Midseason review: DeJuan Blair
When he played in college at
Throughout his career he’s had those games where I can say, “See, I told you he wouldn’t make it in the NBA.” Then the very next night he’ll go out and look like an All-Star. He’s the type of guy that can get you three points and six rebounds in a night, or go for 20 and 12.
Despite his inconsistent play, I still think he’s an important part of the Spurs. On average, you get about 20 solid minutes a game from
On defense, he’s obviously not the quickest guy in the league, and he’s undersized for his position but he gets the job done. He’s not a liability and he grabs a good amount of rebounds at 5.7 per game this season. Though he is averaging less rebounds this year for his career, he is averaging a career-high in points at 9.3.
Everyone knows
I’ve come a long way on my opinion of
This is regarding what Kyle Boenitz wrote on 3/6/12 in his Midseason review: DeJuan Blair
--- “On defense, he’s obviously not the quickest guy in the league, and he’s undersized for his position but he gets the job done.”
I think DeJuan is one of the quickest players at his position in the entire NBA. He is cat-like quick with his hands and reach.
Case in point, he picked Derrick Rose the other night but unfortunately the ball took a bad bounce and the Bulls retrieved it. Nonetheless, THAT’S QUICK!
DeJuan also has a very high basketball IQ.
However, one thing that confuses me is, why and how is it that such very skilled athlete as DeJuan, hasn’t been able to develop a legitimate 15 foot jump shot?
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Blair is like Malik Rose 2.0
Blair's offensive game has consistently improved and so have his Whataburger habits --
My concern comes in around playoff time when rebounding and defense becomes an essential part of winning games.However, when he is on the floor with Timmy his PER goes up and they work very well in the paint; TD does a nice job compensating for Blair. The reason why we don't see a lot of Splitter/Duncan combinations is because then Blair would be forced to play with Bonner at some point... and we definitely don't want that.
IMO, we should keep Blair around if the price is right
@russman138 DeJuan is worth at least $3 million. Forget the supposed knee problem. Like his coach at Pitt, Jamie Dixon, said, "He never missed a single game either in high school or college due to any issue with his knees". I don't think he's missed one due to this in the NBA either, has he? As far as a premier athlete not having an ACL in either knee, one need look no farther than the to Pittsburgh Steelers' first ballot Hall of Famer, Hines Ward. What a career and longevity he has had in his stellar career. And he's probably not done yet.
@russman138 I don't think he's malil rose 2.0 but I definitely think that's wht he could become
Now that I think about it, if he played that last game it could've turned out differently. Not saying it would have!!! It could've ust been the same with him, but the nuggest big men are good matchups for blair. They're also on the shorter side and the ones that aren't, aren't as quick as blair. The thing about blair is he's good and can match up with most big men in the league, just not the best. I think he could've matched farrieds energy on Sunday and helped. He'd be a reeeeally good big off the bunch (a la malik rose) if he had a consistent 15-18 footer but he gets discouraged easily if not given a lot of time or put on the bench. He just needs to mature, understand what he needs to do, and he could easily develop into a good, consistent player
The height of Blair does not suit his position. At 6'7" he should be playing small forward not forward, much less center. How long will he lasts? Players are getting taller as the years past. He should practice playing small forward.
