48MoH: Jamie Dixon, Pop, and how best to utilize Blair

[Samr]

Really interesting, quick read.

link (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2009/09/30/jamie-dixon-at-spurs-training-camp/)


Jamie Dixon at Spurs Training Camp
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University of Pittsburg head coach Jamie Dixon was in San Antonio yesterday, taking in DeJuan Blair’s first practice. I’m hopeful he and Coach Popovich were able to have a long conversation about Blair.

DeJuan Blair is an all-world force on the boards. He’s especially good on the offensive glass. And by especially good, I mean he’s a singular talent that comes along once in a generation. John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus provides this summation:


Let’s start with two numbers that were already present in separate compartments of my brain but that Ken Pomeroy brought to my attention as a wedded couple:

25.1 21.1

Ah, the decimals, the Courier typeface, you just know I’m gearing up to wield some incredibly complex calculations in support of my choice, right?

Hardly. The number on the left is Blair’s offensive rebound percentage this year. The number on the right is Colorado’s offensive rebound percentage. Repeat: the number on the right is what the entire Colorado team combined to accomplish this season, rebounding 21 percent of their own misses. Blair by himself hauled in 25 percent of his team’s misses during his minutes. For the record Blair also outperformed Nebraska, Samford, Weber State and Iowa State, among others. He is a team unto himself…

…this is the first year we’ve seen a player dominate the offensive glass to such a ridiculous extreme that he alone can outperform entire teams.

No problem with any of that, right? Well, no. But there is a lingering curiosity.

The San Antonio Spurs are a routinely poor offensive rebounding team. In fact, John Hollinger tells us that the Spurs’ offensive rebound percentage was the worst in basketball last season:

San Antonio was the best defensive rebounding team, pulling down 78.1 percent of opponents’ missed shots, and yet the worst offensive rebounding team, collecting only 22.1 percent of their own missed shots. It doesn’t seem possible that a team could rebound so well defensively and so horribly offensively, but in fact the two are very different skills. Additionally, San Antonio’s playing style — with Duncan having his back to the basket and four shooters spacing the floor — has never been conducive to high offensive rebound totals.

And there is something else that Hollinger omitted. Gregg Popovich prefers transition defense to offensive boards. On defense, the Spurs motto is to allow their opponent one, and only one, tough, contested shot. They close out, box, board and break. On offense, they want to create one high percentage shot and then immediately get back on defense. For the most part, the Spurs leave the offensive glass alone in exchange for the opportunity to set up a fortress up around the opposing team’s rim. It’s a transaction that produces historically great defensive teams.

So, then, how should Gregg Popovich treat DeJuan Blair, king of the offensive glass?

This, I think, is a good conversation for Pop to have with Dixon. What are the best ways to space and screen for DeJuan Blair? Luke Winn describes how Coach Dixon was able to assist Blair at Pitt:

Blair’s job mostly calls for him to set an early ball screen (for Fields) while he’s running down the floor, and then camp out in the paint after that. Pitt then attempts to free Blair up for post touches by setting across-the-lane screens, off of which he can receive the ball at close range to the basket, lower his shoulder, and drop it in for two points. Rarely does he roam outside the lane to receive passes, and this keeps him in prime position to clean up others’ misses.

If Coach Popovich wants to maximize DeJuan Blair’s production on the offensive glass, these are the sort of things he’ll have to consider. It’s something to watch.

[JR3]

I was getting a little annoyed with the mentions of us being the worse offensive rebounding team because I know we make it a priority to get back on D and you just can't have the best of both worlds...but then the article made that point so it was cool.... with blair, we wont be last in the league thats for sure. Good read.. thanks for posting.

[Agloco]

I was wondering the same thing when I saw that Dixon had stopped in. I'm sure he met with Pop, however briefly. I'd have a hard time believing that Pop didn't get some input from him..... That's one of Pop's strengths after all, knowing which resources to seek out.

[Nathan Explosion]

The problem with using Blair in the same manner as Pitt did is he's just clogging the lane for Duncan on the block, making a double that much easier.

It'll be a tricky situation getting Blair in position to grab boards while letting Duncan do his thing unimpeded. That is, unless Duncan can connect with Blair to make defenses pay for doubling him. They'll need to work up a chemistry quick so Blair can know when to attack and when to lay off.

[Bruno]

Pop let his bigmen going after offensive rebounds. Spurs transition defense scheme is that perimeter players should be focused on transition defense.

