About Blair...

[xellos88330]

What are your actual takes on the guy? Why is everyone so upset that he is getting playing time? All I ever read here is that he sucks. IMO, I believe that Blair is a solid player, but at the same time, I just feel that he isn't the type of player the Spurs need right now.

I personally do not really mind Blair getting minutes. I feel that the Spurs do owe it to the man after what has happened with all his minutes. I also believe that the Spurs and Blair could possibly work out a sign and trade for next season and are continuing to showcase what he can do to woo potential takers for a deal like that. Do any of you think this is an actual possibility?

[exstatic]

He hardly ever plays anymore, unless Tim is sitting, a bunch of players are sitting, or it's a blowout. At that point, we need minutes eaten. I don't understand the collective group of panties in a wad.

[sananspursfan21]

i never really had a problem with him. the times i've been able to watch spurs games (around 30 per season and every playoff game), he either brought energy and made something of a contribution or he just kinda blended in and didn't do any wrong or right at all. for a "big man" he has a soft touch near the rim and much like diaw, can make some impressive under the rim layups and reverses. i like him and will be sad to see him go. his defense isn't too hot because of his height, but he's still a wide body in the paint. i wish he played like his rookie year with that 20+ pt 20+ rb game. i guess i'm neutral with blair, not really for him or against him.

edit: most of these observations post losing minutes and collecting bench splinters

[spurraider21]

He can't play defense. He is very mistake prone on offense and at times just forces shots up the instant he gets the ball. Can be useful in very short spurts off the bench as energy because he can score off the pick and roll and get occasional tip-ins

[racm]

A genuinely talented player whose physical limitations prevent him from being a starter on a contender.

[sananspursfan21]

He can't play defense. He is very mistake prone on offense and at times just forces shots up the instant he gets the ball. Can be useful in very short spurts off the bench as energy because he can score off the pick and roll and get occasional tip-ins

i cringed when he would take mid-range jumpers. in all my time, i think he's made two

[DesignatedT]

Rivals Neal as the worst defender on the team. Has a soft touch around the rim and runs the p&r well but his height is a major issue in the playoffs and he's an average rebounder.

[Brunodf]

Black hole

[LarryDavid]

IMO, I believe that Blair is a solid player, but at the same time, I just feel that he isn't the type of player the Spurs need right now.

He's the player the Spurs deserve, but not the one it needs right now...

[exstatic]

He hardly ever PLAYS.

Honest to God, people here will still be bitching about Blair next year, when he's not even here any more.

[spurraider21]

He hardly ever PLAYS.

Honest to God, people here will still be bitching about Blair next year, when he's not even here any more.

good reason for it. i think a lot of us just think that roster spot could be used by somebody more valuable than blair. even if he's a bottom of the bench guy, we could do better. he's also seemingly regressed since his sophomore season, where he was actually a viable regular season starter.

[TheGoldStandard]

i cringed when he would take mid-range jumpers. in all my time, i think he's made two

He throws them up nonchalantly like he knows what the outcome will be.

[elemento]

He barely plays.

I couldn't care less if he eats minutes in the RS, as long as the front-court rotation in the playoffs is Duncan/Splitter/Diaw.

[hater]

scrub

10th man, insurance that's all

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Meh. He's a good player but not good enough to climb up the rotation. He'll go to Miami this summer.

[playblair]

............@blair haters ............................@ blair haters giving blair the bad defender moniker ..................

[spurraider21]

blair is a poor man's tyler hansbrough

[playblair]

^ridiculous hating ................... tyler has never had a 30/20 game .........................

[BillMc]

He used to be a rebounding machine, now not so much. But we need some perspective. He was a second round pick, and really, we've gotten more than value out of the pick. It ain't Manu, but his contribution over the years (especially his first 2 years) has been way better than most.

He's got limitations (knees, height, offensive game) but that's why he was there.

[exstatic]

He used to be a rebounding machine, now not so much. But we need some perspective. He was a second round pick, and really, we've gotten more than value out of the pick. It ain't Manu, but his contribution over the years (especially his first 2 years) has been way better than most.

He's got limitations (knees, height, offensive game) but that's why he was there.

T.H.I.S.

[DrunkTXLabrat]

good reason for it. i think a lot of us just think that roster spot could be used by somebody more valuable than blair. even if he's a bottom of the bench guy, we could do better. he's also seemingly regressed since his sophomore season, where he was actually a viable regular season starter.

x2. and he put it nicely. i like to exaggerate blair shittiness. that andrew bynum 30/30 game was a taste so foul... it's memory is unsavory. blair is too short, with bad knees. bottom line.

[spurraider21]

^ridiculous hating ................... tyler has never had a 30/20 game .........................
neither has Blair, tbh. even if he did, im not letting 1-3 games dictate past 4 years of play. I mean, MJ never had 81. whats your point?

