DeJuan Blair killing it in the gym
San Antonio Spurs' Stephen Jackson says he doesn't work out much in the offseason but DeJuan Blair sure does.
Blair, who has been criticized for his fluctuating weight, seems to have been hitting the gym hard in anticipation of the upcoming season. Not to mention it is a contract season for Blair which also serves as extra motivation to earn a contract extension with San Antonio or any other team looking to trade for him.
They say a picture if worth a thousand words so check out Blair looking quite fit.
(photo via Blair's Instagram)
lol it looks like he's about to vomit in the last row of picks..and the yoga poses are precious :)
you know i tired of people trying to make dejuan like a charles barkley or a player that he will never be. hes a rebounding machine a pretty good scorer thats what he did at pit in college so everyone get off his back and give him some props. At 6'6 who would give you mor 20 + plus rebounds or more when given a chance to play no one i know? who cares if hes not a flasy impact player, look at tim duncan! Thats what the san antonio spurs organization is all about period.
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@Mannyrin Actual rebounding machines rank better than 53rd in defensive rebounds out of 70 PFs in the NBA. And I certainly didn't start the comparison to Charles Barkley when DJB first came into the league. It came from some analysts. And it was mostly because both rebounded well coming into the league and both were short for their positions and both were considered overweight. I'm quite sure no one actually expected DJB to be even close to as good as CB. And ya, I'll give him some props..he's a good OFFENSIVE rebounder and shoots a decent FG%(because he only shoots inside 3 ft from the rim)..unfortunately, that's it. Face it, he has several more negative facets to his game than positives. And ya, the ONE game he had 20 rebounds was cool. But you have to consider that was when he was playing with fire in the beginning, and facing 2nd and 3rd string players. His average was 5.5 RPG last year, so the 20 RB game was obviously an aberration. And are you actually suggesting TD is/was NOT an impact player?lol I hope not. ANd no one that I have seen has even mentioned the word flashy.
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It's good that he FINALLY looks to be putting in the effort it takes to improve significantly, but it sucks it didn't happen until contract time. And with all the tweets and instagrams he's sending out from weight rooms and such, I see very few showing or speaking of putting up the thousands of shots a day he needs to be to actually develop a shot beyond 3 feet from the rim. I honestly do hope he finally turns the corner and improves significantly, but at this point he hasn't convinced me thats likely to happen. And if he does improve, great, maybe someone will notice and want to trade for him so we can get an ACTUAL big to help TD. 6'6" will NEVER be enough at PF or center. DJB will never be Charles Barkley
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He can work out all he wants, it's not gonna make him grow another 3 inches or develop a jump shot.
@jwalk415 He still produces 9-10 points and 6 boards per game in 20 minutes of playing time and is one of the top offensive rebounders in the league. Sure it would be nice to have a jump shot but his role is not to be taking jump shots so much and more to run pick and roll and get garbage points which he does very well. I don't care if he is not hitting jump shots just as long as he is producing points and boards, however they might come. And he shoots over 50% from the field.
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@AdiDazzler @jwalk415 ..and the 53rd defensive rebounder of 70 Pfs, 8th most fouls, and WAY down the list on defensive ranking. And shooting 50% isnt saying much considering its all right under the basket. Fact is, he can ONLY play with TD next to him because TD is the only guy we have that can make up for DJBs shortcomings.
I like DeJuan and hope he realizes his potential with the Spurs this upcoming season! Keep it up and hope to see you star this next year!
Moose in Castroville
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Of course he decides to get in tip-top shape now that his contract is up after this year. He wants to get paid. This is even more disappointing than him just being a lazy oaf. Apparently he is a greedy, lazy oaf. Given Blair's past history of weight gain throughout the season, I have no reason to believe he will keep off the pounds. Even if he does for this season, I don't believe he will for good come the next few seasons after he enters free agency this summer.
This is so disappointing given how much potential us Spurs fans had in Blair after we drafted him. But it seems that the malcontent Blair managed to regress each season getting chubby, lazier, and never noticeably improving any aspect of his game other than his TP rip-off floater. Great job getting in shape DB, but maybe you should have done this BEFORE your contract season and not after most Spurs fans lost every ounce of love and respect for you.
@CraigThomas Craig Thomas...DB came into last season pretty much the same way he looks right now and the year before that as well, however he did put weight on during that season, 2 seasons ago, as time went on...no need to call him a lazy oaf because your assessment which is shared by many naysayers is way off and bufoonish. DB has been very productive for the Spurs and was responsible for the Spurs getting off to a quick start during the start of games through out the season.
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@AdiDazzler I'm sure Pop's decision to BENCH a starter was just bufoonish on his part these past two seasons. The fact is we've heard this story before. The fact that he was nearly 300 lbs at 6'6" is ridiculous. It was a joke that we even paid him for those games in the spring with how out of shape he was.
I know DJB can be very productive. That is exactly why I, and many other Spurs fans are being so hard on him. Imagine if he had put in this type of effort for the past two summers? Maybe worked on a post game and watched some film? It is fairly obvious he has not. Also, his constant complaining and nagging are childish. Grow up. You're on the Spurs, you have the best brain trust around to help you in Tim, Pop, and RC, and you still want to argue over PT? And on top of everything, the one skill which we brought him here for, rebounding, has been on the decline. That is simply a lack of effort. It's too little too late for the dancing bear. The sad thing is, he used to be one of my favorite Spurs, and now he's a whiny scrub.
