Tag: DeJuan Blair

Spurs’ Project Get Young continues

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Kawhi Leonard can’t say for certain if he was watching the NBA draft that night in 1997, when the Spurs made Tim Duncan the No. 1 overall pick and set the stage for a four-championship dynasty.

Back then, Leonard wasn’t allowed to stay up that late.

“I was 6 years old,” Leonard said.

On another June night some 14 years later, the Spurs made Leonard their highest-drafted rookie since Duncan, sending popular guard George Hill to Indiana in a trade that brought, among other baubles, the player the Pacers had taken with the 15th pick.

Stakes are high for Leonard, a 20-year-old small forward fresh off two college seasons at San Diego State. They are equally as high for the Spurs, who would not have gambled a key rotation piece such as Hill to acquire a player they did not think could readily contribute.

“I’m just happy they wanted me on their team,” Leonard said.

Though still the team of Duncan (35), Manu Ginobili (34) and Tony Parker (29), if the Spurs are to beat the odds and get back to the NBA mountaintop this season, they will rely on younger legs to help carry them.

Fresh off a paradoxical campaign in which they finished with the best record in the Western Conference (61-21), then were promptly ushered from the playoffs in the first round by Memphis, the Spurs have dipped their roster in the Fountain of Youth, hoping for a reboot.

Leonard’s arrival marks another chapter in a silver-and-black sea change that has been ongoing since the Spurs’ most recent NBA championship in 2007.

The 2007-08 roster — which coach Gregg Popovich once laughingly derided as “older than dirt” — featured Robert Horry (37), Brent Barry (36), Bruce Bowen (36) and Michael Finley (34).

This season, in addition to Leonard, the Spurs expect significant contributions from each of their previous two top draft picks, 22-year-olds James Anderson and DeJuan Blair, as well as from 26-year-old center Tiago Splitter and 27-year-old reserve guard Gary Neal.

In a lockout-condensed, 66-game season, in which back-to-backs are plentiful and rest for old, tired bodies is not, young depth will be crucial now more than ever.

“It’s probably mandatory,” Popovich said. “Those games — five in six nights and three in a row, that sort of thing — is not going to be conducive to playing older players too many minutes.”

In short order, the Spurs’ roster has gone from too old to go out to the club to young enough to be carded when they get there. Their recipe for success this season is simple, yet difficult.

They need Leonard, a 6-foot-7 defensive menace and rebounding machine, to defy the normal rookie learning curve in a short training camp. They need Anderson, the 2010 Big 12 Player of the Year at Oklahoma State, to stay on the floor after injuries short-circuited his rookie year.

They need Splitter to rise to a bigger role and play more like the Spanish League MVP he once was. They need the 6-7 Blair to sprout a couple inches, or at least not grow a couple pant sizes.

They need Neal to pick up where he left off after an All-Rookie campaign.

If all that happens, the no-longer-older-than-dirt Spurs can expect to once again be a force in the Western Conference.

“This was always a veteran team,” Blair said. “Now we’ve gone young, and everybody is running around like a chicken with their head cut off.”

Parker, the only member of the Spurs’ so-called Big Three still shy of the big 3-0, compares the team’s situation now to the early 2000s, when he and Ginobili arrived to inject life into an aging roster.

In 2002-03, Ginobili’s rookie season, the Spurs won their second championship.

“It’s a little bit like when I came or Manu came, we had to contribute right away,” Parker said. “All of our young guys this season have to do the same thing.”

With the influx of youth is sure to come growing pains.

Ginobili recalls his inaugural NBA season, when it seemed as if more of his fancy passes wound up in the seats than his teammates’ hands.

“I’ve always said making mistakes is huge,” Ginobili said. “In my first two seasons, Pop wanted to kill me. But it helped me to understand the game.”

How long will Popovich be able to tolerate the mistakes of youth? The answer may be irrelevant.

The Spurs’ young bucks will play this season, and play a lot, because there is no other alternative.

TURNING BACK TIME

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich referred to the team that followed his last NBA championship in 2007 as “older than dirt.” It brought about the desired laughter, and that 2007-08 team made the Western Conference finals.

But since then, Popovich and the Spurs’ front office have been busy securing fresh legs in hopes of getting younger. Here’s a look at the 13 guys who played and lost to the Lakers in five games in 2008 and the ones who step up Monday to face the Grizzlies in the 2011-12 season opener.

Source: Douglas Pils, Express-News research

Blair gets second shot at starting gig

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

The last time the Spurs faced the Memphis Grizzlies, DeJuan Blair had the best seat in the house. Watching from the bench for much of April’s playoff meeting, which the Spurs lost in six games, Blair didn’t exactly enjoy the view.

An erstwhile starter, Blair totaled 50 minutes in the series. He did not play at all in Game 5 or 6.

Those DNPs stuck with the 6-foot-7 center throughout the prolonged NBA offseason.

“I thought about that the whole lockout,” Blair said. “As soon as I stepped into training camp, last year was over. It’s a new year, and a new me.”

When the Grizzlies visit the ATT Center for Monday’s season opener, they are assured of seeing a lot more of Blair than they did in April.

For the second year in a row, Blair is poised to be the Spurs’ opening-day starter at center.

The NBA’s second-shortest starting center behind 6-6 Houston-turned-Sacramento big man Chuck Hayes, Blair became an unlikely tag-team partner with Tim Duncan last season, starting the first 63 games.

The Spurs were an NBA-best 51-12 with Blair in the lineup, but coach Gregg Popovich replaced him with the more experienced Antonio McDyess heading toward the playoffs.