[John B]

I was among those excited when Spurs stole him at 37th pick. A blue-collar player with a hardnose for getting rebounds. And that highlight that almost broke Thabeet's arm, finally we found a rebounder to put beside Duncan. His rookie year was promising. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder to prove all his doubters wrong. I really don't think anybody expected him to score, sure maybe occasional layups. He should have concentrated on doing what he does best, rebounding and boxing out. I hate to compare, but Rodman made a great career getting rebounds and playing D. Our very own Bowen played defense first, and developed the knack of getting into peoples' game with his suffocating defense. But Blair seemed obsessed to score, making hurried circus shots, and neglected the reason why the Spurs drafted him in the first place. His rebounds suffered, and understandingly his minutes. Instead of working back on D, he bitches on twitter, very unSpurslike. The big 3 are not excempte, but have been yanked out by Pop when their D relaxes or they're off rotation, but they showed great poise and got back on their game. I'm not sorry for Blair. He's a whiner. Just work hard, shut up and work on D. It's not a surprise that's what coaches are looking for. Goodluck Blair.

[Poolboy5623]

He's like 6' tall and has to defend guys close to a foot taller sometimes....what's not to love?

[capek]

You know why we all like Kawhi so much? His motor. It's because he works so hard to improve his game, and then actually accomplishes it on the court.

And that's why we don't like Blair. No fucking motor. Zero improvement on his game. He showed a set of skills his rookie season that got fans excited, but by his second year, teams had figured him out, and he's never managed to improve his game one iota. Super frustrating to watch as a fan.

Kawhi--super big motor. Blair--shitty little lawn mower motor. He's not a bad guy; get him to a shitty team where it doesn't matter if the players have a motor or not, because the team is a perpetual bottom feeder anyways. But on a team like the Spurs, young players have to have at least decent motors. It's about the individual players improving enough that it hopefully pushes the team over the top towards a championship. When one player doesn't seem to be on that page, they're naturally gonna get a lot of hate thrown their way.

[iManu]

He's ADD.

[Pop]

I don't hate the guy but he shouldn't play even one minute when that minute could be used to develop Baynes.

It's all on the FO, he wanted to leave, we don't need him but they still couldn't make anything happen, obvisouly I don't say they should have sent him to Miami but it sounds pretty weird that they couldn't make a Casspi trade happen or something.

We have one true center and a half, the half being Baynes since he gets no playing time. That's very scary to me and screams bad roster management.

Blair is a nice kid but that's no reason to give him pity minutes, we're trying to win a championship here.

[Uriel]

He's a 6"5 center. The starting center of my high school basketball team here in the Philippines is even taller.

Need more be said?

[50Bestspurever]

he was supposed to have been a steal in the draft. nothing more nothing less. it just didnt swing in our favor.

[Drom John]

37th pick.
8th best (and falling from #5 at beginning of season) WS in the 2009 draft, 5th in WS/48 (with rate dropping). 2013 WS/48 would drop Blair to the career level of the 7th best of the draft (Danny Green).
Next best that was available at #37, Jon Brockman
Blair was and still is a bargain.

12th man on Spurs (11th currently if you remove the injured Parker). 9th in WS, 10 in WS/48. The acquisition of Boris Diaw changed the dynamics, dropping Blair from #2 big to #5 big, without a huge drop in Blair's skills. But the PT plummeted.
Put Blair on the Hawks (my second favorite team) and Blair would be a significant bench player and would improve the team.

That said, with Blair's knees, Baynes should be better next year, as might whoever is drafted 29th-ish.

As to the OPs original question, this board is spoiled, and dissappointed that the steal of the draft by far has sunk to merely being in the discussion of the steal of the draft with Ty Lawson and Taj Gibson, and by next year will be surpassed by #46 Danny Green.

[Thread]

Poop went against the grain and reeled in Media attention galore with Blair. He's made ya nothing but sorry. But, it was never gonna be any other way.

[Embedded]

Last summer it seems like he worked on his weight at the expense of working on his game. This summer maybe he maintains his weight and works on his game. Watch the replay of Mr. Leonard's breakaway dunk over OKC. Look at Mr. Blair jumping up and down with genuine excitement for his teammate. It's hard not to root for the guy. However watching him before games at shootaround he sometimes seems to be having too much fun yukking it up, instead of being focused on shooting the ball. I wish that would change. I want him to improve, find a niche/role, and stay.

[TheGoldStandard]

His height and the position he plays leaves really nothing for him to do but pick up garbage minutes or the occasional spark off the bench but the former happens more than the latter. He'll be gone in the offseason.

[Bruno]

The E-N had a good article on how well he has behaved this season despite being in a difficult situation (contract year + doghouse):
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2013/03/12/mike-monroe-blair-savors-possible-final-days-as-a-spur/

While I'm not a fan of what he did on the court and while I'm convince the best Spurs PF /C rotation is a 3 player rotation of Duncan/Splitter/Diaw, you had to give props for his attitude.

[TheGoldStandard]

He'll find work, remember when Milwaukee offered a boat load for Gooden.

