nkdlunch
11-13-2009, 02:45 PM
per 48 mins
:wow
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/sports/basketball/13dejuan.html
Spurs’ Blair Is Lacking in Everything but Success
The unlikely phenomenon of DeJuan Blair begins with a checklist of everything that should disqualify him as an effective N.B.A. player.
Darren Abate/Associated Press
The San Antonio rookie DeJuan Blair, left, fell in the draft because he has no A.C.L.'s in his knees.
He is a power forward who is listed at 6 feet 7 inches, but is closer to 6-5.
He is a rebounding specialist who barely leaves the ground.
He has no anterior cruciate ligament. In either knee.
The catalog of justifiable doubts is as thick as Blair’s torso. His playful smile only grows wider at every recited item.
“Yeah,” said Blair, the San Antonio Spurs rookie out of Pittsburgh, drawing out the word and punctuating it with a chuckle. “That’s why it’s so amazing. That’s why it’s so fun.”
There might not be anyone quite like Blair in the history of the N.B.A. The league has had its share of undersize rebounders — Elgin Baylor (6-5), Charles Barkley (6-6) and Dennis Rodman (6-7). But they were usually blessed with some combination of athleticism, leaping ability and knee ligaments.
Blair’s shortcomings in those departments caused him to fall to the second round on draft night, all the way to 37th. So far, he looks like the steal of the draft. Through two weeks of play, Blair leads all rookies with 7.3 rebounds a game, in only 18.3 minutes. Adjusted on a per-48-minute basis, he ranks as the N.B.A.’s third-leading rebounder.
“He’s got a great future ahead of him,” said the Spurs veteran Antonio McDyess, an accomplished rebounder himself. “He’s relentless. He plays hard every possession.”
Other top athletes have played without an A.C.L. in one knee, including Sean Elliott, the former Spurs forward, and Hines Ward, the Pittsburgh Steelers receiver. But playing professional sports without two A.C.L.’s might be unprecedented.
There were no mysteries about Blair’s talent when he declared for the draft after two years at Pittsburgh. He averaged 11.6 rebounds as a freshman and reached double digits 41 times in a 72-game career. He had a memorable head-to-head showdown in February with Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet, the 7-3 center who became the No. 2 pick in the draft by Memphis.
couts and statistical experts generally agree that rebounding translates well from college to the N.B.A., so Blair was, at first, highly regarded. He was once projected as a late lottery pick. His fate changed, however, at a draft combine last spring, when doctors performed a routine magnetic resonance imaging examination on his knees.
That was when Blair learned he had no A.C.L.’s.
“I was a little shocked,” he said.
Blair had ruptured the ligaments as a high school sophomore, but they were presumably repaired in surgery. The theory now is that the grafts did not take and were absorbed by the body.
Although an A.C.L. helps stabilize the knee, the 20-year-old Blair has probably compensated by building up strength in muscles and other ligaments. He said his knees had never given him trouble since high school.
Still, many N.B.A. executives were spooked by the revelation. There were other concerns, including Blair’s weight (he is listed at 265 pounds) and his height. But his knees “were a big factor in him falling as far as he did,” said an Eastern Conference scout, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing another team’s player.
The scout, whose team considered drafting Blair, praised him as a “dominating force around the basket” who was likely to make teams regret passing on him.
Blair is what is known as a “coper,” meaning he can function normally without an A.C.L., said Dr. James Gladstone, the chief of sports medicine in the department of orthopedic surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Copers comprise about 5 percent of people who tear an A.C.L.
“For the vast majority of people, not having an A.C.L. and playing basketball don’t really go together,” Gladstone said.
The A.C.L. helps prevent over-rotation in the knee and is in constant demand in basketball, which requires sudden stops and starts, pivoting, leaping and cutting. That Blair is playing, and excelling, without two A.C.L.’s “is highly unusual,” Gladstone said.
If the lack of A.C.L.’s were a problem, Blair’s knees would buckle. So far, they have not. Gladstone, who has not examined Blair, theorized that Blair had compensated over time, “so it wouldn’t be a concern to me any longer.”
