What a night again by the BlairMan. http://www.nba.com/games/20091011/SASMIA/boxscore.html I know it's premature to say but the man is a beast. He showed he can rebound against us and led the Spurs in scoring with 28 (11-13) against the Heat yesterday.
Agreed, best second round draft pick since Manu Ginobili. Felt really sad when rocket's passed on him. We could have gotten him instead of Taylor although i think Taylor will still pan out alright but considering our dire needs for a big, he would have floursied here.
He's a great player but his injuries have been a problem. In high school he tore both of his ACLs. Maybe his legs will hold up but we'll just have to wait and see
I want to assume the Rockets with all their injury setbacks didnt want to take on another injury prone player. Maybe thought he'd be like Leon Powe, playing better than his draft spot but too many injuries concerns. Rockets need a scoring 2-guard as well. As of now Trevor Ariza starts at 2? Budinger isnt a 2 IMO. I think the Rockets need more "tall" instead of "big", but thats just me. Lets let Blair play in the regular season before we compare him to Ginobili
I remember watching bits of that game last year with him against Thabeet...he abused the second pick...it was a bit embarrassing as Thabeet looked like he lost all confidence. Blair was so much more physical. I didn't keep up with college ball all too much, but I thought Blair was easily the better player...I guess it was just one game though.
He's good when healthy, but nobody knows how his knees will hold up. His knees couldn't even handle the light college schedule. How will he hold up in 82 game schedule plus playoffs with no ACL in both knees?
if he stays healthy he has a chance to be all star one day and possibly replace tim duncan hes only 20 and is already nba ready, i hope he turns out like the next paul milsap with ben walace crazy rebounding numbers
Not to take anything away from the guy, but the Rockets and Heat front court both leave a lot to be desired... I would like to see him play against a real big before declaring him the golden boy steal of the draft
I have been corrected. You are right. However, it's still an unpredictable situation and even guys with ACLs can develop problems on the rough NBA schedule.
I don't see why he is getting so much love. Is it because he was picked by the Spurs? Every year a really good player gets picked in the 2nd round because he was undersized like Landry, Maxiell and Millsap and none of them have the medical risk that Blair has. I think he was a great pick though, but its not like passing on a talented vet like him hasn't been done before. Proclaiming him to be a future all star or the best 2nd round pick since Ginobili is a little premature given that a) he hasn't played an NBA game yet, b) Millsap has been doing everything Blair should be doing the past couple years and c) we don't know how long his knees hold up. His missing ACLs might be overblown and he'll be like Shareef Abdur Rahim (played 10+ years) or he can blow out his knees in first NBA game.
If preseason were any indicator of regular season ability, Mike Harris would've had a job in the NBA by now. Very few undersized PF with no outside game makes it in the NBA.
Blair isn't "undersized" as a PF. His rebounding will translate well to the regular season but his scoring probably won't. That will be good enough for the Spurs. If they get a couple of good years out of Blair while TD is still playing at a high level, this pick was genius. I laughed when someone said in another thread Blair will never be an all-star. Einstein must be a member of Clutchfans.
Huh? I don't get it, you yourself said his scoring won't translate. How will Blair be an allstar in the West (over guys like Pau, TD, Dirk etc) if all he can do is rebound the ball?