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He never said it. Video or it didn't happen.
At this point the Spurs should have a three headed beast of Duncan-Blair-McDyess, and that's not necessarily a slight to Bonner. I'd like Bonner and Ratliff to essentially split the left over minutes depending on matchups, but Blair should definitely be getting more than 15 MPG (last 3 games). Blair's defense can leave something to be desired (he's not the most observant on D), and Bonner's D tends to be underrated, but both are no more than average at keeping up with starting bigs (IMO). Neither equates to a seven footer in the mold of Przybilla, Haywood, or Rasho. Having said that, Blair may be undersized but his game is not. He's not 'perfect' next to Duncan and he's inexperienced, but he's more athletic than he looks, has great hands, and feel for the game in the paint ala Fabricio Oberto. In half of a NBA season (18 mpg, 20 starts and spotty minutes early on), at about 6'7 maybe, the 20 year old rook Blair has already blocked as many shots as Bonner did in his 1900+ minutes and 81 games of being our (sometimes) starting center last season. That's crazy. Using Per-36 minutes, Blair blocks 1.1 shots per game, which is serviceable for a Milsap-type power forward if you ask me (Bonner 0.7 this season per-36, career 0.6 ). Given that DeJuan is locked up to a multi-year deal and may have more of a finite career than most, I really hope he becomes our clear #2 or #3 big man like really soon (barring a major trade). Meaning, I hope he doesn't get the George Hill-09 treatment as the season goes on, that would be counterintuitive.
He never said it. Video or it didn't happen.
I don't see how anyone can really say Blair only deserves 10 minutes. You have to find a way to get him on the court, especially when the team is lacking energy such as in the Denver game. Then you have to keep him on the floor when he has it going.
Quit trying to over think the match ups and let the kid play.
Blair will be a fine PF as long as he stays healthy. He's got the beef to keep his opponent from getting inside position. He'll have trouble with the taller guys shooting over him, but other than he'll be fine.
I think there is a chance that he can become a serviceable shot blocker. He has already shown some pretty good timing on a few blocks this year.
Chuck Hayes is around Blair's height but definitely not as heavy and they're both forward-centers. Hayes based his game from another undersized bigman - might be worth a look.
Once he gets some defense and a solid midrange shot he'll be even more of a force. He's also got great chemistry with Manu.
Manu and Blair on the pick and roll is a thing of beauty. They should run that play 15 times a game.
YES!! Release the KRAKEN!!!
I purposely left Hayes off because he's a non-scoring threat, unlike the rest of the guys I listed. As for Landry, I initially had him on the list before thinking better of it and removing him. The reality is he's supposedly a legit 6'9'', so he's not really an undersized power forward. 6'8'' or under is undersized.
You'd have thought so, huh? Apparently Pop thinks it's better for the 240 pound, 33-year old Duncan to not only battle behemoths who are either some combination of younger, more athletic, longer, or heavier, almost on a game-to-game basis, but to do so without the benefit of playing with another big man who plays like a traditional big man. Why would he want that? Granted, he is playing the majority of his minutes next to McDyess now, but he wasn't for much of the season and played almost exclusively with Bonner last year.
You make some very good points. I have no problem, in most games, where the Spurs are either up or playing a relatively even game in the first half, to see Pop throw Bonner in for a 6-9 minute rotation, let him eat up some minutes, rest Duncan and/or McDyess and hope he get's hot from the outside. Second half, assuming the game is tight either way, which it usually is with this team, a three man big rotation should be deployed. Those three are clearly the three best bigs on the team and amongst the top seven players on the team. Any of their minutes going to Bonner in those situations is irrational.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't be the least big surprised if Blair got the Hill treatment. It already looks like that's becoming the case as he's slowly but surely being phased out. Eventually, I suspect some time down the stretch Ratliff to take over the role of backup center, while Blair (and if he doesn't pick it up soon) Mason being phased out of the rotation.
Like everyone but Duncan and sometimes Parker, apparently he can't play for more than 9 minutes at the absolute most. And when he plays 9 minutes, that apparently means he can't play for the rest of the half. There's no thinking with this coach. Blair was playing well in his initial rotation against the Nuggets, so instead of getting him a quick blow and letting him finish the half, he barely plays at all the rest of the game.
