Meyers Leonard treated like a "McMillan"

In all fairness, claver wasn't a lotto pick. In fact, I really like claver. He's a hard hat player. It's unfortunate that we have two good SFs. We don't have many solid bigs, yet Leonard isn't trusted to play

 

But, if we would have taken Blair, instead of Claver, we'd have another serviceable big.

BNM

 

Sure. But late picks are just as much a gamble imo

 

Blair was a lottery level talent. He dropped because people were worried about his knees, but he never missed a game in college because of them. People still misunderstand his condition. I was watching a Dallas game last week and the Dallas announcers commented that he didn't have any meniscus in either knee. Incorrect. He doesn't have an ACL in either knee. His condition isn't degenerative, like Brandon Roy's bone-on-bone. It is what it is. He played 2 years in college, and is now in his 5th season in the NBA - all without knee problems. He can't injure his ACL, because he doesn't have any. He played in 227 of 230 possible games his first three seasons in the league. He had 21 DNPs last season as Pop gave the back-up big minutes to Boris Diaw and Matt Bonner, but he's back to having a regular role in Dallas and producing like he always has.

The guy is a great back-up 4, and back in 2009, that was our biggest need entering the draft. He was both BPA and filled a need at 22 (and 31 and 33). I freaked when we passed on him at 22 to take Claver (who we could have easily taken later), and was absolutely dumbfounded when we passed on him two more times to take and Pendergraph and Cunningham.

BNM

 

Blair's first team benched him during the playoffs and let him go as a free agent after his rookie contract was over. Now he's a bench player for a team that will be lucky to make the playoffs, but won't once Dirk gets injured.

 

Marcus Thornton, Jonas Jerebko, Taj Gibson, Danny Green, Jodie Meeks, Chase Budinger, Omri Casspi, Byron Mullens, Christian Eyenga, Toney Douglas, Wayne Ellington, Patrick Beverley, A.J. Price, Sam Young, Rodrique Beaubois, Nando De Colo, Sergio Llull...hmm...

I like Claver.

 

So?

The question was: Who would you have drafted over Claver?

Let's see, Claver was a bench player on the worst bench in NBA history for a team that won 33 games last season. He is now not even part of the rotation on a team that may not make the playoffs. He's played a total of 3 minutes all season and has a PER = 0.0.

For his career, Blair has scored 2312 points and grabbed 1724 rebounds. For his career, Claver has scored 187 points and grabbed 119 rebounds.

If you sort the 2009 draft class by total win shares, Blair, the 37th pick ranks 8th at 16.1 total WS. Claver ranks 56th at -0.1 total WS. Blair has more total win shares than Claver, Pendergraph and Cunningham combined (the three players we chose instead of Blair). Blair would have been a great pick at 22, and an absolute steal at 31 or 33. If you disagree, please explain why.

This season, Blair has played 141 minutes, 20.1 MPG and is averaging 8.7ppg and 7.4rpg with a PER =23.2. He has a career PER = 17.2, compared to Claver's 7.0. Are you really disputing that Claver was a better pick than Blair would have been? If so, on what basis? Blair has had a MUCH more productive career and is having a significantly better season. Frankly, if he keeps this up, he'll be in the running for 6th man of the year. Right now, Claver isn't even in the running for 12 man of the year. Oh yeah, and Blair makes significantly less money than Claver. Ask yourself, who would you rather have: Claver 0.0ppg, 0.0rpg, PER = 0.0 at $1,370,000, or Blair at 8.7ppg, 7.4rpg, PER = 23.2 at $937.907?

In spite of just being a bench player in Dallas, Blair is 6th in the league in offensive rebounds and 4th in the league in steals. He currently leads the league in both STL% and ORB%. Yes, the sample size is small (only 7 games and 141 minutes), but at least he has a sample size.

In 36 career playoff games, Blair has a career post season PER = 23.1, TRB% = 19.4. His career playoff ORtg is 120. His career playoff DRtg is 101. His career playoff WS/48 is .220. What are Claver's career playoff averages? Oh, that's right, he's never sniffed the NBA playoffs.

You asked the question and I answered it. Apparently, you don't like my answer, but you haven't offered a single reason why we should not have drafted Blair instead of Claver (or Pendergraph or Cunningham). Put up or shut up.

BNM