“That’s not to say tomorrow he won’t go up for a layup, land and his knee buckles on him,” Gladstone said. “But I think the chances of that are highly unlikely.”
He added, “I certainly wouldn’t be in a rush to give him new A.C.L.’s.”
Clearly, some N.B.A. doctors and executives had less confidence, especially with millions of dollars at stake. First-round picks get a two-year guaranteed contract, which made Blair a greater risk in the first 30 selections.
“Very honestly, we decided that it was a no-brainer at 37,” said Gregg Popovich, the Spurs’ coach and team president. “No. 37 in the draft usually isn’t in the league anymore anyway. So if he is healthy and he proves people wrong, you’ve got a hell of a steal. There wasn’t anyone else we were going to pick who was going to help us win a championship.”
The Spurs have the advantage of great frontcourt depth, with the veterans McDyess, Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner and Theo Ratliff. They do not need to lean heavily on Blair.
When they do call on him, the results are quite enjoyable. Blair does not leap high, but he uses his width and strength to gain position. Then he corrals loose balls with large hands that have been compared to catcher’s mitts and a wingspan that is close to seven-and-a-half feet.
“The thing to me that seems most empowering about him is when he gets his hands on the ball, nobody else gets possession,” said R. C. Buford, the Spurs’ general manager.
In his first preseason game, Blair grabbed 19 rebounds in 22 minutes against Houston. Two weeks later, Blair grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 17 points in just 15 minutes against Oklahoma City.
Because of his size, Blair had his shot blocked five times. But he followed two of those blocks with second-effort layups, his relentlessness and his inexperience on simultaneous display.
“That’s a good thing,” Popovich said after the preseason game against Oklahoma City. “He’s got to test that.”
The Spurs are so confident in Blair that they gave him a four-year contract worth as much as $3.8 million (with $2.3 million guaranteed). It is an unusually generous deal for a second-round pick. But then, Blair is an unusual individual.
“I always say I’m blessed,” Blair said cheerfully. “That’s why I take advantage of every day and try and smile. I’m in the N.B.A. and without A.C.L.’s and with the Spurs. Doing my dream. I’m blessed. It’s amazing.”
:wow
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/sports/basketball/13dejuan.html
Spurs’ Blair Is Lacking in Everything but Success
The unlikely phenomenon of DeJuan Blair begins with a checklist of everything that should disqualify him as an effective N.B.A. player.
Darren Abate/Associated Press
The San Antonio rookie DeJuan Blair, left, fell in the draft because he has no A.C.L.'s in his knees.
He is a power forward who is listed at 6 feet 7 inches, but is closer to 6-5.
He is a rebounding specialist who barely leaves the ground.
He has no anterior cruciate ligament. In either knee.
The catalog of justifiable doubts is as thick as Blair’s torso. His playful smile only grows wider at every recited item.
“Yeah,” said Blair, the San Antonio Spurs rookie out of Pittsburgh, drawing out the word and punctuating it with a chuckle. “That’s why it’s so amazing. That’s why it’s so fun.”
There might not be anyone quite like Blair in the history of the N.B.A. The league has had its share of undersize rebounders — Elgin Baylor (6-5), Charles Barkley (6-6) and Dennis Rodman (6-7). But they were usually blessed with some combination of athleticism, leaping ability and knee ligaments.
Blair’s shortcomings in those departments caused him to fall to the second round on draft night, all the way to 37th. So far, he looks like the steal of the draft. Through two weeks of play, Blair leads all rookies with 7.3 rebounds a game, in only 18.3 minutes. Adjusted on a per-48-minute basis, he ranks as the N.B.A.’s third-leading rebounder.
“He’s got a great future ahead of him,” said the Spurs veteran Antonio McDyess, an accomplished rebounder himself. “He’s relentless. He plays hard every possession.”
Other top athletes have played without an A.C.L. in one knee, including Sean Elliott, the former Spurs forward, and Hines Ward, the Pittsburgh Steelers receiver. But playing professional sports without two A.C.L.’s might be unprecedented.