[Pasta Batman]

A big problem in college is he was more athletic than most. He used more athleticism than skill to dominate. The problem is he got to the NBA, and when you are 6'5, you can't really out athleticize the NBA talent. For him to make up for that, he needed to put it into high gear for funadamental footwork (especially boxing out and footwork for defending since he lacks size). The problem is he didn't adapt to this too well. Another thing is he had the attitude that he was a star, once his rookie season was over with his success. I feel this got in the way of his priorities which stalled his growth process. His work ethic also varied over the years so that didn't help him.

He obviously has abilities and some bball IQ. The problem is it's inconsistent because his attention to the details isn't always there and his work ethic doesn't always seem to be in it. In some ways he reminds me of a smart spoiled rich kid who thinks they are smarter than they actually are. The moment the "work" part had to be involved, it got a little dicey and he got knocked on his butt. He looks like he might be starting to understand it, but it came too late. Now he has to sign a small contract and begin the process from that second probably short contract.


The E-N had a good article on how well he has behaved this season despite being in a difficult situation (contract year + doghouse):
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2013/03/12/mike-monroe-blair-savors-possible-final-days-as-a-spur/

While I'm not a fan of what he did on the court and while I'm convince the best Spurs PF /C rotation is a 3 player rotation of Duncan/Splitter/Diaw, you had to give props for his attitude.

The problem is it took him too long to grow up. He had his moments in the past, but it's good since this shows growth over previous seasons like when Dyess began to start over him and his big weight gain.

[EricB]

good reason for it. i think a lot of us just think that roster spot could be used by somebody more valuable than blair. even if he's a bottom of the bench guy, we could do better. he's also seemingly regressed since his sophomore season, where he was actually a viable regular season starter.


Pffffttttt lmao

[kaji157]

I think he is a good player, he was the starter for the majority of a regular season when the Spurs got the best record. That´s gotta count for something.
The backside of the story is that Splitter is a much better player, mainly on defense, and that Blair can only be successfull next to Duncan (which can´t be because Splitter is starting) or next to Bonner (which can´t be because Bonner doesn´t know what "rebound" means) so he ends up playing with Diaw (another player which he can play with but makes a 6-8 "on average" frontcourt).
Summing it up, i think the team has better players than him for what he can do, but is nowhere a bad player or a liability as some think here. At least not to me.
I would like him to have a role in the rotation, i think he can use the minutes Diaw shares with Duncan, as Diaw also shares minutes with Splitter.
Also he seems to be trying to develop a midrange game, if he can, he might be paired up with Splitter.
Outside of his basketball skills, he is a very likeable guy to me.
Clearly his better moments are those nights when Ginobili is a magician in pick and rolls, and he is able to show his touch near the rim.

EDIT: I would like us to resign him if possible at a reasonable ammount or let him go if we can upgrade or get Lorbek who can replace him and booner at the same time but is unlikey he ever comes to the NBA.

[exstatic]

I think he is a good player, he was the starter for the majority of a regular season when the Spurs got the best record. That´s gotta count for something.
The backside of the story is that Splitter is a much better player, mainly on defense, and that Blair can only be successfull next to Duncan (which can´t be because Splitter is starting) or next to Bonner (which can´t be because Bonner doesn´t know what "rebound" means) so he ends up playing with Diaw (another player which he can play with but makes a 6-8 "on average" frontcourt).
Summing it up, i think the team has better players than him for what he can do, but is nowhere a bad player or a liability as some think here. At least not to me.
I would like him to have a role in the rotation, i think he can use the minutes Diaw shares with Duncan, as Diaw also shares minutes with Splitter.
Also he seems to be trying to develop a midrange game, if he can, he might be paired up with Splitter.
Outside of his basketball skills, he is a very likeable guy to me.
Clearly his better moments are those nights when Ginobili is a magician in pick and rolls, and he is able to show his touch near the rim.

EDIT: I would like us to resign him if possible at a reasonable ammount or let him go if we can upgrade or get Lorbek who can replace him and booner at the same time but is unlikey he ever comes to the NBA.

Blair won't re-sign here. He's been trying to get out for the better part of a year.

[Pasta Batman]

EDIT: I would like us to resign him if possible at a reasonable ammount or let him go if we can upgrade or get Lorbek who can replace him and booner at the same time but is unlikey he ever comes to the NBA.

Not in a million years. Also, Lorbek just signed a new contract. That buyout is probably ridic. Lorbek is never seeing the NBA. Probably same odds as Blair playing for the Spurs after this season.

[Obstructed_View]

I like him, but the Spurs are about defense again, so there's not any room for him. So solly.

[ElNono]

Tonight...


Blair: 7 minutes, 2 points, 2 fouls, 1 turnover, -11

[TheGoldStandard]

I'm glad quickly fixed that problem and we didn't see him again.

[LittleCriminal]

Only if Pop would actaully fix the problem by puttin Blair in street clothes and putting Baynes In a Spurs Uniform!