Work of art..
Nicely done!
The best pic on the net.
The fact that Blair compares favorably to Larry Johnson and Barkley is a good sign, given that he has the same body type. Johnson was the first guy I thought when watching Blair play, especially against bigger players like Thabeet. In the pre-draft analysis of power forwards on draftexpress, they say that Blair's offensive rebounding numbers per minute are not only the best of this class, but the single highest figure that they've ever had!
Hi everyone! I rarely post on Spurstalk, but I constantly check the site daily. By far the best site on the web!!!
Anyway, I have some thoughts in regards to the Blair pick. I must admit that I don't follow college basketball very closely. However, I have heard of this kid. I must say that he should have been a lottery talent pick. I realize there are some concerns about his knees, but I still think he should have been at very least an early-mid twenty pick. I could realize why some lottery teams passed him, but not others (especially in this draft). It appeared that tons of teams were drafting based simply on potential. I suppose that is fine, but to pass on a guy that is NBA ready (and only a few are) baffles me! Sometimes, you have to take risks! There is no gurantee that any of the players will be great or stay in the NBA for long. Some players will probably be busts and others might have a career ending injury (hope not).
By no means am I a doctor, but I think under the right conditions he can have a fairly long career. From what others say, players have had success playing without ACLs (if that is true). I dont know if it will shorten his career if he dont have any, but I guess no one really does. I believe he is in the perfect situation. Pop will limit his minutes if necessary and I am sure the medical staff is great. The fact that he has not missed a game or a practice for the last two years states alot. In addition, if Pop are RC state that he can already play 20 minutes a game, that also signals to me that his knees can hold up. I am sure he is ready to prove what he can do and stay in the NBA as long as possible.
If he can hold up only a few years (I hope he has a long career), then that might due. Once TD leaves, the Spurs will be in re-build mode (unless they get lucky again). That will be in a few years and that fits perfect with the Bliar situtation if so.
In the end, this was a no brainer move. I would have submitted this pick 100% of the time. It is ultimately the low risk/high reward scenario. I hope Bliar can have a long NBA career. I believe he can with the right work ethic and team (like now)! Congrats to the Spurs for this pick!
Go Spurs Go!!!
the blair witch project...
Funny, his wingspan doesn't look like 7'2".. guess it must be all that bulk. I hope he can get down to maybe 250lbs. of mean musscle.
DeJuan DeMan: Beyond his talent
Buck Harvey - Buck Harvey
Hasheem Thabeet stretched and blocked the shot. He does that. He's 7-foot-3.
But then DeJuan Blair retrieved the basketball. This was in February, when Pitt met UConn in a Big East showdown, and Blair quickly powered back to wow America.
“I felt like an animal at that point,” Blair said then. “I felt like I wanted to kill.”
Blair paused and shrugged. “So I killed.”
Blair ended with 22 points and 23 rebounds, and the UConn coach, Jim Calhoun, called Blair “a man.” Weeks later, when penciling Pittsburgh into a tournament bracket in front of a TV camera, President Obama used the same, exact phrase.
This is why the Spurs suddenly feel blessed again, and this is why the Spurs are as optimistic as they've been about a rookie since Manu Ginobili showed a few things during the 2002 World Championships.
Blair will not be as ready as Ginobili was, and his knees will always be an issue. The Spurs have looked at the X-rays and, yes, he's ACL-less.
He also played only two years at Pitt, and rookies need some time. No one is certain his skill set and height will transition to the NBA, another reason he fell in the draft.
Then there are Gregg Popovich's demands: Blair will have to show a few things no one has seen, because Spurs scouts say Blair was not a good college defender.
Still, one staffer in the draft room Thursday said there were “cartwheels and high-fives,” and R.C. Buford later gushed as he rarely does about any draft pick.
An especially daring prediction: Blair will play 20 minutes a night.
The Spurs had tried to trade up into the middle of the first round, but Blair wasn't the target. Like everyone else, they worry about his health.
From what the Spurs know thus far, his knees are not demonstrating instability. His function is not affected as long as this is the case, though the length of his career is in doubt. That's why Blair left Pitt early, and it's why the Spurs, like other teams, didn't want to commit to a first-round contract.
So they mostly watched Thursday night as general manager after general manager talked himself out of Blair. When he dropped to the second round, the Spurs started making calls, looking to deal, but the Rockets escalated the bidding by buying picks.
