San Antonio Spurs

[jcatruman]

D. Blair 22:09 6-15 0-0 4-6 +3 8 19 2 2 1 0 0 1 16

rebounds and points.

this is interesting

[johnnyblues]

D. Blair 22:09 6-15 0-0 4-6 +3 8 19 2 2 1 0 0 1 16

rebounds and points.

this is interesting

mao gyud

[owNinZ]

kuyawa ni blair gniha, grabe rebounding skills tawhana...it would surely help ease off some rebounding load of our spurs big men timmy & dice....

[mab]

nindot jd ni atngan bata-a dah...

[nikki_louise]

pildi man cguro sila sa spurs behind car landry

[johnnyblues]

"Adrian Wojnarowski: More than 1 NBA executive texted me curse tonight for team doctors refusal to draft DeJuan Blair with bad knees. Twitter.com"

[johnnyblues]

interview ni tony parker ig human sa ilang duwa vs houston:

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http://www.tp9.net/en/itw.php?id=267

October 07, 2009

What lessons did you learn from this first game vs Houston ? (lost 99-85)?

Yesterday’s game was important for Gregg Popovich. We are 18 players in the team now so 3 of us will leave before the regular season starts. Pop inspected all the players against Houston. It was an evaluation game. Besides, Hairston was a pretty good forward (10 points, 5 rbds).

Dejuan Blair, the rookie, stroke a decisive blow with 16 points and 19 rbds…

He was really good. I think he is going to help us a lot this season. He is so full of energy, a fantastic player, an animal. He makes me think of Paul Millsap (Utah). He plays tough, takes every single rebound. Although it was just a pre season game, we immediately saw his qualities.

You’re playing Olympiakos on Friday. Shall we expect an inspection again?

Yes, I think so, Pop will choose the new guys again. Then, little by little, he’ll launch the major players. It may be in Miami on Sunday. I think I’ll play there.

How are Richard Jefferson’s and Antonio Mc Dyess’s integrations going on?

Very well. When I look at the team today, I say to myself that we have risen to a new level. Our team really filled out. Richardson has a great offense talent, McDyess plays good defense and is an excellent shooter. We have a real opportunity to win the NBA title. But on the other hand, the Lakers and the Celtics got stronger too. The battle will be tough next season.

With all the new systems to learn, isn’t it too hard for them?

No, not at all. Pop simplified the systems. We have a few less than last year. I am the first one to be a little more free. When the ball is in my hands I can create some game. He wants me to take more responsibilities especially on a leadership and offense levels. I’ll do my best to take up the challenge.

After an exhausting European competition, how do you feel?

I’m recovering well. Frankly, Pop was great leaving me on the side the first week. He’s aware the season is gonna be long and I need to get back on my feet. My program is lightened for another and then I’ll get in the heart of the matter.

[menderouv]

ok lang pildi preseason lang bitaw wa pd muduwa ang mga main players jd

[owNinZ]

Is Blair a Natural Rebounder?

One of the coaches stood in the locker room late Tuesday night, marveling about DeJuan Blair. Then he paused and changed direction.

“I love Ian Mahinmi,” he said, “but ...”

The coach roots for Mahinmi, as does everyone in the Spurs organization. Mahinmi has done everything the Spurs have asked.
Still, on this night, the coach couldn't help but see the contrast. Blair turned 20 in April, and this is the first time he's ever lived more than a block from home.

And yet: He showed more basketball instincts in his first NBA game than Mahinmi had in four years.

It's October, and there are no guarantees Blair will be getting minutes in November. Still, his undeniable skill was on display. Blair had 19 rebounds in the first 22 minutes of his pro life, and this is something that works in any arena in any city.

Asked about his rebounding philosophy, Blair smiled. “I just go get it,” he said. “And if I don't get it, I'll get it the next time.”

He was the same his two years at Pitt before falling to the Spurs in the draft. But it wasn't just his knees that worried scouts. He's no taller than Manu Ginobili, and, further adding to the confusing package, he can't jump as Charles Barkley once did as a small-sized rebounder.

So Blair is a round mound stuck on the ground, and Mahinmi is the opposite. He has the classic NBA frame. The Spurs drafted him because of this, and because a slice of video once teased what was possible. Then, in France, he slammed with the force of Amare Stoudemire.

Given that, the Spurs tutored him overseas, and they drilled him in Austin. They waited for the bad-luck injuries to heal, hoping the game had sunk in. But they knew he was always going to be, at best, a manufactured player built in a lab. He would never be a natural, as Blair is.

Tuesday showed all of that. Then, Mahinmi wasn't sure where to take his next step. Blair subbed in the first quarter for, coincidentally, Mahinmi, and immediately looked like he belonged. Nearly as stunning as his 19 rebounds was his one foul while banging into various Rockets.