With few other options heading into the new season, Popovich appears ready to give Blair his old job back, for better or worse.

“He’s continued to push himself, continued to learn,” Duncan said of the third-year pro. “Along with the natural skill he has, he’s continued to understand the game and what we want from him.”

When Duncan says the Spurs are “going to have to put guys out there and let them sink or swim,” Blair isn’t the only player in that category. But he might be at the top of the list.

Last season, Blair built upon an All-Rookie campaign by averaging 8.3 points and seven rebounds, the highlight perhaps being a 17-point, 15-rebound line in a Dec. 28 victory over the L.A. Lakers. But he still found himself at times overwhelmed by longer front lines and out of place on defense.

He also struggled with his weight, topping 300 pounds late in the season.

In an exit interview after the season, Popovich gave the former Pittsburgh All-American an ultimatum: Improve your approach to the job, or else.

“He talked about being more mature, having more professionalism and just being a pro on and off the court,” Blair said.

Only 22 and fiercely independent, Blair says he still struggles to reconcile the Spurs Way with his own path.

“I’m trying to follow that in my way and become the DeJuan Blair who I establish, not the one Pop establishes,” Blair said.

Popovich views Blair as a player whose best days are still ahead of him, provided he puts in the work.

“DeJuan is still learning about what he can do offensively and what he’s got to do defensively,” Popovich said. “He’s still in a development stage.”

Blair helped his cause by showing up at training camp in some semblance of playing shape. Left to his own devices during the lockout — and his own Whataburger-fueled eating habits — there was a real fear Blair might return jumbo-sized.

Had that happened, there might not have been a doghouse in San Antonio big enough to fit him. Instead, Blair arrived at right around his target weight of 265 pounds.

“I was excited to see him walk through that door,” Duncan said.

In a perfect world, Popovich would prefer not to start an undersized center with a tendency to check out on defense, but for now Blair appears to be the best option on a flawed roster.

Blair, for his part, aims to rise to the challenge. He did not grow an inch over the lockout. But he is eager to prove that he has grown up.

“I’m getting there,” Blair said. “I’m still young, and I’m still going to make mistakes. All I can do is learn from them.”

Leonard’s late shot caps Spurs preseason

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard had missed all four of his field-goal attempts Wednesday, struggling through the kind of night all rookies are bound to endure — especially those not known for shooting the ball in the first place.

It was the kind of night that could rob a 20-year-old of his confidence, that could result in two steps back in a development curve that needs to take giant leaps forward.

The ball swung to Leonard on the wing in the waning moments against Houston, and he was tasked with the most important job any rookie could ever face in a preseason game.

The avoidance of overtime.

Leonard’s fifth field-goal try of the game — a 20-footer over Rockets guard Jeremy Lin — found the bottom of the net with 5.3 seconds left, lifting the Spurs to a 97-95 victory at the ATT Center.

“I loved seeing that last shot go down, so that nobody would have overtime,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It made two teams really happy the game was over.”

On a night the Spurs’ Big Three was reunited for the first time in a regulation game since the first round of April’s playoffs, with at least two of them approaching All-Star levels, the game eventually came down to an untested rookie known more for his defense than offense.

For Leonard, it was just another day on the job.

“I took the shot, and I made it,” he said.

In a game that served as the Spurs’ preseason home opener and exhibition finale, Popovich dispatched his usual starting five in hopes of ? reawakening some chemistry before the regular season tips off on Monday night.

Making their preseason debuts, Tim Duncan scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Tony Parker added 15 points and five assists. Richard Jefferson hit all three of his 3-pointers en route to nine points, while DeJuan Blair made all three of his field goals and scored eight.

Only Manu Ginobili, who admits he is not quite in basketball shape, struggled, going 1 of 8 from the field.

One sequence, early in the first quarter, offered a glimpse of a team ready for games that count. Ginobili passed to Duncan at the top of the key, who fired a quick no-look pass low to Blair, who immediately shuttled the ball to Jefferson in the corner for an open 3.

“The first five, six minutes were great,” Ginobili said.

Eventually, the game came down — as most preseason games do — to a collection of rookies and role players trying too hard to impress their respective coaches.

The Spurs led by 10 after Danny Green’s four-point play with 3:34 to go, but saw that lead vanish using a lineup devoid of a single established NBA player.

Lin’s acrobatic drive with 28.8 seconds left knotted the game at 95, setting the stage for Leonard to try and break his night-long oh-fer.

Fellow rookie Cory Joseph skipped a pass to Leonard near the left arc. With the shot clock winding down and Lin in his face, Leonard had no choice but to shoot.

By finishing 1 for 5, Leonard kept the Spurs out of OT.

For Leonard, it was just the second successful field goal of the preseason. In the daily evolution of the Spurs’ highest-drafted rookie since Duncan, however, it could mean so much more.

Almost a year ago to the date, as a freshman at Texas, Joseph had a similar moment against North Carolina, hitting a jumper to beat the Tar Heels. He knows better than most the power of a game-winner.

“That can build anybody’s confidence,” Joseph said.

To Ginobili, it recalled a night in Mexico City two Octobers ago, when another rookie named Gary Neal buried a jumper to win a preseason game against the Clippers.

“He waited for his moment,” Ginobili said of Leonard.

“For a rookie, a game-winner is important, even if it’s the preseason.”

Neal earned the trust of his teammates that night. Perhaps Leonard is now free to do the same.