Then Blair fell to No. 37. Not only did the Spurs change, so did the perception of them.
Analysts linked this to the Parker/Ginobili drafts, as if this franchise is magic. The media in Dallas and Houston asked why their teams couldn't do these things.
In truth, as it was with Tony Parker, all the Spurs did was wait.
Now they can't wait to see Blair on the court. One on the staff thinks Blair is clearly better than, say, Tyler Hansbrough, who went at No. 13. Others wonder, after what Blair did to Thabeet, if only Blake Griffin is better.
In some areas, Blair is actually better. Numbers suggest Blair wasn't the best offensive rebounder in the draft — he might be the best in college basketball in the decade.
“Great passer and wingspan,” said one Spurs scout, “and he has hands like (Tim) Duncan's. He has unbelievable feel and timing.”
Just as 6-foot-5 Chuck Hayes proved to be effective rooting Pau Gasol, the Spurs think Blair could, too. But he's not Charles Barkley, as some have compared him to. Blair doesn't have the same explosion.
Still, what sets Blair apart is something else entirely. It's “the man” factor, and the Spurs saw that when they talked to him. They say it was one of the most impressive interviews they've had.
It's a personality that wins. It's a personality that doesn't care how much work is required, or about the size of the stage, or if the opponent is 8 inches taller and has just blocked his shot.
As it was in February.
[email protected]
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/s...is_talent.html
I read a transcript of an interview with Blair, where he talked about his rebounding technique(s). He talked about watching the angles and getting out in front of the ball. It may be more of an art than a science, but he clearly has a knack for it.
I'm sure he gets some of his offensive boards by out-wrestling the other guys. But at his height, his anticipation has to be a big factor too. Even if he isn't allowed to crash the offensive boards a lot, I have a feeling that some of the available offensive rebounds will appear to just "fall into his lap", before there is time to start getting back on defense.
We'll see when he gets here. But I'm looking forward to hearing Jeff VanGundy talk about how "lucky" Blair is to always be in the right place at the right time.
I think it is virtually impossible to not be faster than those dinosaurs.
A couple of Blair interviews I haven't seen elsewhere (sorry if I just missed them):
http://blog.imgacademies.com/2009/05...-dejuan-blair/
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The..._not_go_for_it
And the New York Times really did a story on his ass:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/sp...pitt.html?_r=2
The maestro of properly using one’s backside is Barkley, who earned the nickname the Round Mound of Rebound and angled his way into a Hall of Fame career. In a 1984 Sports Illustrated article, the 6-4 Barkley articulated why he had success against taller centers like 6-11 Melvin Turpin.
“It’s easier for me to get low,” he said. “I can put my butt on Melvin’s legs, but Melvin can only put his legs on my butt.”
Blair puts it this way: “It’s hard to get around my wide body. Why not push people out of the way with it?”
BADASS! and
president obama said......."I think [DeJuan] Blair is a man." thats some high praise from the very top of our food chain.
I did not know Blair was the guy who flipped Hasheem over his shoulder!!!! From the POY video there was a link for it, and after watching it I realized I actually watched some of that game, and saw Blair's "judo throw", lol. He was like "THIS IS MY BALLL , OFF!!!"
EDIT: Oh, and here is a vid that ESPN put up for the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WASW...eature=related. Blair is most definitely a man.
And this is Blake Griffin, who is in no way related to the Spurs, but it was a linked video, and the facial at the end is INSANE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMHuyx3Xwfk&NR=1
Last edited by Manufan909; 06-28-2009 at 07:26 PM.
I've heard many predictions that Blair may have a relatively short career. No one really knows. I just hope his knees hold up so that he'll have a productive career - hopefully with the Spurs.
As long as his knees hold up, I think he's going to produce for the Spurs. I know he has to play summer league to start learning the system, but I wish he didn't. I worry about it as much for his sake as for the team's. He's worked hard for a long time, and he took a real beating on draft day. And he won't get a real payday unless he can make it through the first two years intact. It's kind of sick to see Brian Cardinal make $20M+, and think that this kid could walk away with $900K or less, if he happens to come down wrong one time.
I'm feeling really confident that he will contribute to the Spurs this season, and I have no doubt that he will give them all the effort they could ask for. I hope that they will convince him that he doesn't have to dominate the summer league.
