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A Dream Come True: Assessing Blair
In an unexpected turn of events, the Spurs were able to draft power forward DeJuan Blair with the 37th pick in the draft. Blair was a consensus top 15 pick.
Considering that this was one of the weakest drafts in recent memory, the Spurs acquired something I never believed would be available in the 2nd round: A player who can contribute immediately. Blair may not be a starter but in his rookie season he will be prepared to play 15 minutes a game. Given how shallow our frontcourt became in the wake of the Jefferson trade, the fact that we were able to acquire a rotation big without sacrificing a current member of the squad is unbelievable.
I’ve been very high on Blair for some time now. In fact, I’ve gone so far as to say that Blair will be the 2nd best big man drafted in this class behind Blake Griffin. He has an instinctual sense of spacing, a solid back-to-the-basket game, and off-the-charts rebounding numbers (During the 08/09 season, he successfully rebounded the ball 31% of the time). Add on the fact that the man is a pit bull when on the floor, and it becomes clear that Blair is an absolute steal.
The most frequently expressed concern about Blair is his height: At 6′6.25″ with shoes, he initially comes off as too short to legitimately earn minutes in an NBA frontcourt. But then you consider his 7′2″ wingspan and realize that he has a taller standing reach than Blake Griffin. Tack on the fact that he has one of the most NBA-ready bodies of any draft pick (you couldn’t shoot a 12-gauge through him) and it suddenly becomes clear why, every time he matched up against Hasheem Thabeet in college, he dominated this year’s number 2 pick:
I don’t want to even mention that he had the highest PER of any member of this draft class (including Blake Griffin).
Those looking to react negatively to what was an unequivocally great night for the Spurs will look at the questions surrounding Blair’s knees and claim he isn’t all he is cracked up to be. They will say he slid to 37 for a reason. I have two responses to that:
First, there is no way in the Spurs could have landed a more talented player at 37. Yes, there are a couple questions surrounding our early second round pick. Welcome to the reality of having only second round picks.
Second, even if Blair’s knees are a long-term issue, they are exactly that: A long-term issue. With the Jefferson trade, the Spurs announced their intention to make a run for a 5th le and make it now. Aside from Blake Griffin, I would argue no big was more prepared to come onto an NBA squad and readily earn significant minutes than DeJuan Blair.
The truth of the matter is, being able to select Blair with the 37th pick is an unmitigated coup. Blair was a dream, someone we mentioned just in case the front office became unexpectedly aggressive and moved up into the lottery. Well, sometimes dreams do come true.
http://www.48minutesof .com/2009/...sessing-blair/
Yeah!
If you told me last week that we'd have Richard Jefferson and DeJuan Blair by July, I'd say you were living in dream land.
I would pump my brakes just a little bit because second round picks so rarely amount to anything. That said, I can't blame anyone being excited about this pick.
Even if Blair bombs out and fails, it was still a very good pick. The Spurs took the player on the board with the highest ceiling and didn't get scared away from catching a free-falling player.
Brought to my attention by 48MoH:
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/06/25/d...purs-at-no-37/DeJuan Blair Amazingly Falls to Spurs
Posted Jun 25, 2009 11:10PM By Tom Ziller
DeJuan Blair was one of the toughest players in the NCAA this year. He broke all sort of unofficial rebounding marks, manhandled No. 2 pick Hasheem Thabeet in front of the entire NBA, and gave some of the best interviews you've ever seen. His wingspan measured well in Chicago, and he dropped a ton of weight between the end of Pitt's season and the combine. He's an absolute beast.
But a bad MRI has been going around, and Blair -- who was considered a potential lottery pick this morning -- fell all the way out of the first round. And he kept falling. Past Portland for a third time, past Washington, past Memphis, past Detroit ... all the way to the Spurs at No. 37. It's the vogue thing to say Blair will now proceed to destroy the NBA. But it's also the accurate thing to say. Blair will now proceed to destroy the NBA.
He sounds like he's ready to some up, and I like it.
This type of logic makes no sense to me. If you are looking at the draft as a whole then it is fair to say that most 2nd rounders fail. This is not the case though. He is no longer an ambiguous second rounder but an actual player to be judged on his merits not on some statistical generality.
The point is that the pick itself is a very good pick no matter the end result. The Spurs adjusted whatever their plans were to take the player with the highest ceiling on the board.
But yes, obviously Blair himself will be judged on his own from now on. He doesn't get a break due to where he's drafted once he steps on the basketball court for the Spurs.
True. The forum will suffer from a meltdown if he starts performing like Matt Bonner.
Do drafted players care so much about their pick? Does it hurt their ego or something?
I mean, the lower they get picked, the better their new team is supposed to be...
Look at Tony and Manu. Where would they be now if they had been 1st picks?
Blair is possibly the luckiest player of the 09 Draft. He will fill a need on a contending team.
Well, it definitely hurts their pocketbook...
All he has to do is show up and put a tomato can on his arse to be better than bonner. Other than his three point shooting he sucks
They go in to the NBA to earn some money, getting picked in the 2nd round definitely does not get you any dough.
Actually, it can get you dough quicker, if you produce. Most of the time, they are signed to 2 year deals, so if you show the goods, you can get paid in year 3 and beyond. Even the best first rounders don't get extended until after year three, and get paid in year 4. Because of contentious negotiations, Ben Gordon is just now going to be paid AFTER year 5.
All in all we traded Tragic for Hairston, Blair and cash. What's not to like, thanks Kerr!
NBA body. Aggressive at ude. Hard worker. Has a chip on his shoulder.
Too many of these young players have such an extreme sense of en lement (i.e. Brandon Jennings).
Blair, on the other hand, sounds like a pretty safe bet to make it in this league. I'll take my chances on a guy like Blair every time.
My hopes are high. If they get dashed, so be it.
Sure, second round picks rarely pan out.
But this guy never should've fallen to the second round, and it was completely to the Spurs fortune that he did.
Indeed. If this guy fails it'll be because of his knees, not because of a lack of talent or bad work ethics/at ude. In any case he's well worth the risk.
is this a fair assessment
BLAIRs potential = malik rose without the 100 pumpfakes in the key?
yeah being a 2nd round sure leads to a worse contract situation but once you have secured a 1st round pick, the later you get picked, the happier you should be (less pressure from the media, playing for a potentially better team).
Well.......
If a second rounder is going to make it on any team, it's probably going to be the Spurs. Here's to hoping history repeats itself.
This guy is a freak of nature. Definitely the best pick at 37. No doubts here.
Why we need a great PF?
Checks this numbers in: http://www.82games.com/0809/08SAS17.HTM
Duncan play only the 7% of the Spurs minutes of the PF´s and the 55% of the Centers
The Nets points are -20 as PF and +275 as Center, -3.0 each 48 minutes as PF and +5.9 as Center
So we have the 93% of the minutes with others PF, this is like 44 minutes
We need a PF more than a Center
Not gonna happen. He may not make it but it wont be because he can't get a shot off.
Some players are able create their own shots, he clears space for his. Man, I wish him and the Spurs the best.
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