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• On the downside, Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair has to be bummed. Blair looked solid in the drills and really impressed teams with his weight loss and tone. He also measured short, but his wingspan, standing reach and his athletic abilities made up for much of it.

However, the news became much grimmer for Blair when the results of the medical testing came back. Multiple NBA teams are saying Blair's knees have been red-flagged.

Blair tore both of his ACLs in high school, and the preliminary word from the physicals is that his knees aren't in great shape.

How bad they are depends on who you talk to, but the range wasn't good. I heard everything from "devastating" to "troubling."

Blair's agent, Happy Walters, doesn't feel words like "devastating" are accurate in describing the report he saw.

• We had DeMar DeRozan going to Toronto with the ninth pick in our latest mock draft.

Don't expect him to slip past there. League sources say the Raptors have let DeRozan know that if he's there at nine they're taking him.

Ben B. wrote:If Blair slips to 16, I would still take him.

charity stripe wrote:Heh, imagine hiring an agent named Happy.

Two weeks after forfeiting his remaining two years of college basketball eligibility by signing a marketing and advertising contract with a local attorney, DeJuan Blair signed with sports agent Happy Walters of Immortal Sports on Monday.

Walters confirmed yesterday that he signed Blair and said he was excited about representing the former Pitt sophomore All-American who has aspirations of becoming a first-round NBA draft pick in June.

Walters is the founder of Immortal Entertainment of Santa Monica, Calif., which has subsidiaries such as Immortal Records, Immortal Soundtracks and Immortal Film and Television in addition to Immortal Sports.

He is probably best known for launching the music careers of such acts as Korn, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill, Kanye West and House of Pain.

Walters only has a few NBA clients, most notably Mickael Pietrus of the Orlando Magic and Shawne Williams of the Dallas Mavericks. Walters also represents players who play overseas and got to know Blair through another Pitt player, Tyrell Biggs, who signed with Walters first and is attempting to earn a professional contract.

Walters is aware that Blair drew criticism by signing a contract with Pittsburgh attorney James L. Cook III April 8, the day he declared for the draft. By doing so, the Schenley High School product did not leave the door open to return to Pitt if he did not receive positive feedback from NBA general managers during the predraft workout process.

Walters said Cook was retained to help the family for a few weeks while they decided on an agent and that Cook no longer represents Blair's local marketing and advertising interests. Walters will handle those aspects.

Walters said he has heard the rumblings that general managers are wary of Blair's height (he is 6 feet 7 inches) and his two surgically repaired knees, but he said he has been receiving great feedback from NBA personnel about Blair's prospects of being a first-rounder.

"A lot of teams are interested," Walters said. "I don't think teams are worried about his height. I've heard what some of the people in Pittsburgh have said about his height. But on the court he is a beast, and teams love that about him."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09112/96 ... HV9GnGVx&B

kulaz3000 wrote:

Ben B. wrote:If Blair slips to 16, I would still take him.

Yep, count me in with that line of thought.

If he falls, I take the gamble. It's not exactly like his game is about jumping out of the building, he knows how to play and still be effective earth bound.

maq25060 wrote:i think brandon roy's knees were red flagged as well

kulaz3000 wrote:In regards to the Raptors picking DeRozan, I think it's another step to prepare for the lose of Bosh. They need a player that can bring excitment back to Toronto, and I'm guessing that though they realize that DeRozan may not make an impact right away, the fact that he'll provide the occasional highlight dunks while he progesses will be enough to continue the Raptors fans to come to games.