Mahinmi, meanwhile, fouled out in 17 minutes.

Blair showed a Dennis Rodman sense of backboard geometry. Asked if he ever observed Rodman to see how he did it, Blair shook his head.

“Nah,” Blair joked. “I was watching Michael Jordan.”

He comes across as a nice kid. He admits he's still growing up and that moving away from Pittsburgh is part of that. He wants to stay humble, and Gregg Popovich has seen that.

“He takes no quarter from anybody, as far as playing with his teammates, but still is respectful, at the same time,” Popovich said. “He doesn't grandstand or beat his chest. He just plays and goes back down to the other end.”

There was one subtle moment Tuesday, though. Luis Scola had been punishing the Spurs, reminding them again about the value of another of their second-round picks. Then Blair boxed out Scola, grabbing yet another rebound with his long arms and soft hands, and Scola took a hard swipe.

Blair cradled the basketball with body language that rookies rarely have. It said: Scola was nothing more than an irritant.

The Spurs would like to see Blair play a second game before they marvel any further. They would like to see him against Pau Gasol, and with Tim Duncan, and under pressure.

But what they saw the first time he wore a Spurs uniform confirmed everything. He understands angles as the naturals do, and when he rebounded, he had anticipation and ferocity and balance.

Mahinmi, again, had potential.


Source: Spurs see what a lab can never replicate

[owNinZ]

Popovich: Hill is My Favorite Spur

Earlier this week, Spurs players — all 18 of them — were engaged in a relatively benign ball-handling drill. Big men dribbled next to small men, and some better than others.

At one point, coach Gregg Popovich wandered over to tell one of those big men what a good job he was doing.

“He said, ‘I will never play you at point guard,'” recalled Matt Bonner, a 6-foot-10 center by trade. “In case there was any confusion, he let me know.”

Thankfully for the Spurs — and probably also for Bonner — the manhunt for a backup to All-Star Tony Parker probably won't go so far down the roster this season.

That job unquestionably belongs to second-year player George Hill, who after a strong summer and an even better start to training camp has made the Spurs' coaching staff feel much better about their No. 2 point guard than they did last season.

Popovich has been effusive in his praise of Hill, going so far as to label him, “my favorite player on the entire team.”

“He's really matured,” Popovich said. “At this point, I'm really pleased to have him as our backup point.”

Of course, it isn't as if there are many other reasonable alternatives.

Though backup point guard was a perpetual question mark for the Spurs last season — indeed, Popovich tried everybody but Bonner there — they made no effort this offseason to bring in other candidates.

Before camp even began, it was going to be George Hill or bust.

“He's got to be a backup point,” Popovich said, “or we're in big damn trouble.”

Hill's performance in this camp should help Popovich breathe a bit easier.

With Parker sitting out Tuesday's preseason opener against Houston, Hill took the reins of the Spurs' offense and won over a few more hearts and minds. He scored 15 points, had four assists and, showing off his remade shooting stroke, hit both of his 3-point tries.

“I've matured,” said Hill, who averaged 5.7 points and 1.8 assists in 77 games as a rookie. “I have a year under my belt now. I see what it's like to play in the NBA. I know you're going to have good days and bad days. The only thing you can do is keep trying to improve every day.”

In the biggest difference between now and this time last year, Hill looks like an NBA point guard. When he was on the court against Houston, he was in command.

Parker, Hill's mentor and one of his biggest fans this side of Popovich, has taken notice.

“I saw from Day 1 in training camp, he was feeling very comfortable,” Parker said. “I think he's more aggressive overall in everything he does. His body language is better.”

It is a far cry from his rookie season, when Hill was simply trying not to drown in the sea of new information coming at him. It made him tentative.

He lacked, in Popovich's words, a “command personality” at the point. Too often, he deferred to the older veterans when he was supposed to be running the team.

“Now it's, ‘Hell with that,'” Popovich said. “His place is to go play and be aggressive and get minutes, and that's how he's playing.”

Hill is playing so well, in fact, that Popovich has bigger plans for him than just being Parker's understudy.

The coach has been tinkering with a smaller lineup that would allow Hill to play shooting guard next to Parker. Even at 6-foot-3, Hill is long enough, so that wouldn't be a defensive liability against many NBA shooting guards.

For Hill, a chance to play with Parker — instead of simply spelling him — would be icing.

“I just want to prove that I'm supposed to be here and I'm supposed to be the backup point guard,” Hill said.

Thankfully for the Spurs — and for Bonner — Hill appears ready to seize that role.


Source: Hill fits as Parker's stand-in