duncan228
11-19-2009, 07:52 PM
Blair Overcoming The Odds (http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=14397)
By: Bill Ingram
In the months leading up to the 2009 NBA Draft, DeJuan Blair was widely considered to be a high first round pick, with some rumors even placing him in the top ten. Several NBA GMs told HOOPSWORLD they were strongly considering him right up until the moment when they were on the clock . . .but rumors of old ACL injuries made them pause at the last second. Pick after pick went by, and Blair's name was still on the board. It wasn't until the San Antonio Spurs were on the board with the 37th overall pick that Blair finally heard his name called, but he's making up for lost time now that he's found an NBA home.
"I'm with a team that wants me," says Blair. "I'm here, I'm feeling great, having fun, everybody loves me, and to me it's like draft night never happened. I got drafted, and that's all that matters now."
"He's been great so far," says Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan. "He's been great. He has a lot to learn, obviously, but his effort, his intensity and his rebounding are things that we've needed and those are things that he brings to the table that's great for us. He's going to continue to improve and grow to understand what Pop wants from him in different situations. I think he's a little bit lost out there sometimes, but that will come with experience and time. He looks good so far."
Across the board there's a feeling that the Spurs really got a steal in Blair, who's averaging close to seven and seven and has even started twice for a Spurs team that isn't known for playing rookies.
"It's amazing," says Richard Jefferson. "The funny thing is, DeJuan was a projected top ten draft pick. Outside of some medical red flags that people were a little nervous about, he never would have fallen to the second round. For him to come onto this type of team with Tim Duncan, with Theo Ratliff, with Antonio McDyess and to make his mark and do some impressive things, that shows you how good he really is. There's probably a few teams looking around thinking that if he was their starting four man he could be averaging 15 and 10."
"He's a terrific player and he was really a terrific college player," adds Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, who has seen Blair twice already this season. "I guess he slipped in the draft because of some rumored health issue, but there have been more than a handful of guys like that. Tim Hardaway supposedly had a bad knee, but he played 14 seasons. Sidney Moncreif had a bad knee and he was a seven- or eight-time All-Star. The Spurs obviously did their homework. I'm sure they're addressing whatever health issues he may have or not have, but I think he's going to be a good player in this league for a long time."
One thing that is certainly working in Blair's favor is that he's playing on a team which has plenty of veterans to help show him the ropes.
"It's wonderful," says Blair. "Especially playing with McDyess, Timmy, and Matty, all the vets on this team helping me - Rich, Manu, Fin . . .it's amazing being around all of these people, all these good players. I was watching them for the past two, three, four years and now I'm here playing with them."
That doesn't mean Blair is star struck, however.
"I really don't get star struck. I know it surprises a lot of people, but I really don't. Tim's so down to earth, he's like a regular person. These basketball players are regular people, they just happen to play in the NBA. I know a lot of rookies get star struck, but I really don't because the guys are so down to earth and they're great people. I'm just happy to be with them."
It also helps to have such a veteran, experienced coaching staff that knows what it means to help turn young players into NBA champions. Gregg Popovich sees a fire in Blair that should help him fit right in with the Spurs.
"He had a very good preseason and the skill that he has - rebounding - is something that really carries over," says Pop. "We're not looking for him to shoot threes or score 15 points a game or anything like that, but he's done a good job on the boards and he's pretty ferocious at that aspect of the game and we can use that, so it's made him valuable."
"The coaches have really told me to just go hard and rebound and let everything else come," says Blair of his coaches' advice. "Coach Pop is always saying to keep rebounding because that's what they brought me here for. Scoring and everything else will come down the road, but I'm not really worried about that. I just want to go out there and get about six, seven, eight rebounds a game, help my team, and just have fun out there. I'm living my dream. I know we've lost a couple of games, but it's early in the season and we have a team that we're still trying to glue together right now. I think we're going to be great when it comes to February and March and April. That's where we want to be. Every Cinderella team has to start somewhere, and this is just where we're starting."
Cinderella team may be a stretch for a team that's won four championships in the last decade, but Blair's story could turn out to be something that belongs in the fairy tale category. For now, though, he's not thinking about the critics or the teams who passed him over. He's biding his time, waiting for his chance to show all those hesitant GMs what they missed.
"I've talked to Coach Pop a lot when we've been on the plane traveling. He said that proving people wrong is something that you want to do, but not now. He doesn't want me to feel like I have to prove anything right now, not with all the people that we have on our team right now. The time will come, and when it does, he said I have to let my game speak for itself, and that's what I'm trying to do. I think all of this year's rookies everyone's playing great and I feel like I'm playing great. I'm fortunate to be on this team and getting playing time. I'm showing people that I've been working hard, been doing well, and I'm playing on a team that not many rookies get playing time on. I feel fortunate in that respect, also."
Blair's time will come, and there's little doubt that when that time comes the Spurs will feel as fortunate to have him as he feels to be a part of a winning organization from the very first day of his NBA career.
