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Yea his weight is his asset. He's played with it his whole basketball career. With his 7'3 inch wingspan and size that can make up for his lake of height. He's 265 but looks like a solid 265.
We dont want him to lose too much weight, he wont be able to push bodies out of the paint as easy.
Yea his weight is his asset. He's played with it his whole basketball career. With his 7'3 inch wingspan and size that can make up for his lake of height. He's 265 but looks like a solid 265.
This from an SI article about Blair's knees, and why he fell so far. An Eastern Conference exec says that most doctors red-flagged him, which prevented teams from taking him in the first round. Still surprising that he didn't go earlier in the second round.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...own/index.html
1. DeJuan Blair goes to San Antonio in the second round. The burly Pitt star was viewed as a lottery pick until teams got wind of his medical exam. Blair underwent ACL surgery on both knees in high school, and many teams said his long-term prognosis was not good.
Though he went undrafted in the first round, his landing site could not have worked out better for Blair. He'll join the Spurs and help them as a rookie while playing limited minutes, which should set him up for a contract in three years.
Many executives in the league didn't like seeing Blair fall this far, but there was little they could do to stop it. Most team doctors red-flagged him, which prevented the GMs from taking Blair in the first round.
"This is the worst I've ever seen as far as doctors unwilling to put their butts on the line," said a senior executive of an Eastern conference team. "If there's any kind of gray area, they're going to flunk the player."
Because of the sophisticated testing of MRIs and other high-tech devices, team doctors "know things they never used to know," the executive went on. "They never used to flunk players, and now they flunk them all the time. And a lot of the time it's to cover their [butts]."
With the 36th pick in the 2009 NBA draft, the Memphis Grizzlies select Sam Young from the University of Pittsburgh
(12 seconds later...)
With the 37th pick in the 2009 NBA draft, the San Antonio Spurs select DeJuan Blair from the University of Pittsburgh.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09177/980097-100.stm
Blair: No regrets despite falling to 2nd round pick
Friday, June 26, 2009
By Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Despite being taken in the second round of the NBA Draft last night, Pitt All-American DeJuan Blair has no regrets about turning professional after his sop re season.
"No, this is what I wanted," Blair said this morning on a conference call the day after the San Antonio Spurs drafted him with the No. 37 overall selection. "I think it was a good decision. I couldn't have landed in a better situation than I am in now. [San Antonio] just traded Kurt Thomas, their starting forward. It's a dream come true. I should have been a first-round pick, but God wanted me to drop to the second round."
Blair's agent Happy Walters said it was in Blair's best interest to turn professional because Blair has a limited number of years to earn money because of his two surgically repaired knees.
"He doesn't have any [ligaments]," Walters said. "No one has ever been drafted without [ligaments]. Teams didn't know how long he would hold up in the NBA grind. Going back to college would have made the situation worse. This was a decision to take care of his family."
Despite the concerns about Blair's long-term durability, Walters said this morning that he "guarantees" that Blair will sign a guaranteed contract with the Spurs and is confident that he will sign for more than the league minimum of $457,588.
"No doubts at all," Walters said. "He'll sign a guaranteed contract."
Walters said he will likely seek a two-year contract because he is confident that Blair will outperform the value of his first contract.
Damn, that sounds kinda' grim."He doesn't have any [ligaments]," Walters said. "No one has ever been drafted without [ligaments]. Teams didn't know how long he would hold up in the NBA grind. Going back to college would have made the situation worse. This was a decision to take care of his family."
Hopefully he's able to give the Spurs some quality years while their window is open and the guy is able to better himself and his family in the long-term.
He's a good kid and deserves it.
You can't really be disappointed since he's a first round talent. I'll just be happy (for him too) if he can have a fulfilling NBA career.
Last edited by TimDunkem; 06-26-2009 at 01:20 PM.
What kind of contract can the Spurs offer Blair? How does this affect the cap? Is it straight up against the salary cap? I'm still a little unclear on how the new cap works.
so his from pitt...shortfor pittbull...BLAIR should turn all that fat into pure muscle,
we need a wild animal down low crashing the boards and stuff
actually i read he only has 12% body fat which is the same as Wake's James Johnson.
i dunno, but we better buy insurance just in case his knees give way into the season, thats if his sign
The agent needs to chill with the over the minimum crap, lets just see how the kid performs at summer league first....
The guy reminds me of a Pitt Bull in every way. The way he looks and his at ude of "go get it, go get it, go get it". I hope when Pop says "Go get it" this dude responds like he did in College.
I'm all for the Spurs giving Blair a little sweetner, particularly if it's tied to getting/staying in shape. A little extra might pay off in a couple of years from now in a little loyalty when a two year contract is up.
Damn. That's his agent saying that he literally doesn't have the ligaments. I've been certain that was just a misunderstanding, and that he didn't have any visible ACL problems, after the surgery. ("No ACL" meaning "No ACL injury".) I didn't think it was possible to keep playing compe ively without either ACL, much less without both. His quads must be like iron, and even then I don't see how the knees can be stable enough to survive 82 games of NBA pounding. But then again, I don't see how he competed in college, either. It's supposed to be impossible on an ACL that has completely torn and not been surgically repaired. But to just not have any ACL's left? Damn.
I assume the agent knows what he's saying. And if he does, it's not hard to understand why he fell so low in the draft. That's a lot more risk than I thought.
Theres no way to really explain it I guess, hes just a freak of nature.
I don't think Sean Elliott had his acl in one knee. That's what RC Buford said in the post draft video last night.
Nice find
here's an interview with blair from a gay suns radio station - good stuff (from blair, not the tools who did the interview) http://tinyurl.com/om84wu if someone else already posted this sorry --- I'm still dancing, wish the season started next month
these suns guys really had a hard-on for him...And now he's ours!!!! woooo-hooooo
and if you wanna follow him on twitter...
http://twitter.com/DeJuan45
and an excellent NYTimes article on blair http://tinyurl.com/mh8crw
Winners and losers: Cavs cash in
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
Jun 26, 12:34 am EDT
LOSER: DeJuan Blair’s knees
He’s had surgery on both of them. Although he never missed a game or practice while starring at Pitt, and his physical power overwhelmed UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet (the second pick overall), Blair fell all the way to the Spurs in the second round.
That’s a long wait for one of the college game’s best players.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns
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