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Apparently, that ship has sailed. Blair has no desire to return to the Spurs and the Spurs have no desire to retain him.
I must be in the minority to think Blair could play a big roll on the Spurs. Sure, he doesn't have the defense at this level like Splitter (to be fair, he doesn't have the size, his D is pretty good), but his rebounding would be so good for us. Splitter cannot rebound to save his life. I think we could utilize him.
Apparently, that ship has sailed. Blair has no desire to return to the Spurs and the Spurs have no desire to retain him.
so did richard jefferson?
and he's getting paid 10 mil
Just like Finley/RMJ/Bogans/Bonner/RJ/Turkoglu/89 yr old Macdyess
Expiring deals are a different beast, especially to teams over the cap. Ariza's deal isn't horrible, provided the Spurs could obtain it without much hassle. Worst case, it's a of a trade chip to have at the deadline.
If a trade fails to happen, it will be because the Spurs don't like Ariza or like Bonner too much, or because the Wizards either think Ariza is worth more than Blair and filler or because they don't want to take on two contracts for one.
Blair is insisting that hes worth more than he is. I'm sure theres probably a dozen teams that would love to sign him. A 24 year old player that has shown some of the burst that he has? Absolutely. But considering his very painful and obvious downsides, and the ever-present knee concerns, anything more than a multi-year minimum deal (similar to Patty's deal) is a reach - and the league knows it. Blair just doesn't seem to.
Spurs aren't holding anything up though. Hes unrestricted, and even if he were restricted, the Spurs wouldn't match even a minimum deal. But hes a free bird, go sign wherever you want.
Good point.
Tell me about all those 4th quarters he played in when the game was tight. Or all of his playoff performances too. Surely a player that started so many games is among the team's best players and contributed hugely in those affairs.
I never said he was among the teams best players. But I do believe he can be the third or fourth big on a on an average or bad NBA team and is worth more than a minimum contract.
Allow me to repost this, as I think it sums up Dejuan Blair pretty well.
Would you want this player?
Pros:
- Huge 7'2" wingspan
- Shoots a high FG% (just under 53% for his career)
- Still only 24 years old
- Historically a good rebounder (one of the most prolific ever in NCAA history)
- Good Pick n' Roll player
- Very nifty, and underrated, passer out of the post
- Possesses a great floater in the lane
- Knee issues have not plagued his career, as many had thought likely
- Seems to have overcome issues with weight
- Streaky. Has rare occasions where he gets hot and goes off
- As a result, had some monstrous games early in his career (20/20's)
- A ball of energy; serves as a great energizer for the team
Cons:
- Woefully undersized at 6'6.5" (in shoes) for a center
- Exclusively a center, has no capacity to play PF
- Among the league's worst defensive bigmen
- Not an enforcer; blocks very few shots and cannot guard the lane
- Struggles to understand team defensive concepts, despite 4 years in the system, and also in man-to-man D
- Low BBIQ
- Has consistently, lacked consistency
- Has no jump shot to speak of; purely a post scorer
- Not a threat in the Pick n' Pop
- Shoots a horrible FT% (60% for career, almost 63% last year)
- Despite coming into the league at age 20, has shown no real improvement in 4 seasons
- Per 36M rebounding numbers have been steadily declining since rookie season except for a minor rise this last season (.48 RPG)
- Possible future knee issues will always be a concern, especially as he gets older and puts more miles on them
- Limited playoff experience, despite ample opportunity. Through 36 playoff games with the Spurs hes only averaged 8.2 MPG
- Additionally has very limited 4th Quarter experience (except garbage time), as he was largely used early in games when in the rotation
- Has been consistently dropped from the rotation prior to the playoffs basically his entire career
- Has historically struggled and sulked when not starting, somewhat mitigating his utility as an energy big
"haters gonna hate" meme
You implied it pretty strongly by proclaiming how many games he'd started.
But I do agree. DeJuan Blair would be at his best as a 4th big for a team - probably as an energy guy off the bench. Hes not a guy you can really rely on with any consistency, but sometimes he'll come up huge for you. I'm just saying that someone that has any many blatant and glaring flaws as he does doesn't deserve a significant payday. Hes a center thats just barely as tall as a typical shooting guard.
Dejuan was passed over by every team that had a 1st round pick in '09 and a few more in the 2nd round. It may just be that most of these teams still think that they made a good decision?
