but seeing as to the depth of the Guard spots duringt his upcoming season, spurs were looking to draft a player that they can hold on to his rights for a few years, whereas Patty Mills would simply just take up a roster spot, no matter how much help he can contribute.

[Spursox]

After watching some youtube on Blair..... He actually reminds me of Larry Johnson (Grandma Ma). Does anyone agree?

[NewJerSpur]

I don't watch much college ball so I'm not sure, but will Blair wind up being the next Elton Brand or Tractor Traylor?

[Tully365]

After watching some youtube on Blair..... He actually reminds me of Larry Johnson (Grandma Ma). Does anyone agree?

That was the first guy i thought of too.

[ezau]

Put Bonner on Blair in practice...thus saving Timmy and Ian from further injury. :smokin
Fuck Ian, he's been drafted since 05 and he has only accumulated 6 or 8 minutes of playing time. Sometimes, I really don't know when the FO will give up. I'm crossing my fingers that he'll play this year though. God I can't wait for October:flag: