48MoH: DeJuan Blair as the San Antonio Spurs

[Agloco]

Unfortunately for Blair, Pop is not in the business of developing talent.
He will see little or no playing time this season, and this has very little to do with his perceived deficiencies and everything to do with Pop leaning on experienced players like he always does.
So we're going to see a whole lot of Bonner getting abused on D and averaging about 3 rebounds per game (which doesn't help TD's knees at all) while DeJuan will be watching from the sideline. Very much like we saw Vaughn finishing up the season last year playing backup to TP, while Hill was sitting on the bench.

Come on man. I expect a lot better from you.

[Manufan909]

Why is everyone responding to the Spurs troll in our mist?

[Bruno]

Being a great rebounder isn't enough to be a good NBA player.

If Blair plays bad defense, isn't able to hit a jumpshot and isn't able to score in the post, he won't be able to really help Spurs even if he is the best rebounder in the league.

[xtremesteven33]

Being a great rebounder isn't enough to be a good NBA player.

If Blair plays bad defense, isn't able to hit a jumpshot and isn't able to score in the post, he won't be able to really help Spurs even if he is the best rebounder in the league.

Youre right. But Blair has a BIG TIME upside with all the natural tools he already posses. If being a ferocious rebounder is your stepping stone to get better than I think we should be patient with this guy, he has the chance to be really special....

[NRHector]

Youre right. But Blair has a BIG TIME upside with all the natural tools he already posses. If being a ferocious rebounder is your stepping stone to get better than I think we should be patient with this guy, he has the chance to be really special....

[DPG21920]

This guy is not a very good defender and he can't shoot

[Mr. Body]

Being a great rebounder isn't enough to be a good NBA player.

If Blair plays bad defense, isn't able to hit a jumpshot and isn't able to score in the post, he won't be able to really help Spurs even if he is the best rebounder in the league.

Depends on how bad his defense is. Average defender, below average shooter, great rebounder would still help a lot.

[Bruno]

This guy is not a very good defender and he can't shoot

And he sucks.

[DPG21920]

And he sucks.

Point is he has carved out a niche for himself and many teams value him. He has been in the league for over 7 years. Blair's rebounding and motor will keep him in the NBA and make him somewhat valuable.

A guy like Gist or McClinton will struggle. I still think Blair can help as is, but he will need to keep working on his defense and offense to really be considered a "steal".

[Bruno]

Point is he has carved out a niche for himself and many teams value him. He has been in the league for over 7 years. Blair's rebounding and motor will keep him in the NBA and make him somewhat valuable.

A guy like Gist or McClinton will struggle. I still think Blair can help as is, but he will need to keep working on his defense and offense to really be considered a "steal".

Staying in the NBA != valuable.

If Blair is as good (or as abd) as Evans, he won't really help Spurs. Last time I've checked, Sixers decided to bench him during last year playoffs to play someone called Theo Ratliff.

[DPG21920]

If he wasn't valuable, why would he stick for 7 years? There are plenty of guys who can at least shoot, or defend better than him? You are telling me there is no one out there that could have taken his place?

I am not saying he is invaluable to a team, but he has value. Rebounding at that rate can help a team. But in order to make a "big" impact, other parts of his game need to be good.

I don't know what you are trying to say about Blair with your original statement, or why you seem to be hinting that Blair won't be a help. He adds something the Spurs don't have, even if it just turns out to be one dimensional (which it does not seem).

[Manufan909]

So was his 1on1 D any good in college?

[DJB]

Answering your question, I am not speaking of countering his "nose for the ball". I mean taking advantage of his 6'6 height on defense. That is something you can gameplan and exploit.

You're forgetting that he has a 7'2 wingspan, his height's not that big of an issue. The kids going to manhandle the glass against anyone. Period. This kid is Charles Barkley 2.0. Tough as ing nails. He's not going to be exploited.

[DPG21920]

Blair was able to use his strength and motor to defend more effectively in college, but I would not say it was "good" from a technical standpoint.

[Bruno]

If he wasn't valuable, why would he stick for 7 years? There are plenty of guys who can at least shoot, or defend better than him? You are telling me there is no one out there that could have taken his place?

There are plenty of guys who have been in the league for 7 or more years and who can't help a contender to win a championship.

I don't know what you are trying to say about Blair with your original statement, or why you seem to be hinting that Blair won't be a help. He adds something the Spurs don't have, even if it just turns out to be one dimensional (which it does not seem).

I'm not hinting that Blair won't be a help. Don't put words in my mouth.

[HarlemHeat37]

Reggie Evans doesn't have anywhere near the offensive game that Blair has..DeJuan is actually a very good finisher and creative finisher at the rim..Evans is really bad offensively..

