rookie wall i suppose he has been doing poor as of late
What happened? He was doing great, considered a top 5 rookie by most of the espn writers. over the last few weeks, i haven't seen him crack 20 minutes.
rookie wall i suppose he has been doing poor as of late
He sucked post-ASG for some reason.
Rookie wall, is probably the easiest explanation. With a season under his belt, he should be back and be crashing the boards better than ever come next season.
He has been average the last few weeks so his minutes are low.
He is not that great on defense and most taller players can just shoot over him.
he gotta stop fouling after the opposing player got the rebound....
It's partially him struggling, partially the compe ion the Spurs are now facing, which means Duncan is playing extended minutes and because Pop rarely plays them together, since he has to have a big to stretch the floor with Duncan because as we all know he doesn't need help in other areas and can't possibly succeed any other way, Blair is the big who's minutes are being cut.
Bonner needs to shoot better to justify the amount of playing time he's receiving, particularly against athletic teams. Sure McDyess isn't shooting all that well, but he's rebounding very well and if the Spurs want to do anything down the stretch or in the playoffs, they better get him going and have him finishing games next to Duncan, because they're not going to beat credible compe ion with any consistency with Bonner finishing games. He can't make a big shot to save his life, can't guard anyone despite his best efforts and isn't rebounding.
That's a huge problem, IMO. No matter how Bonner plays, Pop seems -bent on forcefeeding him minutes - even during crunch time.
Blair hasn't been his "draft-steal" self since the rookie/sop re game and especially after disappointing his family and home crowd. Also with Ginobili on the starting lineup and Blair on the bench; he doesn't get anywhere near as good of looks since Manu's the Spur whose really developed chemistry with the rookie.
He still makes an impact but teams are able to exploit his disadvantages more which includes his foul-proneness. I also think teams are actually respecting his scouting report after making a name for himself with those monster games.
DJB is playing his worst BB right now. Doing stupid fouls, T's etc. So his minutes went down, he has to play better. I'm affraid he can become another Malik Rose, hope not.
Blair hasnt been playing so well but imo i think thats actually a good sign.. when you had blair constantly going off for 20 points and double double games and being in the top 3 in FGA attempts every time it just seemed like something was off because him being a go to guy on offense isn't going to get us anywhere.
hes hit some sort of rookie wall but if he can come in and contribute on the boards and get a few easy buckets then thats all we need from him.
More fine tuning on D and DJB will we one of a presence in the paint....not that he isn't already.
This, I ing hate this. He has to realize when he didn't win
I think thats it right there. Just like jefferson has been playing better with Manu, Blair also needed Manu and has regressed a bit since Ginobili was inserted into the starting lineup.
Rookie wall, rookie mistakes (fouls and bad rotations) and Manu moved to the starting lineup.
He's also been missing a lot of layups, putbacks, gimmes.
yep, has to be the rookie wall.
This JOB isn't as easy and fun as the October DJB thought it was.
This, and Pop filling his young and inexperienced quota with Hill in the starting five.
He's Dejuan F'ing Blair. The Phoenix will Rise!
#1) the manu factor
#2) Bonner is getting his minutes
I think if he was allowed to play through his mistakes, we'd see the old Blair again, but that's just not gonna happen. We all know that despite Hill playing well last season, he was benched right in time for the playoffs.
Manu going into the starting lineup is what affected Blair, thankfully we know that the bench will be a beast when Tony comes back.
See Hill, George - 2009.
Perhaps he has hit the rookie wall. He's making a lot of apparent fatigue mistakes, such as missed layups, lazy, reach-in fouls, and such. Of course, Blair seeing less court time with Manu hasn't helped either.
Granted I would like to see a few more games with Matt shooting well, but his percentages are pretty damn good.
FG: 0.471 3Pt: 0.413
Add in that he has made a good effort to expand his game.
Bonner is a solid role player. I would like McDyess to outplay him and be there in crunch time, but how you can say Bonner does not shoot well...
It is. If the Spurs intend on doing anything in the playoffs, McDyess has to be the finisher at PF. Has to be. Bonner is a proven choke artist against quality opposition, particularly during crunch time.
I should have clarified. What I meant was against quality opposition, since he's completely deficient in virtually every other area of the game against the types of PF's many of those teams possess, he has to shoot a high percentage to justify his playing time and he doesn't do it. I don't have the numbers at my disposal at the moment, but I know he shoots terribly against quality opposition.
McDyess, poor as he's playing at the moment, should be closing games at this point (it's not like Bonner is drastically outplaying him). Pop just hasn't warmed to the idea of McDyess closing games all season, but if this team really thinks they're beating a playoff team in a series with Bonner playing down the stretch, then they've got another thing coming. They might be able to get away with him if he shot against playoff teams how he does against the dregs of the league, but he doesn't.
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