D.Blair has become a huge defensive liability

[clambake]

well trade ya barea and carlisle for blair.

[Bruno]

Blair is great as an energy player coming from the bench. He isn't starting material for the moment. It's understandable for a player that is so young and who has some limitations due to his lack of size.

When Tiago will be back in good shape, Spurs frontcourt should be Duncan and Tiago starting with Dice and Blair as backups.

[coyotes_geek]

Blair is hitting that wall. He's been figured out with advanced scouting reports by other teams.

Not really sure how sophisticated an advance scouting effort is required to figure out a guy whose entire game is based on strength and hustle. Any scout worth a damn had Blair figured out half way through last season. The gameplan for Blair is simple. You either have a guy with enough length and strength to keep him off the boards or you don't.

[ElNono]

His defense was always subpar, so it's difficult to say he now 'has become' a liability.
I'm mostly bothered by his slow start when it comes to rebounding.
That was his bread and butter last season, and maybe he does need to go back playing against 2nd units to be as effective as he was on that last season.

[Mitch Cumsteen]

That's why, I don't respect the +/- ratio too much in a short period(Like 2 or 3 games). It may show something in long period like 25-30 games, but not for a couple games.

I agree with this, but the +/- gameflow for Blair last night is hilarious. You almost have to try to be -14 in a game that you win by 12.

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/ga...10&game=LACSAS

After the first quarter, in which he played okay, look at his stints. The Spurs are on a 11-2 run in the second quarter when he checks back into the game. The next five minutes he's in, -5. Blair's in the first five minutes of the third quarter, the team is -5. He checks out for McDyess and the team immediately goes on a 21-6 run. Blair checks back in a minute into the fourth quarter, the Spurs get outscored by 6 over the next 7:25. He checks out, and the team goes on a 7-0 run. Game over.

I'm not trying to advocate the +/- stat too much -- there are a lot of things that go into the +/- such as who you are playing against and who you are playing with.... but it is a fairly easy correlation to make last night: Blair in = bad. Blair out = good.

That said, I agree with whomever said he should come off the bench and be an energy guy. He should be great in that role. It's way too early to give up on the guy.

[Spurs Brazil]

Blair team defense must be better. He's in the 2nd season so he should know where to rotate and what Pop want.

I agree that Blair off the bench is a better option.

[Agloco]

Blair is playing like a second round draft pick.

This. So why all of the whining?

[SpurCharger]

Splitter Should Start..... And Dice Is Better Off the Bench.... Dice always came off the bench for The pistons, when they made there Runs...

[Obstructed_View]

Just checked the +/- for the Clippers game. Every player was in the positive apart from 2.

James Anderson -1
DeJuan Blair -14

That's horribly bad Mr. Blair!

This is why checking plus minus on a box score doesn't teach you anything. The Spurs double-teamed Griffin when Blair was in the game, and they were really terribly executed double-teams, they were weak and obvious. Almost all of them resulted in three pointers. I don't blame Blair for that. In addition, Blair was kept in the game when Parker was pulled, which resulted in terrible offense as Hill and Manu attempted to run the point.

[angelbelow]

This is why checking plus minus on a box score doesn't teach you anything. The Spurs double-teamed Griffin when Blair was in the game, and they were really terribly executed double-teams, they were weak and obvious. Almost all of them resulted in three pointers. I don't blame Blair for that. In addition, Blair was kept in the game when Parker was pulled, which resulted in terrible offense as Hill and Manu attempted to run the point.

Solid points. Even when we had a hand in their face they nailed quite a few jumpers on possessions that I thought we were solid defensively. TBH they had quite a shooting display early on.

[Obstructed_View]

Solid points. Even when we had a hand in their face they nailed quite a few jumpers on possessions that I thought we were solid defensively. TBH they had quite a shooting display early on.

I'll have to go back and watch to make sure, but I know there were five or six three pointers that came directly from doubling Blair's man. Whether Blair is truly undersized or not, it's pretty obvious from the defensive game plan that Pop thinks he's undersized, and it's hurting the Spurs. Remember how good they used to be when they limited the opponent's three point attempts?