OT - Dejuan Blair being annoyingly good

[STOMP]

I understand why you feel that way, and I feel a bit similarly. But, out of curiosity, why do you think Pritchard passed on him?

dude showed up to the pre-draft 6'5 and 280lbs. What does that say about his professionalism when he shows up that overweight? With questionable knees and poor quickness, what position is he ever going to be able to guard?

those reasons would be my best guess.

STOMP

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Landry schooled Blair on defense though. Blair will always be a TERRIBLE defender. There is simply no position he can guard well.

 

[Minstrel]

The other theory, which made you really annoyed when I mentioned it before ,is that KP just plain punted the draft this year. He wasn't really interested in adding another player(s) to the mix. If he had drafted Casspi and Blair, they would be fighting Webster and Outlaw for playing time....and the team has too few minutes to keep everybody happy as is!

Do you really still feel that that's a likely explanation? Pritchard was willing to bring in Turkoglu to fight with Batum, Webster and Outlaw. He was willing to bring in Millsap (or, apparently, Lee) to fight with Aldridge, Outlaw and, ultimately, Przybilla for minutes. He did bring in Miller, who will definitely cut into Blake's and Bayless' minutes, and probably into Fernandez's minutes, too.

The draft is clearly something Pritchard invests a lot of importance in, to judge from how active he's always been. Even in this, his most "boring" draft, he made a small move up in the first round. He was clearly willing to upgrade the power forward spot or the small forward spot (Millsap, Lee, Turkoglu)...I don't think "he purposely tanked the draft to avoid having more productive players" really stands up to scrutiny.

I appreciate your (and Brian's, Ed's and STOMP's) willingness to try and answer the question. I also wanted Blair...I was hoping he'd fall to Portland's first-round pick, let alone their second-rounders. So I'm still trying to understand the move myself. I believe that Pritchard is intelligent, informed and dedicated to his job. So, I'm trying to figure out the reason for passing on Blair with a fairly valueless asset (a second-round pick) that accounts for those attributes in Pritchard.

 

[PapaG]

Landry schooled Blair on defense though. Blair will always be a TERRIBLE defender. There is simply no position he can guard well.

Yes, I've pointed this out twice. No one wants to hear it.

Blair likely will get garbage minutes behind Duncan and McDyess.

 

[PapaG]

Landry schooled Blair on defense though. Blair will always be a TERRIBLE defender. There is simply no position he can guard well.

Yes, I've pointed this out twice. No one wants to hear it.

Blair likely will get garbage minutes behind Duncan, Bonner, and McDyess.

 

[Ed O]

Yes, I've pointed this out twice. No one wants to hear it.

Blair likely will get garbage minutes behind Duncan and McDyess.

Players often improve at defense, but they rarely get WORSE at rebounding.

I don't think that it's at all a given that Blair cannot improve at defense through positioning and conditioning, and actually find that assertion pretty laughable.

Ed O.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Since you pointed it out twice, I checked it out.

Blair and Landry were in the game at the same time for 2:20 of the first quarter. Landry: 1/1, 1Reb. Blair: 0/1, 3Reb.
From 7:55 to halftime: 2/5FG, 1/2FT, 3Reb Blair: 1/3 4/5FT, 4Reb
From 2:30 to end of 3rd quarter: Landry: 2/2FG, 0Reb Blair 2/3 FG, 3 Reb
They didn't play in the 4th.

Landry 5/9, 1/2FT (fouled by Ginobili) for 11 pts, 4 Reb against Blair. Blair 3/7FG, 4/5FT for 10pts, 10 reb against Landry.

Doesn't seem like he got "abused", though it did (looking at the box score) look like Mahinmi was hurting a bit trying to stop him.

 

[PapaG]

Players often improve at defense, but they rarely get WORSE at rebounding.

I don't think that it's at all a given that Blair cannot improve at defense through positioning and conditioning, and actually find that assertion pretty laughable.

Ed O.

Really? Give some examples, Ed. How often, statistically, do undersized and slow players get better at defense.

 

[PapaG]

Since you pointed it out twice, I checked it out.

Blair and Landry were in the game at the same time for 2:20 of the first quarter. Landry: 1/1, 1Reb. Blair: 0/1, 3Reb.
From 7:55 to halftime: 2/5FG, 1/2FT, 3Reb Blair: 1/3 4/5FT, 4Reb
From 2:30 to end of 3rd quarter: Landry: 2/2FG, 0Reb Blair 2/3 FG, 3 Reb
They didn't play in the 4th.

Landry 5/9, 1/2FT (fouled by Ginobili) for 11 pts, 4 Reb against Blair. Blair 3/7FG, 4/5FT for 10pts, 10 reb against Landry.

Doesn't seem like he got "abused", though it did (looking at the box score) look like Mahinmi was hurting a bit trying to stop him.

This post is from the "Martell Webster looked dominant against the Kings" book.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Blair's lateral quickness is what's laughable. Considering his lack of knee ligaments, I don't really see that improving.

 

[Ed O]

Really? Give some examples, Ed. How often, statistically, do undersized and slow players get better at defense.

That's way too much work for me, even assuming there are reliable indicators of a player's team defensive abilities.

Logically, though, a player who starts with an exceptional skill can be expected to shore up weaknesses much more easily than players that start with no exceptional skills can develop one.

Ed O.

 

[PapaG]

That's way too much work for me, even assuming there are reliable indicators of a player's team defensive abilities.

Logically, though, a player who starts with an exceptional skill can be expected to shore up weaknesses much more easily than players that start with no exceptional skills can develop one.

Ed O.

Really? Did Craig Hodges ever become an all-around player. I use him as an example.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Really? His lateral quickness (measured in the agility drill) was half a second faster than JP's and middle of the pack for the entire combine.

I'm confused a bit--how exactly do ACLs factor into agility? To my recollection (knee physiology is not my strong suit) ACLs are there for stability, right? They're not fast-twitch muscles, for goodness' sakes.

 

[PapaG]

We're talking about the 11th man on the roster for either team.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

that doesn't change the fact that his main knocks are his unhealthy knees and hes terrible defense, in all aspects of defense.

 

[BrianFromWA]

True that.

Though I think that Blair will be taking the lion's share of the minutes behind Duncan pretty soon.

 

[PapaG]

True that.

Though I think that Blair will be taking the lion's share of the minutes behind Duncan pretty soon.

I guess we'll see. Pop is a stickler for defense.

 

[Ed O]

Really? Did Craig Hodges ever become an all-around player. I use him as an example.

Nope. But I am not claiming that every player WILL become well-rounded. Just that, other things being equal, starting with one exceptional skill is a better place to be than with no superior skills.

Ed O.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

True that.

Though I think that Blair will be taking the lion's share of the minutes behind Duncan pretty soon.

I actually agree with this statement. And, I would have taken him over both Cunningham and Pendergraph, but I would also have taken Brockmon over all of them.

 

[Ed O]

I guess we'll see. Pop is a stickler for defense.

Exactly. Doesn't it strike you odd that the Spurs would take him, given that?

Ed O.

 

[PapaG]

Exactly. Doesn't it strike you odd that the Spurs would take him, given that?

Ed O.

I see it as a gamble for a team that signed McDyess after picking Blair.

 

[Nate Dogg]

Can this be moved to current topic? I didn't want to start the same thread when theres reports that the Blazers are interested?
Seriously him at 6'7 ?

Chris Broussard tweeted earlier about how San Antonio is actively shopping Blair.His last tweet talked about how Portland is a team who could have a major interest in him at the deadline. It wouldn't take much to get him, and although undersized, Blair could surely bolster up the front court.

http://www.iamatrailblazersfan.com/tabid/158/afv/topic/aff/488/aft/5404/Default.aspx

 

[Nate Dogg]

I guess he is like another JJ Hickson ? Can his ACL hold up this time? Can Portland get him for less than 4 million and let JJ Hickson go?

 

[Boob-No-More]

Can his ACL hold up this time?

What ACL? Pretty hard to injure something you don't have. He's been playing without an ACL in either knee since high school. He didn't miss any games while at Pittsburgh. played 82, 81 and 64 (of 66) games his first three seasons. This year, he's only played in 38 games. Has he been injured, or is he just been racking up DNP-CDs? He seems to have lost his spot in the rotation to Splitter, who has a 20+ PER and looked great tonight against the Bulls. I'd LOVE to get Splitter, but the Spurs are too smart to let him go.

BNM

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Isn't Splitter unrestricted this year? As for Blair's knees, there's not a worse team that could acquire him. He would explode as soon as he got off the plane.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Isn't Splitter unrestricted this year? As for Blair's knees, there's not a worse team that could acquire him. He would explode as soon as he got off the plane.

I am all but sure he is RFA

 

[Pinwheel1]

I can see it happening. We actually have some pieces that POP would make better. Both our Euros would work well in their system, as would Babbitt. If they think they can trade JJ for a quality back up PG, then adding Blair for one of those three may make us better in the long run. I hate that POP does not want him though.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

It's weird that the guy is only 23.

But a red flag should be raised: If you can't cut it with Pop and have been in the doghouse more than once in San Antonio.

 

[Eastoff]

It's weird that the guy is only 23.

But a red flag should be raised: If you can't cut it with Pop and have been in the doghouse more than once in San Antonio.

I think this is a good point.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

For as good as POP is he is pretty fickle if you aren't a star. Whenever Splitter was in the dog house then Blair was producing and then when Blair was in the doghouse Splitter would produce. They seem to have taken turns disappointing. I don't think he could consistently play them both.