There were no mysteries about Blair’s talent when he declared for the draft after two years at Pittsburgh. He averaged 11.6 rebounds as a freshman and reached double digits 41 times in a 72-game career. He had a memorable head-to-head showdown in February with Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet, the 7-3 center who became the No. 2 pick in the draft by Memphis.
couts and statistical experts generally agree that rebounding translates well from college to the N.B.A., so Blair was, at first, highly regarded. He was once projected as a late lottery pick. His fate changed, however, at a draft combine last spring, when doctors performed a routine magnetic resonance imaging examination on his knees.
That was when Blair learned he had no A.C.L.’s.
“I was a little shocked,” he said.
Blair had ruptured the ligaments as a high school sophomore, but they were presumably repaired in surgery. The theory now is that the grafts did not take and were absorbed by the body.
Although an A.C.L. helps stabilize the knee, the 20-year-old Blair has probably compensated by building up strength in muscles and other ligaments. He said his knees had never given him trouble since high school.
Still, many N.B.A. executives were spooked by the revelation. There were other concerns, including Blair’s weight (he is listed at 265 pounds) and his height. But his knees “were a big factor in him falling as far as he did,” said an Eastern Conference scout, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing another team’s player.
The scout, whose team considered drafting Blair, praised him as a “dominating force around the basket” who was likely to make teams regret passing on him.
Blair is what is known as a “coper,” meaning he can function normally without an A.C.L., said Dr. James Gladstone, the chief of sports medicine in the department of orthopedic surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Copers comprise about 5 percent of people who tear an A.C.L.
“For the vast majority of people, not having an A.C.L. and playing basketball don’t really go together,” Gladstone said.
The A.C.L. helps prevent over-rotation in the knee and is in constant demand in basketball, which requires sudden stops and starts, pivoting, leaping and cutting. That Blair is playing, and excelling, without two A.C.L.’s “is highly unusual,” Gladstone said.
If the lack of A.C.L.’s were a problem, Blair’s knees would buckle. So far, they have not. Gladstone, who has not examined Blair, theorized that Blair had compensated over time, “so it wouldn’t be a concern to me any longer.”
“That’s not to say tomorrow he won’t go up for a layup, land and his knee buckles on him,” Gladstone said. “But I think the chances of that are highly unlikely.”
He added, “I certainly wouldn’t be in a rush to give him new A.C.L.’s.”
Clearly, some N.B.A. doctors and executives had less confidence, especially with millions of dollars at stake. First-round picks get a two-year guaranteed contract, which made Blair a greater risk in the first 30 selections.
“Very honestly, we decided that it was a no-brainer at 37,” said Gregg Popovich, the Spurs’ coach and team president. “No. 37 in the draft usually isn’t in the league anymore anyway. So if he is healthy and he proves people wrong, you’ve got a hell of a steal. There wasn’t anyone else we were going to pick who was going to help us win a championship.”
The Spurs have the advantage of great frontcourt depth, with the veterans McDyess, Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner and Theo Ratliff. They do not need to lean heavily on Blair.
When they do call on him, the results are quite enjoyable. Blair does not leap high, but he uses his width and strength to gain position. Then he corrals loose balls with large hands that have been compared to catcher’s mitts and a wingspan that is close to seven-and-a-half feet.
“The thing to me that seems most empowering about him is when he gets his hands on the ball, nobody else gets possession,” said R. C. Buford, the Spurs’ general manager.
In his first preseason game, Blair grabbed 19 rebounds in 22 minutes against Houston. Two weeks later, Blair grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 17 points in just 15 minutes against Oklahoma City.
Because of his size, Blair had his shot blocked five times. But he followed two of those blocks with second-effort layups, his relentlessness and his inexperience on simultaneous display.
“That’s a good thing,” Popovich said after the preseason game against Oklahoma City. “He’s got to test that.”
The Spurs are so confident in Blair that they gave him a four-year contract worth as much as $3.8 million (with $2.3 million guaranteed). It is an unusually generous deal for a second-round pick. But then, Blair is an unusual individual.
“I always say I’m blessed,” Blair said cheerfully. “That’s why I take advantage of every day and try and smile. I’m in the N.B.A. and without A.C.L.’s and with the Spurs. Doing my dream. I’m blessed. It’s amazing.”