If you aren't sold on that, you can look at offensive rebounds number per 36 min for various Spurs' bigmen:
- Thomas: 3.1 with Spurs, 2.6 for his career.
- Horry: 2.4 with Spurs, 2.2 for his career.
- Elson: 2.2 with Spurs, 2.5 for his career.
- Nazr: 5.0 with Spurs, 4.2 for his career.
- Rasho: 3.1 with Spurs, 3.0 for his career.

Spurs will never be a top offensive rebounding team because they will never crash the offensive board with 5 players but this "by design" part doesn't explain why Spurs were the worst offensive rebounding team in the league last year.

Spurs were the worst rebounding team in the league because the bigmen did a poor job at rebounding the ball on the offensive end. This poor job of bigs can be explained by two reasons:
- Lack of a great offensive rebounder.
- Bonner being an horrible offensive rebounder and playing a lot.

Blair will likley be a great offensive rebounder and if Bonner plays less, Spurs should be a significantly better offensive rebounding team than last year.

[HarlemHeat37]

I don't see the Blair-Duncan combo being a problem..Duncan spent the most time outside of the paint that he ever has during his career, and I would expect this to continue during the regular season this season..it also makes sense with the weight loss and the knee concerns..

His mid-range J was heavily improved before the injuries, definitely the best his J has ever looked..

It also helps that DeJuan seems to be working on his mid-range J so that it can work both ways..

[Phenomanul]

Blair the Beast!

[portnoy1]

Tim can be up in the Paint when he is with Mcdyess, and Then when he is with Blair he can take midrange jumpers allowing for offensive rebounds and allowing him to get back and anchor the defense incase blair can't get the O board. All that matters is that Bonner never start a game at C again. It pissed me off seeing his 4.8 rbds a game at Center when PG Rondo of the Celtics averaged 5 a game.

[all_heart]

Tim can be up in the Paint when he is with Mcdyess, and Then when he is with Blair he can take midrange jumpers allowing for offensive rebounds and allowing him to get back and anchor the defense incase blair can't get the O board. All that matters is that Bonner never start a game at C again. It pissed me off seeing his 4.8 rbds a game at Center when PG Rondo of the Celtics averaged 5 a game.

No kidding, so long as the other bigs are healthy and doing a decent job, there should be no way he should play more than 8mins a game. His only job should be knocking down the 3 and being the designated foul magnet. His only defense is putting his hands up! That was hardly effective last year anyway.

Blair should be a perfect fit going up against smaller lineups and coming off the bench for any of the bigs although his size can be a match up problem depending who the other team has on the floor. It's gonna be great year! :lobt2:

[portnoy1]

Maybe or Maybe not. Remember Malik Rose did a Job on the Boards and was only 6-6 or so. He also Didn't hurt us defensively that much. If blair Plays hard like Malik did, He can be Malik 2.0 bigger better and without the Drama Malik brought.

[Manufan909]

I know how Blair is on the glass, how is his D, individual and team?

[wildbill2u]

Pop let his bigmen going after offensive rebounds. Spurs transition defense scheme is that perimeter players should be focused on transition defense.

If you aren't sold on that, you can look at offensive rebounds number per 36 min for various Spurs' bigmen:
- Thomas: 3.1 with Spurs, 2.6 for his career.
- Horry: 2.4 with Spurs, 2.2 for his career.
- Elson: 2.2 with Spurs, 2.5 for his career.
- Nazr: 5.0 with Spurs, 4.2 for his career.
- Rasho: 3.1 with Spurs, 3.0 for his career.

Spurs will never be a top offensive rebounding team because they will never crash the offensive board with 5 players but this "by design" part doesn't explain why Spurs were the worst offensive rebounding team in the league last year.

Spurs were the worst rebounding team in the league because the bigmen did a poor job at rebounding the ball on the offensive end. This poor job of bigs can be explained by two reasons:
- Lack of a great offensive rebounder.
- Bonner being an horrible offensive rebounder and playing a lot.

Blair will likley be a great offensive rebounder and if Bonner plays less, Spurs should be a significantly better offensive rebounding team than last year.

Might be very interesting to see the same methodology on Rodman's stay with the Spurs.

[SpurNation]

Interesting read indeed.

Lots of options that favor Duncan if Blair is in the game at the same time as Duncan.

[SouthTexasRancher]

Blair will likley be a great offensive rebounder and if Bonner plays less, Spurs should be a significantly better offensive rebounding team than last year.


Amen! Looking forward to having Blair's energy on the court with other energy guys like Manu.

[TIMMYD!]

Is DeJuan's man to man D good?