By: Bill Ingram
In the months leading up to the 2009 NBA Draft, DeJuan Blair was widely considered to be a high first round pick, with some rumors even placing him in the top ten. Several NBA GMs told HOOPSWORLD they were strongly considering him right up until the moment when they were on the clock . . .but rumors of old ACL injuries made them pause at the last second. Pick after pick went by, and Blair's name was still on the board. It wasn't until the San Antonio Spurs were on the board with the 37th overall pick that Blair finally heard his name called, but he's making up for lost time now that he's found an NBA home.
"I'm with a team that wants me," says Blair. "I'm here, I'm feeling great, having fun, everybody loves me, and to me it's like draft night never happened. I got drafted, and that's all that matters now."
"He's been great so far," says Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan. "He's been great. He has a lot to learn, obviously, but his effort, his intensity and his rebounding are things that we've needed and those are things that he brings to the table that's great for us. He's going to continue to improve and grow to understand what Pop wants from him in different situations. I think he's a little bit lost out there sometimes, but that will come with experience and time. He looks good so far."
Across the board there's a feeling that the Spurs really got a steal in Blair, who's averaging close to seven and seven and has even started twice for a Spurs team that isn't known for playing rookies.
"It's amazing," says Richard Jefferson. "The funny thing is, DeJuan was a projected top ten draft pick. Outside of some medical red flags that people were a little nervous about, he never would have fallen to the second round. For him to come onto this type of team with Tim Duncan, with Theo Ratliff, with Antonio McDyess and to make his mark and do some impressive things, that shows you how good he really is. There's probably a few teams looking around thinking that if he was their starting four man he could be averaging 15 and 10."
"He's a terrific player and he was really a terrific college player," adds Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, who has seen Blair twice already this season. "I guess he slipped in the draft because of some rumored health issue, but there have been more than a handful of guys like that. Tim Hardaway supposedly had a bad knee, but he played 14 seasons. Sidney Moncreif had a bad knee and he was a seven- or eight-time All-Star. The Spurs obviously did their homework. I'm sure they're addressing whatever health issues he may have or not have, but I think he's going to be a good player in this league for a long time."
One thing that is certainly working in Blair's favor is that he's playing on a team which has plenty of veterans to help show him the ropes.
"It's wonderful," says Blair. "Especially playing with McDyess, Timmy, and Matty, all the vets on this team helping me - Rich, Manu, Fin . . .it's amazing being around all of these people, all these good players. I was watching them for the past two, three, four years and now I'm here playing with them."
That doesn't mean Blair is star struck, however.
"I really don't get star struck. I know it surprises a lot of people, but I really don't. Tim's so down to earth, he's like a regular person. These basketball players are regular people, they just happen to play in the NBA. I know a lot of rookies get star struck, but I really don't because the guys are so down to earth and they're great people. I'm just happy to be with them."
It also helps to have such a veteran, experienced coaching staff that knows what it means to help turn young players into NBA champions. Gregg Popovich sees a fire in Blair that should help him fit right in with the Spurs.
"He had a very good preseason and the skill that he has - rebounding - is something that really carries over," says Pop. "We're not looking for him to shoot threes or score 15 points a game or anything like that, but he's done a good job on the boards and he's pretty ferocious at that aspect of the game and we can use that, so it's made him valuable."
"The coaches have really told me to just go hard and rebound and let everything else come," says Blair of his coaches' advice. "Coach Pop is always saying to keep rebounding because that's what they brought me here for. Scoring and everything else will come down the road, but I'm not really worried about that. I just want to go out there and get about six, seven, eight rebounds a game, help my team, and just have fun out there. I'm living my dream. I know we've lost a couple of games, but it's early in the season and we have a team that we're still trying to glue together right now. I think we're going to be great when it comes to February and March and April. That's where we want to be. Every Cinderella team has to start somewhere, and this is just where we're starting."
Cinderella team may be a stretch for a team that's won four championships in the last decade, but Blair's story could turn out to be something that belongs in the fairy tale category. For now, though, he's not thinking about the critics or the teams who passed him over. He's biding his time, waiting for his chance to show all those hesitant GMs what they missed.
"I've talked to Coach Pop a lot when we've been on the plane traveling. He said that proving people wrong is something that you want to do, but not now. He doesn't want me to feel like I have to prove anything right now, not with all the people that we have on our team right now. The time will come, and when it does, he said I have to let my game speak for itself, and that's what I'm trying to do. I think all of this year's rookies everyone's playing great and I feel like I'm playing great. I'm fortunate to be on this team and getting playing time. I'm showing people that I've been working hard, been doing well, and I'm playing on a team that not many rookies get playing time on. I feel fortunate in that respect, also."
Blair's time will come, and there's little doubt that when that time comes the Spurs will feel as fortunate to have him as he feels to be a part of a winning organization from the very first day of his NBA career.