I'm intrigued. He's a little short but kind of a monster. I'd also be concerned about him feeling stifled behind Aldridge after his rookie contract. I don't have a lot of info on him though. Tell me more. Any chance he's the next coming of Charles Barkley?
Don't know enough about Blair to have a firm opinion. Some people claim he's the perfect "banger" power forward...reports on him suggest his offensive game may be non-existent on the NBA level and he's undersized. So, I'll go with the "Let KP figure it out" option here.
Personally, I don't think we want the "second coming" of Charles Barkley - I think we want a role player who'll work hard, rebound everything, play good defense, and not complain. This seems like Blair to me. Plus, I think he'll be a great locker room guy.
I meant it more in the undersized guy averaging 10+ rebounds a game kind of way. Hmm, I think I may have to let KP figure this one out on his own.
Same here. At that price, I'm willing to take the chance on his "Paul Milsap" upside and not worry much if he's Mark Madsen.
I'd be very interested in trading any of Outlaw, Webster, Blake, Sergio, or Outlaw + the pick for him, as long as the PG situation was resolved first.
The only problem I see is that you can't trade a player for just a pick. Our trading partner would need to be below the cap to absorb Travis' salary. Of course I also think I'd rather see a trade package with Outlaw in it, bring back an established veteran who has proven himself to be a reliable performer. The days of pinning our hopes for reliable, predictable production on draft prospects is probably a thing of the past.
Why is there so many options? It should be Yes or No. My answer: NO. We don't know how good Blair is going to be, we know what we got with Outlaw. We can use Outlaw for trade bait somewhere else and land us a nice veteran pg. Blair has a ton of question marks.
check out their respective stats per 40 min pace adjusted. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Ike-Diogu-81/stats/ http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/DeJuan-Blair-5049/stats/ Diogu's last season - 10.3 rebounds, 24 points Blair - 18 rebounds, 23 points Diogu has the edge in blocked shots, Blair in steals and turnovers. Diogu used 26% of his team's possessions (same amount as Blake Griffin), Blair 18%. To me, this shows that Blair is a more efficient player. He scored almost as much as Diogu despite seeing less of the ball, and his rebounding his phenomenal. And, if I'm not mistaken, he's doing it in a tough conference. Diogu, on the other hand, was going up against the Pac 10 when it didn't have a single good big man in it. Again, edge to DeJuan Blair.
The difference in their defensive capabilities are huge as well. Blair knows how to defend the post. What I am really surprised about is that all folks are talking about is offensive stats with this guy. It wasn't that long ago folks that Portland was losing the playoffs with guys like Chuck Hayes doing a bang up job off the bench for Houston, playing D and rebounding. Guys do not necessarily have to score to play a big role on your team. All they have to do is make plays. It sure would be nice to have a low center of gravity, "Immovable object" to throw at guys. Like when Chuck Hayes was defending Paul Gasol/Bynum. Finnesse players locked up with a player invested in physicality. There is a good chance next year that Oden will start. That means Joel will be on the 2nd unit. The Blazers could be going to a guard oriented scoring on the 2nd unit, with the bigs responsible for D and rebounding for the most part.
The trouble is Blair is not even a great college defender, he had a helluva time defending pick and rolls at Pitt, and even though he's got a big wide base and low center of gravity I don't recall him being a good post defender in the couple of games I saw him. He's a fantastic energy player and likes contact, but I'm just not convinced a rookie is what we need at that position (especially one that is shooting up the draft board). I'd much rather see a guy like Antonio McDyess signed -- or someone with at least a little bit of a back to the basket game and good rebounding -- vs. another unknown quantity. This team is dying for some veterans who have been there, done that and have lots of playoff experience.
I'd prefer to see us give Joel Freeland the backup PF job. But I would be in favor of trading Outlaw and the 24th for SOMETHING. Maybe a future 1st round pick. We really do not have the space to develop any more rookies. Blair is a really muscular guy, but this is basketball, not the NFL. Sergio is most likely a gonner, and we'll probably bring in Andre Miller or Nate Robinson. If we cut Blake and give Bayless the backup PG spot, then we might even have enough room to sign Ron Artest as well. Miller/Blake/Bayless Roy/Rudy/Bayless Batum/Webster LA/Freeland Oden/Pryzbilla There's no room in the inn for baby Jesus.