As long as he's able to contribute while Tim Duncan's around, I'll be happy with that.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/footb...d-legacy_x.htmSo that's Hines Ward's story. Lost his left knee ACL as a kid. Learned how to play football, got really good at it in High School, became a Heisman candidate at University Of Georgia, dropped in the draft because of concerns about his missing ACL, hasn't missed a game because of said missing ACL, has a Super Bowl MVP trophy.Ward was never supposed to get this far; a childhood bicycle accident left him without an ACL in his left knee. He was raised by a single mother in Forest Park, Ga. Yet it was the 1998 third-round draft question mark who showed the most stage presence in Super Bowl XL.
"Hines makes all the overachievers in the world proud," offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt says. "I'm just so proud of him because of what a team guy he is. Whatever obstacles have been put in his way, he's surpassed that because he burns with a compe ive spirit unlike anyone I've ever seen."
Ward certainly proved his worth after settling a training-camp contract impasse with a heart-to-heart, father-to-son talk with coach Bill Cowher that resulted in a five-year, $27.5 million extension.
"I wanted to finish my career as a Steeler," Ward says. "I felt I just fit the mold as far as a blue-collar guy. I may not be the flashiest, most flamboyant wide receiver out there. But I get the job done for my team.
"I told coach Cowher, 'I'm coming to camp. Let's go out and win a Super Bowl.' I remember those words vividly. And here we are."
Both physical sports and both play through it.
Dude has been playin on them knees the past 2 yrs without any problems. I think its blown out of proportion.
some funny stuff about draft night from sham, when the Bulls (his team) didn't pick Blair at #26:
http://www.shamsports.com/content/pa...9-draft_28.jsp
Just one to more to go now.
02.57: Good news! Oklahoma City picks someone called Rodrigue Beaubois with the 25th pick, and Blair is now free to be a Bull. Stern stumbles over Beaubois' surname, and eventually manages a half hearted attempt that sounds a little bit like "boob war". This is what I'm calling Rod from now on. Ric Bucher quickly informs us that Boob War and B.J. are being swapped for one another (and, hopefully, jointly lending their names to one of the finest pornographic movie les in the Western world), which undermines by Nowitzki joke of earlier a bit.
But, to the real issue here. The Thunder passed up on Dejuan Blair. And that means only one thing. We got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair we got Blair. Yeahhhhhhhhhh boy. This is a good thing. The Bulls seriously need some interior muscle and rebounding, and the best player for that outside of the number 1 overall pick just fell into our laps. Inside, I'm dancing. Outside, I'm yodelling. Good times.
02.58: Can I just point out at this stage how much better it's going to be to have Dejuan Blair than it is Thabo Sefolosha. Thabo would have been earning $2.8 million next season just to be the 10th man, money which the Bulls can ill afford to spend on a surplus player if they are going to be able to re-sign Ben Gordon. Yet instead of Thabo, we're going to be paying a third of that price to a superior player, who plays a position of greater need and whose skillset fills this team's weaknesses almost perfectly. It's going to be bloody fantastic. What could possibly g.......
02.59: ........oh, clunge.
03.00 - 03.04: (Sulking.)
03.04: Taj Gibson??? Taj Gibson??? Why the would you pick Taj Gibson there? What does Taj Gibson do, exactly? He blocks shots. That's pretty much it. He's not a rebounder, he's not a scorer, he's too thin for his position and he doesn't have first round talent. He also somewhat duplicates the skillset of in bent starting power forward Tyrus Thomas, and we're supposed to be UPGRADING Tyrus, NOT DUPLICATING HIM. Oh, and better still, Taj Gibson is already 24, severly limiting any upside his athleticism may otherwise have given him. To put that into some context, Taj Gibson is all of four days younger than Darko Milicic. And everyone knows that Darko Milicic ran out of potential three years ago.
Spiffing. Absolutely spiffing.03.51: Dejuan Blair is finally put out of his misery. San Antonio pick him at #37, finding themselves a Kurt Thomas replacement within about 48 hours of even needing one. That's efficient stuff. If they can get Robertas Javtokas to turn up next year, they'll have largely rebuild their frontcourt with only minimal effort. The cheeky bas s.
"03.00 - 03.04: (Sulking.)"
Wow, I can't believe we got this guy!
Damn good stuff. Welcome to San Antonio Blair!
Nice find.
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