I was going to post this earlier in the week, but got sidetracked. Blair sort of stole some of my thunder with the way he played against the Lakers last night.
Near the end of last season, I said that by next season (this season) Blair would be making 75% of his free throws. He had done a lot of work with Chip Engellund, and you could see that his stroke was just so much better. He still wasn't making a lot more of them, but you could tell that he just needed some time to get confidence in the new stroke and that would change. So far, he's shooting right at 75%.
This year you can just as clearly see that he has been putting a lot of work into improving his ball handling skills, and putting some "junk" into his post game. I know the results haven't always been there yet, and that frustrates a lot of people. But he's going at it the right way, and I think he's developing a pretty fundamentally solid game.
His footwork is actually pretty damned good, and so is his ball handling. And he's using them to find ways to get shot up against some much taller defenders. The big problem I see is that he's still dribbling with his head down some, so he's not always getting a good look at the basket before he shoots - so he's off on a lot of those shots. But that will improve with repi ion and confidence.
I know a lot of people howl when he tries to "get fancy" around the rim and misses his shots. But a lot of the time he's getting off good shots, not just wildly chunking up bricks in the paint. Last night's game against the Lakers was, I think, just a sample of what he is going to be capable of. To me he looks just like he did with the free throw shooting. It's obvious that he is putting in a lot of hard work, and he's looking sound even if he isn't getting all the results yet.
Watch him a little more closely, if you haven't already been doing so. He's finding ways to get off some good shots against much bigger defenders. Try not to bias yourself by saying those moves aren't in his reportoire. He's handling the ball well. He's under control. He's getting his feet under himself, and has a good solid base when he shoots. It won't be long before enough of the shots start falling to make people understand that he does have those moves in his reportoire.
I was going to say that by this time next year, he is going to be a consistent scoring threat in the post. After last night's game I wonder if it could be sooner than that.
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