Bonner is a scrub...right. His play during the 1st round vs Dwigt and the Lakers and the WCF against ZBo and Grizzles certainly don't make him a scrub. Pop had faith in what Bonner could do and he put together a pair of strong series. Actually watch him play and you can tell he actually is a good defender (especially in the post) and seldom is late in weakside rotations. Against Dwight and ZBo Pop d his setting screens and forcing ZBO and Dwight way out of the paint. He is good and for the money we have paid him, he had been money well spent.
Fantasy? P.E.R is one of the best advanced stats that used to more accurately gauge a players performance instead of those incredibly misleading box score stats. He has been a well above average player his four year career. Thats is going off the eye test and advanced numbers. I suggest you look at advanced numbers as well. It would also tell you historically the Spurs have been a juggernaut offensively when Bonner as been on the floor.
Blair lost his spot more do to Diaw and Splitter than Bonner anyway. Diaw is more versatile and can hit 3 pointers. He can play all three front court positions and Splitter is a much taller version of Blair with better defense. Its not like Pop didn't think Blair could play its just that he was usurped in the rotation by players who fit the teams need better. More than a dozen teams were interested in Blair for a reason
To be perfectly fair, where someone was drafted 4 years ago has little bearing on their game now. If Tony Parker had a down season we wouldn't all start pointing out that he was ONLY a late 1st rounder. 48 months into an NBA career we should know who you are, draft position totally aside.
A couple points of interest. If we really want to liven this up, remember that Diaw was the guy that was cut by the Bobcats and couldn't get playing time with them. Now, I'm personally a huge fan of his, but this guy isn't exactly a superstar. But doesn't that tell you a bit about Blair? He has absolutely zero versatility. Hes a Center - the smallest one in the league. And he can't guard the rim...can't even really play defense at all at this level at the position hes required to play based on his total lack of versatility.
You act like Blair was playing great and then all these superstars got signed around him, relegating him to the bench. In reality, the only reason he was significant is because he came into a frontcourt that was staffed by Duncan and a bunch of rotting corpses. As soon as some legitimate NBA depth got brought in Blair got pushed out. Thats just what happened. And we've already established that this wasn't the cream of the crop that came in. This was a guy the Bobcats didn't want. And Tiago, a soft Euro that drives this entire board nuts.
Great Ghu, Bonner finally had a couple of decent playoff series and some people want to make it out to be the second coming.
To be fair, Diaw was not "cut" from the Bobcats, he was bought out and Charlotte was able to save money and Diaw was able to escape a horrible situation on a sinking ship. He and Silas had a torrid relationship as well - which was the main reason he wasn't getting playing time. Most knew that Diaw still had a lot left in the tank and could contribute in a fairly big way.
Understood. But it's not like the Bobcats have an abundance of talent. If Diaw was a good player then why did they pay him money to leave? Hes no can't miss superstar is really the point I'm trying to make.
Agreed that Diaw isn't a superstar by any means, but is it really wise to enter the Bobcat's FO talent assessment into evidence here? He and Silas were not seeing eye to eye + Diaw was making a lot of money + the Bobcats were going nowhere + the Bobcats could save a lot of money if he were to agree to a buyout = Diaw no longer a Bobcat.
The Ariza contract is not bad at all as a $7.7 expiring. Any of our junk we could offload along with a Blair S&T would be a steal to acquire the guy.
This notion we don't have money is ludicrous when we are running $10 million below the luxury tax line. What we want is to run right up at that line provided we can make any moves that incrementally improve the team without taking on any bad long term contracts.
The problem is our only method to add players and salary is through the cooperation of other teams through S&Ts. All the more reason to play hard ball in that area when nobody has wanted to help us so far.
Yeah but benching Blair in favor of McDyess once the PO's rolled around was a big mistake
I never understood that move,kid played his heart out and did damn good during the regular season and then got bukakked for old azz McDyess
I hope he gets a fair shot w/ another team
agree dice was a terrible defender ................ he was dominated & it was painful watching dice play PNR defense................ the myth that blair is a bad defender came from certain poster who refused to blame dice & blamed blair instead .................
Myth = Bigfoot
Myth = Loch Ness Monster
Blair's horrible defense? Not a myth. An absolute.
Do you even watch the games? Or do you just troll randomly?
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