Defending Dejuan

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Originally Posted by donjuansdaddy

Nobody's really hating Blair. Blair has trouble defending big low post players that can score with their backs to the basket, Period. That is why most Spurs fan know Blair shouldn't be seeing minutes against teams like the Lakers and Grizz.

And teams like OKC, which have Perkins at 6'7" as well, who isn't a low post scorer, Blair actually does quite well against those teams. Those teams the Spurs are afforded the flexability of Rotated Duncan and Splitter out of the lineup interchangably. But against the Lakers/Grizz, they need both on the court at the same time.

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? Perkins is 6'10.

http://everyjoe.com/files/2009/10/de...af_cs7_045.jpg


I think what might be holding DB back from being a great post defender like Hayes
and Rose are his knees. Hayes has some monstrous calves and you can tell rose has a very strong lower body, you can tell that both guys do squats. Their very strong legs allowed them to become very good post defenders since guys had such a hard time backing them down.

As you can see in the pic above, DB's calves have almost no muscle at all, they look very strange. I think he avoids squats due to his knees, either that or he's got really bad genetics.

Don't hate Blair at all. Just think he shouldn't be starting or seeing significant minutes in the playoffs unless we're playing a team he normally does really well against. Even at that I don't want him out there during crunch time if it's close.

Dejuan has an important role on this team. He has decent touch around the rim and scores for us in the interior. Something that Duncan does not do as much anymore especially since his jumper has become so consistent this season. Splitter can also provide this interior scoring but is more valuable coming the bench because he can relieve 2 positions both Pf and C if either Duncan or Blair need to come out of the game.

^^ Or we could start Diaw and give Splitter more minutes while reducing Bonner's time and dropping Blair altogether unless we're playing OKC or someone similar.

Blair has been crucial against OKC. There are plenty of cons about him as a player... but it would seem illogical to sit him outside of games against LAL/MEM... he has proven to be a contributing part in several of the victories recorded against playoff caliber teams.

Blair's a good guy and all, I like his personality.But, he is the worst player on the team,imho.

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Originally Posted by Proxy

Blair has been crucial against OKC. There are plenty of cons about him as a player... but it would seem illogical to sit him outside of games against LAL/MEM... he has proven to be a contributing part in several of the victories recorded against playoff caliber teams.

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How many points does he give up? There's more than one way to win.

Dejuan needs to grow up and actually pay attention to the mistakes he makes on the floor, and fix them. Without that, he's never going to amount to more than he already has. When you peak in your rookie year, you're not doing well by most NBA standards. Sure there are a lot of players in the league who are worse, but they aren't our problem.

He's not slapping at the ball any more like he used to, now he brings it down and it goes from there. That's an improvement.

I think he's hit a developmental wall.