[NickiRasgo]

Is DeJuan Blair plays like Larry Johnson?

Edit:



The Charlotte Observer reports that DeJuan Blair is at the top of their draft list. The coaching staff believes that what he lacks in height, he more than makes up for in strength.

Larry Brown is reportedly impressed with Blair and his rebounding potential, giving comparisons to former Charlotte All-Star Larry Johnson.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_previousnews.aspx?sport=NBA&id=1598

[coyotes_geek]

I know how Blair is on the glass, how is his D, individual and team?

His D wasn't all that good in summer league. But in fairness to him summer league is a pretty hard venue to assess defense. Especially team defense since you don't really have a team. You've got a group of guys who were just thrown together a week or two ago. From watching the SL games I just remember Blair having a hard time defending the pick and roll. I thought his man to man defense looked okay, but there's no way to know for sure because the guys he was defending weren't nba caliber bigs.

Basically, Blair's a rookie and the Spurs run one of the more complex defensive schemes in the league. We can expect Blair to struggle. Veteran players have struggled here. But, from everything we've seen he's a hard worker, he's got good basketball instincts and if the Spurs coaching staff can't teach him defense then no one can. He's going to struggle at first, but he'll get better eventually. By season's end how quickly he's learned is going to be playing a part in how many minutes he's getting.

[EricB]

Blair is a good passer, can work the hi low, rebounds well, can defend good for his position. Has a little bit of offensive game, enough to pay attention to him.

Sounds just like Malik Rose in 03 to me.

[#2!]

The problem with using Blair in the same manner as Pitt did is he's just clogging the lane for Duncan on the block, making a double that much easier.

It'll be a tricky situation getting Blair in position to grab boards while letting Duncan do his thing unimpeded. That is, unless Duncan can connect with Blair to make defenses pay for doubling him. They'll need to work up a chemistry quick so Blair can know when to attack and when to lay off.

If Duncan can win a championship w/ Fabricio Oberto next to him, then playing alongside blair won't be a problem. Fab had no offensive game, and even less when more than 2 feet from the basket, the only difference is Blair should get rebounds while he's down there. Remember what pop said about duncan(it's in someone's sig) Duncan is a chameleon

[Samr]

Is DeJuan Blair plays like Larry Johnson?


http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_previousnews.aspx?sport=NBA&id=1598


That timeline is really interesting, though we've heard it all before. The Pacers, Jazz, and Bobcats wanted him, with the Bobcats pinning him as their #1. Blair was projected by DraftExpress to go between 10-14.

The point has been rehashed ten ways from sunday, but damn, I feel all warm inside reading this :lol


**Edit**

From an article I read off that link:


Blair was one of six players who worked out for the Jazz on Monday morning.
The group also included George Tech forward Alade Aminu, French forward Nando DeColo, Marquette guard Wesley Matthews, Michigan State center Goran Suton and NAIA Player of the Year Geoff Payne, a forward from Westminster College.
Blair is the only one of the six considered to be a first-rounder. His goal is to be the 2009-10 Rookie of the Year.

That's awesome. The Jazz almost read the Spurs perfectly. On the 2% chance DeColo turns into something (I'm rooting for him), Jazz fans are going to hate us.

[Blackjack]

I know how Blair is on the glass, how is his D, individual and team?

I'd say decent individually, but with a lot of room to improve overall.

The problem Blair's going to have right off the bat is picking up the nuances/ tricks of the trade to help him stay on the court and utilize the assets he does have physically.

Being an undersized player, he can't simply just stay in front of his guy and put a hand up. He'll have to learn the type of pull-the-chair tactics Malik eventually perfected and use leverage and physicality to keep the opponent off their spots and as uncomfortable as possible.

Of course, having to play like that as a rookie, and as a rookie that comes into the league with a history of being foul-prone, isn't the most ideal of situations. It takes time to learn the game, learn how to use your body effectively at a much higher level, and to learn and gain the respect of the officials so that you can stay on the court.

So, while the Malik comparison is a pretty decent one, suggesting he's a ready-made Rose, circa '03, just isn't all that fair.

It's going to take time, and there's definitely going to be some bumps in the road. But the Spurs were more than fortunate to have had him fall into their lap.

He's a better caliber of player than Rose and he'll no doubt make an immediate impact on the team, but the question is:

Will he progress enough that he can keep his self on the court to contribute consistently?

My guess is it will be somewhat of a mixed bag in his rookie year; more positives than negatives, but a mixed bag.

[angelbelow]

In the summer league his man to man wasn't great but it was mainly mistakes rather than ability.