I tend to agree with the not over thinking the match-ups. The reality is, talent-wise Blair is already top seven on this team. Production-wise he's even higher. This team isn't overflowing with talent at the big positions and because of the age of Duncan and McDyess, they can't play extended minutes every game, which is all the more reason to play Blair more.
Last edited by TD 21; 02-01-2010 at 11:05 PM.
Says you, which don't mean any more than says me except I don't post BS. So it happened, I heard him say it and if you don't like it so what?
Who cares if Sean said it anyway? He isn't going to play small forward unless we are ahead by 25pts and Pop decides to play him with Ratliff, Haislip, Mahimi and Mason...and at that point he will be a SG anyway.
Even with all the new players. Pop has pretty much made this team with the same roster as last year and we all know how well that turned out. Dammit...
Great post. I suggest making multiple paragraphs for your longer thoughts, but other than that the takes in this post are spot on. Great job.
Blair is a poor defender and that's why he is more suited to be the 4th bigman who bring energy for 15mpg.
He also need to improve his FT%. If eh continue to be that bad at the line, I can see teams doing "hack a Blair" during the playoffs which would force Pop to put him out of the game.
We didn't have a healthy Manu for the playoffs.
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McDyess has been playing well recently. I'd still like to see Blair get 20 minutes a game. Timmy averaged 34 minutes a game in January. That is way too much. Blair's no Timmy but playing him more than 15 minutes a game would be beneficial long term.
I think he'd suck at that too.
What about the whole "Gingers are good at cleaning toilets" stereotype?
Outside of Duncan, so far, who has been better? McDyess is supposed to be better, and he's starting to show some light, but so far this season Blair has been flat out better than the rest (and that really tells you how poor our interior D has been overall).
Same goes for McDyess... Blair is at 60%, Dice is at 69%. And I'm thinking playing Blair midway through games, which reduces the possibility of such tactics. I still want a more experienced player to close out the game alongside Tim.
Being better than crap doesn't make you good.
And there is a reason why half of my posts have been lately about Spurs needing to trade for a quality defensive bigman. Blair isn't the answer, a trade is the answer.
Blair FT% is 51.2% and I guess you don't know what "hack a player" is if you think it's a tactic for the end of the game.
Don't disagree with that. However, this is the roster we have right now. With this roster, right now, do you agree he's the 2nd best big in the team?
Dice is 62%.
I know what 'hack a player' is, and I know you can't use it in the last 2 minutes of the game. I also know that you don't want to foul repeatedly and get in the penalty early in a quarter either. This is basic basketball stuff, and you know it as well as I do.
Blair gets abused by back screen cuts. Duncan is not quick enough anymore to cover that area.
Teams have a field day when they figure that out and have exploited that weakness.
But who else on the team can guard that aspect while on defense. Horry was the last person who could defend well in that area. It also happens to be the last time the team won a championship.
Blair is not Horry. And Bonner is the closest thing to Horry this team has.
If Blair could be paired with someone that could defend the weak side like Horry used to...perhaps Blairs minutes will be attributed to how many minutes Duncan is going to play.
Ian Mahinmi says hi.
Offensively, yes. On the defensive side of the ball, not even close. Horry could bang up with bigs, experienced enough to poke balls all the time, and occasionally soar to block a shot.
Now, I fully expect zosa to show up and claim I'm a Bonner hater, but the reality is that the FO has been trying to find somebody to play next to Duncan since last season (Gooden, Dice). Matt should be serviceable coming from the bench, and that's about it. At this point, I also think Blair should be an energy guy off the bench and I agree that we should keep on looking for another big on the market.
Thanks to Bonner, Blair is is seeing reduced minutes. I'm sorry but the Bonner experiment IMO is over. It should have never started. In order for that too work he needs to shoot lights out, but it's too risky to leave him out throwing brick after brick. Blair is not going to get those long rebounds. He's a better clean up player than Bonner is a long range shooter. I agree that Bonner and Ratliff should split the minutes after TD, DB, and Dice. Bonner is no Horry, who at least could do other things like defend and knock people on their ass. Bonner gets a broken hand by getting high-fived?!
Spurs have lost their grind it out game, so they may as well just play high energy and hold on to leads. Spurs are missing a junk yard dog type of player like Bowen. So yes.. free the Beast!!
At least you make sense, unlike senseless Bonner haters who say he is counter productive and tons of other bull .
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