Reply With Quote
It's great that he's showing us that he wants to improve and he most likely will improve.
Blair seeking more playing time
After standout rookie season he is after more time
By Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
DeJuan Blair was having fun playing the part of emcee at the prom lineup for Schenley High School students Friday afternoon in Highland Park. But with all due respect to his alma mater, playing master of ceremonies is not what Blair wants to be doing when the NBA playoffs are going on.
Blair, an All-American at Pitt who just completed his rookie season in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs, would rather be performing his usual role as master of the boards.
San Antonio's season ended unceremoniously when the Spurs were swept out of the playoffs in the second round two weeks ago by the Phoenix Suns, who are now playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
It was a disappointing end to a terrific rookie season for Blair, who left Pitt after two seasons to fulfill his dreams of playing in the NBA. Blair was the only member of the Spurs to play in all 82 regular-season games. He started 23 contests and averaged 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds a game.
Blair played mostly backup center to Spurs superstar Tim Duncan, but he did show flashes of his potential in several strong outings. He played his best game in the final contest of the regular season against the Dallas Mavericks.
Blair was in the starting lineup because Duncan was resting before the playoffs, and Blair played like someone who was auditioning for a bigger role on the team next season. He scored 27 points and grabbed 23 rebounds.
It was the second time in his rookie year that he scored 20 points and pulled down 20 rebounds in the same game. He scored a season-high 28 points and had 21 rebounds in a game against Oklahoma City in January.
Blair was the first rookie not selected in the first round of the draft to post a 20-20 game in 29 years.
"It was wonderful, just getting experience," Blair said. "That was the best thing. I'll know next year what's going to go down. I was just trying to have fun."
Blair helped the seventh-seeded Spurs upset No. 2 seed Dallas in the first round of the playoffs, 4-2. He averaged 4.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in the series, his first exposure to the heated in-state playoff rivalry between the two teams.
"That rivalry is like West Virginia and Pitt," Blair said. "It was crazy. I loved it."
But the Spurs, who were looking for a fifth NBA championship in 12 years, were denied a date with the Lakers by a hot-shooting Suns team that shredded San Antonio's defense game after game in the short series.
"Phoenix was a tough matchup for us," Blair said. "They made a lot of 3-pointers. They shot well. We played well, but their shots went in. It was a big learning experience for us."
Blair is back home for a while visiting with friends and family. He will play host to the DeJuan Blair Basketball Camp July 6-9 at Robert Morris University, where he hopes to pass on some of his expertise to boys and girls ages 9-18.
After his camp, Blair will turn his attention to the NBA summer league. He said his main goal during the summer league is to play power forward well enough to convince the Spurs that he can play that position full-time next season.
At 6 feet 7 and 265 pounds, Blair was an undersized center and sometimes encountered difficult matchups that got him into foul trouble or put him on the bench. If Blair can demonstrate the skills necessary to play power forward he can earn a bigger role on the Spurs.
For Blair, it has been a whirlwind 12 months. Last year at this time he was going through pre-draft medical testing that revealed neither of his two surgically repaired knees had anterior cruciate ligaments.
That fact was the biggest reason he fell to the second round of the draft. Blair put up a confident exterior after the ordeal, but he revealed Friday that underneath it all he questioned whether he would fulfill his dreams of making it to the NBA.
"My favorite part of my first season was just making it," Blair said. "I didn't think I was going to make it at all. I went through all of that stuff, my name not being called [in the first round]. I had some doubts. I definitely had some doubts."
Those doubts are gone now, replaced by a desire to improve his game and take the next step in what is shaping up as a promising professional career.
"I'm just trying to get better in all aspects of my game," Blair said. "I want to keep having fun and keep getting better."
DeJuan Blair was the emcee for the Schenley High School prom lineup at the Highland Park Reservoir Friday.
It's great that he's showing us that he wants to improve and he most likely will improve.
If he develops a mid-range jump shot this off-season, he ll get his playing time
cheers
DeJuan...please watch all the tapes you can of the following players:
Wes Unseld
Larry Johnson
Malik Rose
Mix in some Charles Barkley
So...Watch Video of players listed above, Test Moves, Implement in practice and summer league to muscle memory....DOMINATE next year!
Do that, and you won't be home in Pittsburgh in May of next year.
Good to see he plans on playing in the summer league. Figured he would, but good to see it confirmed. Circle July 9th on your calendar.
Also good to see he plans to work on the skills that will get him minutes at PF. That matches with what Pop said about Blair working on his mid range jump shot. There clearly is a plan of action in place.
So "Mr. Wonderful" is playing summer league, eh?
Beyond his play, his easy confidence and apparent absence of -ness is really helping him become a real Spur. In contrast, look at someone like Jefferson, who makes y (no gay jokes, please) statements all the time while simultaneously seeming completely insecure.
This...and work on conditioning. If he gets some McDyess/Kurt Thomas range on that jumper and sheds another 15 pounds he will get all the minutes he wants.
he will get more playing time because duncan needs more rest
but it would be great if he improves
hopefully he is not but hurt spurs get splitter here though
Hope Blair can continue to improve. Defensive should be a big priority as well as shooting.
i'm excited
I wouldn't hold your breath.
Even when and if Splitter does come over, Blair will still see the floor a lot. especially with the way Pop is going to limit Duncan + Dice in the regular season. He will have plenty of chances to prove himself. Now lets just hope the spurs don't bring back Bonner.
Bonner is the odd man out and hopefully Pop recognizes that as well as we do.
After consecutive PO failures by Bonner, I don't think there's a question. He's history.
As much as I like Blair, I don't think he is anything other than a good role player at best. He will never be Barkely, Larry Johnson, or Unseld. He will probably be better than Rose. As mentioned before, he will have to develop a consistent 15 footer to make any kind of decent impact. He's an undersized Oliver Miller at best.
He is going to have to change position to PF because of his physical stature.
Does he have the defensive speed and the mid-range shot to make that move? He's spent his whole career at the 5 and learning a new position isn't going to be easy.
What Blair can accomplish with his limited size is stunning. Comparing him to Oliver Miller is well just... wrong. Blair showed flashes of what he can do this season. An he is only rookie. The only question is when he hits the rookie wall and how he can improve after that.
He has obviously a lot of work to do and he may indeed never be Barkley, Johnson or Unseld but he has the potential to be better than just a good role player.
With a lot of work and minutes he may become a player averaging +15 and +10 for a couple of seasons.
If blair would of played more this dude would of avg. 18 and 15 no doubt. He will be a monster this year look what he did when he played alot in the game, and even in the rookie game
Anyone who thinks Blair will just be an average role player is crazy. He wants you to think that....
I will say that he may never be a Barkley, Johnson, or Unseld. But if he's Malik Rose 2002-2003 every day for 10-11, he's bad ass. And he can learn tons from watching Unseld. I don't think he needs to really perfect a 15 foot jump shot. He needs to be able to optimize the space he can gather with his body position. Unseld's ability to outwork people to get better position and to clear space and go with either hand around the boards, helped negate the size differential of length. Let's say DeJuan only takes 10-12 shots per game but makes over 50% of them...then, it's all good. He already rebounds well.
Last edited by Man In Black; 05-24-2010 at 05:31 PM.
I agree with you I think he is just too "small" to play his current position.
Blair's peak is a great 6th man IMO, nothing wrong with that..I don't think he can be a legit starter unless the Spurs can acquire another franchise big man, which unlikely..
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
