DeJuan Blair and Playing Time

[Illuminaire]

Salutations, Spurs fans!

Over on the Wiz boards we've been debating what the draft value of Blair should have been. It seems like he's been extremely productive in limited minutes, but we're curious why he hasn't been playing more.

Is it health or conditioning? Role on the team? Does Pops not think he's better than other players in the rotation? This is a mystery to us.

Here is a post by our resident stat-geek, focused on how well Blair has produced relative to high lotto pick:

Okay, took a look at how Blair compares to 5th picks in the lotto era (since 1985). I used PER, and I compared only the first two seasons since that's all Blair has completed.

The numbers:

Code: Select all

STAT    BLAIR   AVG
GMS     163     144
tMIN    3228    4217
MPG     19.8    29.2
PER     17.4    14.5
tPER    1404    1562



GMS = Games
tMIN = total minutes
MPG = minutes per game
PER = Hollinger's PER -- a per 40 minute stat; league average is 15.0
tPER = total PER "credits" -- not per minute or per 40 minutes

So, Blair is playing fewer minutes than the average 5th pick, but is more productive per minute. His TOTAL production is less than the 5th pick average, but note that total production is about 8% lower than the 5th pick average while his total minutes are about 23% lower.

For those interested in individual comparisons; Blair's total production would rank 16th among the 24 5th picks included (no Rubio because he hasn't played in the NBA yet; no Cousins because of only 1 seasons) -- right between Scottie Pippen and JR Reid.

His PER (Hollinger's per 40 minute stat) would rank 4th among 5th picks behind Vince Carter, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Love, and ahead of Mitch Richmond, Kevin Garnett and LaPhonso Ellis.

5th pick trivia through their first 2 seasons:

- Most Total Production: Vince Carter (followed by Wade, Richmond, Howard, and KG)
- Least: Jonathan Bender (preceded by Tskitishvili, Shelden Williams, Tony Battie and Devin Harris)
- Best PER: Vince, Wade, Love, Richmond, KG
- Worst PER: Tskita, Bender, JR Reid, Jeff Green, Jon Koncak

I think that's enough.

[Frankie23]

No health problems with Blair.
The important fact here was that the Spurs had 5 bigs in a good level.
Bonner being the best 3pt shooter in the NBA, Timmy, Dice being our best defender (one on one) and he spaced the floor with his jumper. Splitter was also there, but he didn't play much, though his defense and height are superior than Blair's..

DeJuan is a great offensive rebounder, great hands and good body control. he stepped up in defense, but him being only 6'6 or 6'7 and playing PF or C, brought the Spurs a lot of problems in team defense (no shot-blocking for example), specially when you play next to Bonner.
In the playoffs, Randolph and Gasol just killed us in the paint and Blair was not an answer for them..
Still very young and with time to develop..

[Donald Kaufman]

Blair has been a great energy guy, relentless rebounder, particularly on the offensive end, but he's kind of redundant against big frontlines, hence his no show in the Memphis series.

He was a 2nd round pick because teams were put off by the no ACL thing, but he's had no injuries for years and certainly doesn't play like he's lacking anything.

I personally love him as a player, he works his ass off out there. We were at our best when he was starting for us, but towards the end of the year Pop got nervous and benched him for Dice. Pop gets mancrushes on the most unlikely players and can be very stubborn when he digs his heels in, to the detriment of the team IMO.

To answer your question, I'd say his lack of PT is due to Pop and his being a defensive liability against certain teams that field skilled bigs.

[co_laper]

I do not understand the statistics OP made.

I agree with DK that we were at our best when he was starting. I read that Blair also got fat, but I'm not sure if that's true. Even if it is, he played well enough (and most importantly the team) to win games.

At the same time, because of Blair's size and what he SHOULD BE ABLE to bring to the table (energy, rebounding), it is best that he comes off the bench. He's not someone who should play 34 minutes like a starter, but more like a 25 minute guy.

I thought the timing to bench him was bad, but I definitely thought it would work out for the best because I didn't see why Blair wouldn't be more successful as a bench guy.

[Donald Kaufman]

I wonder what becomes of Blair now that Splitter is coming into his second year. I think his minutes could decrease even more. Hope not though.

[crimsonkb24]

You cant win with a C/PF of his size period
Gotta make him an high energy big off the bench for 8-15 minutes

[Donald Kaufman]

crimsonkb24 has spoken everyone. Looks like we're bringing him off the bench and playing him no more than 15 minutes a game.

[co_laper]

I think Splitter is taking Dice's minutes. Not Blair's. By the end of the year, Bonner was the first big off the bench. That's what Blair has to be.

[Blame Rasho]

You cant win with a C/PF of his size period
Gotta make him an high energy big off the bench for 8-15 minutes

Which is interesting given that he had one of the best games vs the Lakers...