Blair off of the bench

[toki9]

Pop pulling Blair from the starting line up following the Lakers game has had a huge negative effect. Not only has it screwed with Blair's game (See the quotes below), but it also facilitated Bonner/Blair combination on the floor.

Not everyone is like Manu in handling the bench role. Even Hill struggles with it and he's had more time to adjust than Blair. It's a lot to ask of someone who's still a kid. (And, yeah, he should be a "professional" about it, but that's so much easier said than done. I mean, how many of us can claim to have been mature at 21, honestly?)

And there has to be some chemistry issues from it as well.

I think Pop has created a problem by reacting really suddenly and quickly to the Lakers.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-reserve-role/

"Blair admits not knowing hasn’t been easy over the past month, after he went from starting the first 53 games of the season to earning sporadic minutes off the bench.

“With the change in the lineup, I go back to thinking again — what do I do?” Blair said. “I’ve got to get that out of my head, somehow.”

Blair said Spurs coaches have offered him one standard piece of advice: Be a pro.

Asked what that means to him, Blair repeated himself: “Just be ready.”

For the season, Blair is averaging 8.7 points and 7.3 rebounds as a starter, and 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds in 14 games as a sub.

“Bench minutes are something you have to get used to,” guard George Hill said, “but I think he’s handling it well.”

Asked after Tuesday’s game how he thought Blair was handling his new role, coach Gregg Popovich chose his words carefully.

“DeJuan’s working at it,” he said."

[toki9]

Sorry, didn't see the other thread. Please feel free to merge.