Blair gets second shot at starting gig (Spurs Nation)

[therealtruth]

Truly you shouldn't bother posting if you don't know what the you're talking about. The Spurs were down by six in the Lakers game until Matt Bonner came in for Blair. When Blair came back in the next time the Spurs were down by 24. Go look at the +/- numbers for that game and then come back and apologize for the above post. If that's not enough for you, look at the first Lakers game where Blair dominated the Lakers' front line. I think he had 15 and 15 for that game. He's the reason the Lakers treated that second game like it was the NBA finals. What Pop thinks he saw after that game is anyone's guess, but it's not that Blair played badly. If he were going to react after that game he'd have been smarter to bench Duncan.

Weren't the Spurs down like over 20 in the first quarter? I might not have watched the whole blowout but from the first quarter he wasn't keeping either Bynum or Gasol of the boards. Blair's game where he had 17 and 15 came at a time the Lakers weren't playing well and Bynum had just returned from injury.

[ElNono]

I'm being facetious of course, but really just reminding everyone that hes a second rounder with no knees. If he can manage to come out and grab some boards and play average defense, everything else is just gravy.

Well, let me state I don't expect Blair to be an All-Star anytime soon. I actually be glad if some team takes him as a sweetner to dump a guy like RJ.

[Bill_Brasky]

Well, let me state I don't expect Blair to be an All-Star anytime soon. I actually be glad if some team takes him as a sweetner to dump a guy like RJ.

If he and RJ start strong I could see us packaging them for a legit big who can play some real D.

[Obstructed_View]

Weren't the Spurs down like over 20 in the first quarter? I might not have watched the whole blowout but from the first quarter he wasn't keeping either Bynum or Gasol of the boards. Blair's game where he had 17 and 15 came at a time the Lakers weren't playing well and Bynum had just returned from injury.

Yes, the Spurs were down six when Blair went out and they were down 20 before the end of the quarter. Precisely my point. Blair was the only good starter in that game.

[dunkman]

The Spurs matched up well against the Lakers the last two seasons. The problem were the Suns and then the Grizzlies.

The Suns exposed the Spurs on the p&r and since Bowen retired they were terrible defending Nash, but he got old and they lost Amare.

The Grizzlies showed that the Spurs couldnt stop both Gasol and Z-Bo. I guess that would be addressed by integrating Splitter to the rotation.

However, the Lakers added Troy Murphy. Odom was guarded by RJ, its not clear how would that change affect the match-ups.

[wildbill2u]

With Blair and Duncan starting we have no lateral quickness on defense and the Spur defense requires players from the weakside to move and cover.

I'm afraid we are going to see other teams passing these traffic cones at full speed into the paint.

Add to that Blair's height problems against Nba quality low post players. He hasn't learned how to position himself so he can muscle out the taller players like Malik Rose did. I wasn't much of a Mailik fan as a subs ute for a legitimate sized 5 but he worked as hard as anyone.

[therealtruth]

With Blair and Duncan starting we have no lateral quickness on defense and the Spur defense requires players from the weakside to move and cover.

I'm afraid we are going to see other teams passing these traffic cones at full speed into the paint.

Add to that Blair's height problems against Nba quality low post players. He hasn't learned how to position himself so he can muscle out the taller players like Malik Rose did. I wasn't much of a Mailik fan as a subs ute for a legitimate sized 5 but he worked as hard as anyone.

Blair tries to make up for his lack of post defense by gambling for steals. But like your saying he needs to man up and play good post defense. Muscle for position and make them uncomfortable and take difficult shots.

[HarlemHeat37]

Blair can't do anything to make up for his deficiencies on the defensive end..he simply does not possess any defensive qualities, outside of strength..

He's short, he's slow-footed, and he has terrible defensive basketball IQ..the only player that rivals Blair in missed rotations is Richard Jefferson, tbh..

[timtonymanu]

And these two are our starters. FML.

[BackHome]

The Spurs matched up well against the Lakers the last two seasons. The problem were the Suns and then the Grizzlies.

The Suns exposed the Spurs on the p&r and since Bowen retired they were terrible defending Nash, but he got old and they lost Amare.

The Grizzlies showed that the Spurs couldnt stop both Gasol and Z-Bo. I guess that would be addressed by integrating Splitter to the rotation.

However, the Lakers added Troy Murphy. Odom was guarded by RJ, its not clear how would that change affect the match-ups.

Yep we are old slow short team and Blair at center just plain STUPID!

[Calispursfan11]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...arting-center/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

Nooooooo!