My opinion isn't that Blair is great shakes as a defender. My opinion is that your hyperbolic opinion of Blair as the worst defensive PF in the league was probably not correct anymore, if ever. I just posted an observation from someone who watches a heckuva lot more of Blair playing defense than you or I do. There's a difference, imo, of "observation" vs. "opinion". "Observation" would be something like "on consecutive trips down the floor Blair guarded, alternatively, Yao and Scola with no negative consequences." "Opinion" would be something like "Blair is perhaps the worst defensive PF in the league." Tell you what...I'll just go with "stats" instead. Like "Blair's defensive rating of 101 was accomplished in less than 350 stops, which means he didn't meet the amount needed to qualify for the league leaders. Had he done so, it would have been #7 in the entire league, just behind Marcus Camby and Tim Duncan and ahead of Kevin Garnett, Josh Smith, every other Trail Blazer PF, etc" The opinions of Blair's porous D generally come from those who say he's overmatched as a 6'8 who plays mostly center. The observations I posted seemed to point out that Blair now is exhibiting the ability to play both C and PF interchangably. The stats say that no matter where he played last year, he was pretty solid on D and rebounding. And he's now starting alongside Duncan, for a guy in Popovich that generally doesn't like guys who don't play D.
Mostly I like his cool. The guy has always been very confident. I remember his first summer league games, he would just hoist them. No hesitation. But they aren't bad shots. They are within his range, and he plays to his strengths.
It's his natural position. And, as Nate has said on numerous occasions, he plays the 4 out of necessity.
If I recall, he has always played the 4 dating throughout his Nova days. I don't think he has played the 3 in his College/Professional career. I'm confident the 4 is his natural position.
Odom's played much more PF in Miami and LA than SF. The last 7 years, he has averaged 9.7 rebounds per 36 minutes (2 more than LaMarcus). And he played center this summer at the world championships.
Dante played 4 since the dats of Genesis. If anything, his work on putting the ball on the floor this summer might help him play some minutes at the 3.
Blair is 6'5.25 barefoot according to his predraft measurements... thats more of a fact then a observation or opinion. At that same predraft when he claimed to be in the best shape of his life, he came in 50 pounds heavier then Dante who is a pretty stocky/muscular dude IMO. I'm not much of a believer in the defensive rating stat (for anyone) as I think there are too many variables. But if you're going to cite this you could also look at other non-qualifiers like teammate Ian Mahinmi who were even better then him. Based purely on personal observation, I don't think much of Blair's D and think his lateral movement is pretty poor. That said, a bad D reserve can usually be effectively hidden on non-threat Bigs, and Blair certainly brings some other skills to the court that makes him a worthwhile reserve option STOMP
Look, y'all need to ask Nate why he calls him a SF and wants to play him there. I'm not the one calling him a SF.
He's being converted to a small forward, hence him working on his dribble drive game and trying to extend his range. But at no point in his past would he have ever been called a 3. Let it go.
Fair enough...I didn't look up his predraft stats, I just went by the ESPN profile of him I was on at the time. Basketball Reference says 6'7. I didn't look up any other non-qualifiers except our bigs. And I can understand the reluctance to base a ton on the Drtg stat, though I think it's one of the better ones for overall D. And if you look at the players who have a similar Drtg, there aren't a whole lot that don't pass the sniff test (not like Jeter winning a gold glove or someone's UZR flip-flopping yearly). I don't disagree with anything you've said here. I just thought it was interesting that one of the Spurs' bloggers had talked about him having improved his D to the point that Popovich felt comfortable starting him with Duncan.
The Blazers have several players who can play SF and really no legit back up for Aldridge . . . the fact they are trying to convert Dante to a SF probably says something about what he is best suited for at the professional level.
I think it has more to do with Nate's success with a stretch 4 that can break his opponent thanks to speed.
Exactamundo. Nate likes 4s who can switch on a pick and roll and who can make another backup 4 chase them around at the other end of the court. I'd never really want to see Dante as a starting small forward (guys like Melo, et al. would run him ragged) but against backup 3s and 4s I think he's got enough versatility, agility and strength to hang with most guys at those spots.
I think the Blazers have Nic and Wesley defensively and that's about it. But I wouldn't be shocked to see Babbitt converted to a stretch 4 because I don't think he has the instincts or quickness to be effective at the 3 defensively ... at least yet.
I'm a little lost (like usual). It sounds like Dante could do all the things Nate wants out of a backup PF, why are they grooming him more like a SF? I feel the other way (not that it is the right way) but I don't ever want to see Dante as a starting PF (guys like Amare, Bosh, Duncan, Gasol would eat him up). Backup PF seems alright given the Blazer current roster, but I like him more as an energy defensive backup SF type player.
