Good take -that's pretty much the book on Blair. Case closed.
It means he won't last long in the league. It's a big reason why his performance has declined over the three years he's been in the league. He doesn't have the ability to move like he once did. He misses defensive rotations, doesn't box out like he used to and goddamn he'd be great in Miami.
While I don't disagree with that in any way, I do want to ask: How does that differ from Gary Neal, Matt Bonner, etc? Most of our role players only do one or two things well (usually just one), and suck badly in 1, 2, or 3 other areas. Bonner can't do much besides shoot threes. Neal can't do anything at all besides score (worst perimeter defender on the team by a very wide margin imo), Green is a terrible ball handler and mediocre passer, Diaw is gunshy and slow, Splitter has random bouts of inconsistency and softness, De Colo is a shaky ball handler and inconsistent shooter, etc etc.
Most of our roleplayers are 1:1 or worse in terms of good and bad ability. Green and maybe Diaw and Splitter are the only roleplayers we have that are consistently positive, or at least enough to be considered mostly positive. The rest are pretty much out there to stall and try to keep the margin from changing too much until the real players get back in.
Not trying to about your assessment; it's correct, but just saying the same does apply to most of our bench too. It's not unique to just Blair.
I see what you're saying, but Neal and Bonner are really the only two that are comparable. The other guys have flaws, but none are on Blair's level. But take Neal. He might be horrible on defense like Blair, but it's slightly more forgiving to have a bad perimeter defender than front court defender. With a bad back court defender, there's at least more distance to the basket that allows for more time for other players to help off their man, or the front court guys to protect the rim. But when Blair blows his defensive assignment, it's a layup for the other team. Neal's also shown he can hit big shots in the playoffs, which is a very valuable trait to have. With Bonner, the spacing he provides makes him very useful in the Spurs offensive system. We all have our problems with Bonner, but even though he's a pretty limited player, he's a much smarter player than Blair, rarely makes boneheaded mistakes, even if his limit skill level keeps him from being very effective on the court.
So I'd disagree that for any of our other bench guys, "the negatives outweigh the positives." I think the only player you can say that about on this team is Blair.
Bonner is bad in the playoffs, but he is turnover-free, plays team defense more effectively and adds a dimension to the Spurs' versatile offense. Blair's role is to be an offensive rebounder, solid defensive rebounder and a tough presence in the paint - all qualities where he has declined since his rookie year (or has not improved) because of size disadvantages, (possible) knee issues, weight issues and so on. Add to that, what capek mentions, he has not understood team defense well enough, has not increased his defensive effectiveness (or whatever rump of its remains), and ergo, he is a more of a liability than an asset, despite generally being a hard worker.
Having said that, the consensus among Spur fans is that if the Spurs don't get a early second rounder or a first rounder for him, it makes sense to keep him until end of season rather than dump him for (limited) salary cap benefits.
When I say that, I'm also taking into consideration the fact that a few of them are significantly worse than the average NBA player. Bonner doesn't make a lot of "mistakes", no, but he doesn't exactly impact the game very much either. You can make no mistakes and still be bad (not just referring to Bonner).
Being on the floor and doing nothing positive is a negative. Basically, I expect a minimum level of positive production for any NBA player, then I look at what extra they do and think of that as their positives. I also forgive typical failures, such as having a hand in someone's face but they still hit the shot.
Looking at the game that way, someone like Neal really does nothing except shoot and occaisionally drive and chuck up an inaccurate floater. Yeah it's good to have the scoring, but if you specifically watch Neal (who he's guarding and his rotations), he screws up constantly. It seems like half the time he's giving up an open look or a clear lane.
Blair's been worse this year with the decreased production, yes, but I wouldn't say he has been significantly worse than any other bench guy the last few years with the exception of the big guys: Ginobili, Splitter, Jackson, and Ford. I just don't think he was that bad until he struggled to score most of this season. His defense sucked yeah, but at least his good rebounding makes up for it somewhat.
The problem is that fans expect him to perform like a lottery pick rather than a 2nd rounder.
what rebounding are you talking about? the ones that has no defender near him to contest him? or rebounds with a defender on him?
dude is fkn when it comes to contested rebounds, doesnt box out or anything and gets outhustled cause clown cant jump...
then u have the rebounds with no one next to him, he decides to jump and pull it down hard...all show no substance
I am still surprised that he never did a Whataburger commercial, seeing as he kept the company afloat during his rookie year.
i wonder if they have horse meat
There are varying explanations to this, none of which are explicitly made clear within the film: Obviously, it is shown that Heather goes down the in basement and then is knocked out and presumably killed by whatever force similarly attacked Mike and Josh. Who or what was the attacker is open to debate, presumably Rustin Parr and even rednecks. One speculation as to the iden y of the perpetrator is that it was Rustin Parr, the hermit child murderer who claimed to have been possessed by the Blair Witch mentioned earlier in the film. At the end of the film, Mike is standing in the corner facing the wall, recalling an early piece of expository dialogue that stated Parr used to take two children down into the basement and make one face the corner while he murdered the other child. Another speculation, this one offered by the filmmakers on the DVD commentary, is that Heather, Mike and Josh could all have been killed by rednecks, an explanation vaguely hinted at (or perhaps foreshadowed) throughout the film. Ultimately, it is up to the viewer's own imagination as to what happened to the three students and the occurrences within the Black Woods: whether the viewer believes it was supernatural (i.e. the Witch, the Parr paradox) or a simpler explanation. In some threads onimdb.com and other websites, it is theorized that Josh (and maybe Mike) set it all up and cheated Heather. As mentioned there are several explanation to the end and probably more than explained here.
He still averages over 10 rebounds per 36. Career, over 11. He's not a ty rebounder, and he's good at boxing people out. He isn't Bonner, Splitter, and Diaw, who suck at boxing out. Blair's better than everyone on the team but Duncan at rebounding.
And btw, his rebounding does make up for his poor ability to stop quality guys in the post.
Blair's defensive rating stats for his career:
2010: 101
2011: 100
2012: 102
2013: 99
He's also 6th on the team in win shares per 48. He'd be around #2 or #3 in defensive win shares per 48, if that was a stat. He isn't nearly as bad as you think he is. Sometimes the "eye test" lies to you.
"Obviously I am disappointed that we were not able to get a trade done but I trust Pop and RC and I know they tried their best and have DeJuan and the Spurs best interests at heart," Blair's agent Happy Walters said. "When Pop needs Dejuan, he'll be ready to contribute as he always has been."
Fox 29 San Antonio
the problem with failing to trade blair, insurance cause of the injury scare a few weeks back when duncan went down, be stupid to bring someone new in to learn the system if it does happen again...since blair will be a rental til end of the season anyway
spurs should start giving his minutes to bayne...who has shown glimpse he can play if his subs uted in at the correct time during games and playing more than 59 seconds
If youd rather have Blair as a 4th bigman instead of Bonner youre an idiot. Bonner is limited physically but he doesnt have a brain the size of a pea tbh. Not only is Blair shorter but hes also lazier and about 100 times dumber than Matty Ice. His terrible defense is well do ented but hes also a blackhole on offense, consistently bogs down the ball movement to iso and take dumb contested shots. Hes just terrible tbh.
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