[Interrohater]

I think a huge point that's being overlooked, or ignored is that the few players in the NBA who are great at almost every facet of the game are your franchise players, a la Kobe, Lebron, Timmy, Chris Paul, etc. Other players, who are extremely valuable to their respective teams, are "role players" and fill a specific need, a la Steve Kerr, Brent Barry, Steve Nash (yes! Steve Nash is a role player! You can't build a team around Steve Nash!), Ray Allen, etc. As you can see, some of these "role players" are more talented and decorated than others, but they fill a specific need, whether that is lights-out 3 point shooting, or impeccable leadership of the offense. Dejuan Blair is a "role player" and will absolutely be game-planned for. How can an opposing coach ignore that monster? He fills a specific need, as far as we can tell from a few inconsequential games, and he definitely will make a difference this season.

[DPG21920]

So what were you trying to say? You do this all the time now. You say leading comments, then when someone says something, you say: "don't put words in my mouth".

You say "people are overreacting" about Ian, and I say is Varner? Then you say "show me where Varner says "Ian does not give a f*ck about playing for the Spurs"" like the others I was referring to. No one said "Ian does not give a f*ck" in the thread we were discussing and Varner did not say it. But you lead towards that.

I just don't get the kind of things you are saying from time to time and why your posts recently "have a mood" about them. I am not the only one to notice.

[my2sons]

19 rebounds is freakin' amazing. The author is a bit pessimistic but I do agree that coaches will eventually game plan for Blair to exploit his size deficiency.

Pop will also scheme to hide as much of his diffeciencies as possible, especially one tim duncan who erases alot of spurs mistakes and makes weaker defenders manageable, danny ferry, brent barry to name a few

[Bruno]

So what were you trying to say? You do this all the time now. You say leading comments, then when someone says something, you say: "don't put words in my mouth".

My English is far from being perfect but what I think that what I said what quite clear.

I'm saying that IF Blair do nothing else than rebounding, he won't be able to help Spurs. He will need to bring something else on the table.
I don't know at all if he will be able to bring something else and I'm not hinting that he won't.

You say "people are overreacting" about Ian, and I say is Varner? Then you say "show me where Varner says "Ian does not give a f*ck about playing for the Spurs"" like the others I was referring to. No one said "Ian does not give a f*ck" in the thread we were discussing and Varner did not say it. But you lead towards that.

Varner is a gigantic .

I just don't get the kind of things you are saying from time to time and why your post recently "have a mood" about them. I am not the only one to notice.

Thanks for taking care of my mood.
If you don't like what I post, ignore me.

[DPG21920]

Taking care of your mood? What does that even mean? I like your posts in general, I don't want to ignore you, I want to understand why you say certain things and why you seem bitter recently. Like when you said you were leaving the forum because a small group of posters "trashed" your FNT thread.

Oh well. Go Spurs.

[Interrohater]

....chirp... chirp....

[Bruno]

Taking care of your mood? What does that even mean? I like your posts in general, I don't want to ignore you, I want to understand why you say certain things and why you seem bitter recently. Like when you said you were leaving the forum because a small group of posters "trashed" your FNT thread.

Oh well. Go Spurs.

Well if you would stop to try reading between lines when there is nothing to read, it woudl be easier for you to understand what I'm saying.

And I'm not somewhat bitter, I don't even know why I would be bitter. In the FNT, I just didn't see the interest of posting some news when it was flooded by pages of trolling. Nothing more, nothign less.

[MaNu4Tres]

I think people comparing DeJuan Blair to Reggie Evans is quite harsh. Not saying DeJuan will ever make the All-Star team, but the dude can do more than just rebound. He is a player that can get his own shot off better than any post we have outside of Duncan. . Of course he has to expand his knowledge within the system, which will only make him improve. But to say the only he can do is rebound is negatively exploiting him as a player.


On another note:

Mahimni/ Haislip/ and Dwayne Jones will be either waived or on the inactive list for the majority of the season when it's said and done. It's sad that Mahimni has been in neutral since 2006. I don't see him breaking the Spurs rotation this year or next year if they even pick up his option. Haislip is an inconsistent below average shooter, who looses the ball more often than not when he puts it on the floor, and he can't defend in the post. I don't see him making any kind of impact this year. Dwaye Jones is a capable player if he decides to play in Austin or overseas.

I see our big rotation close to this:

Duncan 32 mpg
Dyess 24 mpg
Blair 17 mpg
Bonner 15 mpg
Ratliff 8 mpg

[benefactor]

Really? Hmm, now I wonder what exactly is it about him that could give you such insight into his intelligence?

He is Spur Supremacist reincarnated. It is no coincidence that he is in love with Bonner and he has plenty of negative things to say about Jefferson and Blair.