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I give it 6 weeks tops.
I give it 6 weeks tops.
I hope not.
Even if Blair being in the starting unit isn't ideal, and as much as I'd love to see Duncan / Splitter to start the games, I may have to hang myself if Pop starts utilizing the Blair / Bonner combo off the bench again.
it all went downhill when Pop promoted Dice tot he starting lineup last year. that should avoid Bonner Blair frontcourts (hopefully)
The worst part is that there's no Dice to fall back to now...
Switching to a Dice/Ducan starting front court is what helped kill the Spurs at the end of last season.
Having Blair and Bonner be your second unit front court is asking to be ed slapped on the court on a daily basis.
Pop pretty much sees that and will start Blair and have Splitter come off the bench.
I would rather see Bonner and Blair combo off the bench going up against reserves rather than one of the two starting and letting the best opposition bigman have a field day early. If you start Blair.. you run the risk of letting guys like Zach Randolph, Dirk, David West, Gasol, Griffin get 1, 2, 3, 4 baskets early. Once that happens they are rolling making it impossible to slow them down.
Blair has great chemistry with the starting unit and is an underrated passer. If he manages to stay in shape, starting alongside Duncan is the best spot for him. Splitter is a complimentary piece too, but he at least has the size to play sans Duncan and not be a defensive liability.
Yeah, you don't hide your ty bench by starting them.
Well, unless you're the Spurs.
Blair was playing well until he got benched. I still remember that NY game when Blair outplayed Amare, dude was defending very well and scored on him a lot.
Blair is babysat by Tim and Manu when he's on the floor. It's painfully obvious, and Blair does some cleanup at times and has his moments, but he's too small to play center especially against teams with legit centers. That mean's Tim will have to guard the centers. Tiago should be fulfilling that role. I don't care who Pop plays with Bonner, it's a fest. There's a reason people don't want Blair and Bonner together, neither can defend worth a . So you want the ty defender as your starting center. Got it.
The Spurs were doing well early on, and the benching of Blair just happened to coincide with the time other teams began to get healthy. The Spurs were never going to be able to compete at the next level.
By some popular logic, Blair's rookie year was his best in the league thus far. He better do something this year else he's worthless imo. He's looked D-league long enough, time to step up or sit down.
I don't understand Pop's decision to play him unless he just wants to get him out there for a few minutes early and bring Splitter in. Then again, Tiago isn't that great either, but Tim won't get many minutes and hopefully Splitter will.
Maybe Pop and RC want Blair's value to rise so they will artificially force it through minutes, prior to the trade deadline.
Last edited by DMC; 12-24-2011 at 01:34 AM.
While I completely agree with your premise, I also think pairing Blair with Duncan will only increase the workload on Tim, since he basically will have to defend for both him and Blair. Pretty much the same with a Duncan/Bonner combo. Basically, we're back to Tim getting no help while he's on the floor.
make or break season for blair, isnt he up for contract renewal?
Dice ing stunk on ice and should never have been put into the starting lineup, but nobody else forced Blair to go to Whataburger three times a day.
Duncan and Splitter will never see the floor together. Just stop suggesting it. Both are centers and both are too slow to guard the athletic forwards out there. So it's going to be Blair or Bonner. Pick your poison. At least the Spurs had a good run last year with Blair in the starting unit.
Tiago isn't slow at all, he can easily guard PF's, he's got really quick feet for a guy his size, he can also run the floor quite well, his only problem is not keeping his damn hands up. I remember last year when TD was out for a while and Tiago got to start, dude was great during that time. In one of the Blazers games G. Wallace tried to beat Splitter off the dribble from like the 3pt line, Wallace tried crossing him up and driving it in but nothing worked, Splitter matched him move for move he stayed in front of him the entire time and forced him to pass the ball. No help defense or anything it was all 1 on 1.
Putting Splitter at PF would give him a huge advantage as well. Splitter has A LOT of trouble getting his shot off against big tall C's, BUT he has great success against shorter guys. He's not very strong either, he has trouble backing down C's, but with most PF's he's got no problem.
Except that Splitter and Duncan did see the floor together in the playoffs.
This is not a testament to how good Blair is, but rather how bad as his game is more easily covered by the starters and is woefully exposed when he plays with the bench, and in particular Bonner.
I agree overall, but I think Blair will at least help in rebounding, but so far that's about it.
One thing Blair has shown a penchant for is rebounding - and getting into foul trouble.
This has been the issue for the Spurs the last few years. Pop always talks about conserving Duncan minute-wise, when the problem really is how hard Tim has to work when he's on the floor. Get him some help already!
People like Blair, but he just isn't a starter due to his height. We want a legit big man or at least someone that can guard other bigs to help duncan, we have been waiting on one for years. Everybody is just frustrated. Blair also getting just absolutely raped against Mem. also left everybody disappointed in him. Just look at Parkers popularity on these boards after being outplayed by Conley.
I don't blame Blair for being short and lazy, I blame Pop for playing a short man at center whose motor is all too often stuck in neutral.
So Blair and Bonner can guard athletic forwards better than Tim and Tiago?
That's news.
There is only one reason why so many people slam Blair. We want him to play up to his potential. It is obvious that he just does not spend the time needed om his game. You can teach a kid in junior high on how to shoot a jump shot, but here we are with Blair whose flat footed toss rivals or is worse than the Splitter flip. At least Splitter plays with enrgy every play and does not try to be something he is not.
Blair should be called Elmer Fudd for all the bunny shots he misses.
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