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@CraigThomas @AdiDazzler Very accurate and objective points..so many people seem to think that those of us that are pointing out his deficiencies, just dislike him and nothing more. Like you, some of his behavior has disappointed me too, but that, at least for me is well down the list of problems that I have with him. Simply put, I think we can and NEED to do better at his position. I'm pretty sure some team not as good as Spurs will be willing to pay him more than he will be worth to the Spurs for the upcoming season, and Im sure that is why he has been shopped so Spurs can hopefully get something for him while we can. It's just good business.
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@AdiDazzler @CraigThomas DB was NOT as light as he is now last year at ANY point, and as he has EVERY year, he got fatter as the season progressed. Given that, lazy could easily be argued. Lack of discipline? NO possible argument there. And the fact that these things ARE shared by the majority of fans AND media etc, ought to tell you something. The fact that he has been on the trading block since the draft is also telling. DJB has done a COUPLE things above average, but when you factor in all the things he STRUGGLES or just plain sucks at, he is a situational ROLE player at best. Situational in that he is a terrible matchup against MANY actual bigs in the league. If he wasnt, he would likely finish games and get playoff burn. And to insinuate it was DJB that was a primary reason why Spurs got quick starts or whatever, you need to look again. When he is starting, every one of the other four starters would contribute more than DJB..TP,TD,DG,KL, without a doubt.
@kendallh3 @AdiDazzler Not defending bonner, but he is 4 inches taller, can spread the floor, shoots 3s well, can play with Splitter and Diaw where Blair is not a good choice to play with any other big other than TD, has much higher bball IQ, 2 best asst to turnover ratio in the entire league and so on. DJB is being talked about more because his deal is about up, and has been on the block the past few months. Next year (if matt is still here) ALL the talk will be about Matt Im sure since he is only guaranteed 1 mil next year..hopefully that thought helps to cure your sickness.. ;)
@Spursfan66 @AdiDazzler I can guarantee Blair's developement would have been much higher if he did not have to sit behind Bonner in minutes. It's sad that there is talk about Blair leaving and before about Green not getting an extension, but we have Bonner, the worst and most needless player on the team not being talked about when it comes to departing this team. It sickens me.
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@AdiDazzler Ya, my point was more about the weight he carried in the SEASON. That's when he needs to be in shape, not summertime..
I didn't mean to suggest that you said DJB was THE primary reason, but if you read your statement, you come very close to saying just that "was responsible for the Spurs getting off to a quick start" And I simply replied that I think he would be #5 reason of 5 starters..Pretty sure stats will back it up too. I can just as easily cite that Spurs won 20 in a row with mostly Diaw being the starter rather than Blair. AS I've said before and MANY knowledgeable people agree, Blairs limitations dictated that starting along side TD was the best scenario, not so much for his positives. Clearly the Blair/Bonner combo is awful because neither can defend worth a damn. Blair/Splitter? Neither has a mid range so floor spacing is non existent. Blair/Diaw..Other bigs will shoot right over both..too small together.
You say Spurs had many opportunities to "let him go". Well, first, DJB DID have value because his paycheck has been TINY for a "big". 2nd, a player with SOME value should be shopped in trade before he is just cut. Thats just common sense. SPurs would like to get SOMETHING for him, and we saw that when news leaked that GSW would like him, but Spurs wanted a #1 pick and GSW didnt have one. Seems obvious that Spurs HAVE been trying to trade him, but havent had a taker yet. It would actually be wise at this point to be patient and hope he finally DOES show good improvement and garner attention from teams in the season, and hope it gets us something we want. Once injuries start, teams will start considering trades more to get another. Happens every year. As for the select team, that actually means little tbh. Players are NOT picked because they are considered the next best players under the TEAM USA. Believe me, if that were the case Greg Monroe and MANY other guys would have been picked over DJB.
I used Charles as an example because he's one of the FEW small "bigs" that were actually impactful..and frankly in DJBs 1st year, many people made the comparison between CB and DJB, likely because of body type and rebounding. No one is really making that comparison anymore, and there's good reason not to, if you get my drift.
@Spursfan66 For some of your response you are right as 2 seasons ago, he did gain weight after coming in at 265 and gained back 20 pounds, but last season he came in at 260 and this season he is maybe a bit lighter than that, but not much.
I never said that DB was the primary reason the Spurs got off to a quick start, but he was very much partially responsible as well as the other starters for the Spurs getting off to a quick start in almost all the games last year and when he would come out of the game the Spurs were the majority of games ahead or way ahead. Him being a catalyst and a spark plug was said many times by Pop, Mike Budenholzer and Brett Brown.
The Spurs had many opportunities to let him go and sign other players that were available and could those other players could have been had very easily but the Spurs thought otherwise. Otherwise, I disagree with much of what you think or have read. Blair played through out most of all the past 3 summers. He is far from perfect but would get picked up in a heart beat if we were let go and wouldn't have been invited to be a part of the Select team to work out against the Olympic team if he wasn't highly thought of.
Of course, he is not going to be Charles Barkley...that's funny. Sir Charles was one of the best players to ever play the game. Not close.
That's what I'm talking about~ You'll be more efficient DeJuan~ Hope you stay in SA,, coz SA loves yah!!!!
