NBA Draft Prospects: DeJuan Blair, Pitt

Stats: 15.7 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 5.8 orpg, 1.5 spg, 1.0 bpg, 59.3% FG, 60.5% FT, 1.3 t/o's

Listed Size: 6'7", 265 lb, 4/22/1989 (20 years old)

(photo credit: Zimbio)

About Him: There is a lot to like about DeJuan Blair as an NBA prospect, the most notable of which is his fantastic rebounding ability. He is an animal on the boards, collecting 12.3 rpg, with 5.8 of those coming on the offensive glass (which led the country).

There are a couple reasons why Blair is such a dominant rebounder. He has an ideal body for banging down low. He is a very strong 6'7" and 270 lbs (I've seen reports that he was up to as much as 315 during the season, but as shed almost 40 lbs in preparing for the draft), which gives him a low center of gravity and makes it difficult to move him off the block. But Blair has freakishly long arms (7'2" wingspan, standing reach of 8'11"), which allows him to play much taller than he is. Blair also has fantastic hands, catching everything that comes into his reach, which is all the more important given he rebounds as well out of his area as anyone I have ever seen.

Along those same lines, Blair excels at using his girth to seal off a defender in the post. He also is an excellent finisher on quick post moves, sealing his man for an easy duck-in lay-up of a quick jump hook. Where he tends to struggle is his ability to make more advanced post moves. As of now, he is not able to score as well when he has to beat a defender 1-on-1 in the post, whether it is via a back-to-the-basket post up or facing the basket.

More to the point, Blair is really ineffective with the ball anywhere beyond the block. He is not quick enough to take a defender off the dribble from 15 feet, and his jumper was virtually non-existent during the season (0.2 attempts per game). Based on his free throw shooting (down to 60.5% this year), it is safe to assume that he is going to need to improve that aspect of his game.

Since Blair survived on scoring around the basket, he became a very efficient player, shooting a robust 59.9% from the floor and posting a 38.9 PER, the highest in the country (although, much of that can be attributed to his offensive rebounding, which is scored very highly using that formula).

One other thing to mention about Blair is that with his girth, he may be the best screener in the entire draft - think about how difficult it will be for any to get around someone that size.

The biggest question mark right now for Blair is going to be on defense. Who is he going to be able to defend? For someone his size, he is impressively nimble and coordinated (as seen by his high number of steals, many of which came from him getting around an offensive player trying to hold a seal), but he is not a great athlete. He does not move well laterally and he isn't all that explosive. Can he guard power forwards that can step out and play on the perimeter? Can he hedge out and defend the pick and roll? Those are going to be the biggest concerns for him come draft day. To his credit, losing that weight can only help him get quicker.

Another big positive for Blair is going to be the intangibles he brings to the table. He doesn't have a ton of baggage. Off the court (and on the court as well), Blair is always smiling and always having a good time. He is not the kind of player that is going to come in and kill the chemistry of a team, in fact he probably will be a great locker room guy.

Comparisons: Best Case: Paul Millsap; Worst Case: Reggie Evans, Richard Hendrix.

Bottom Line: Blair is another guy that is going to fit into a role on a certain team. Given his frame and size, he should be able to rebound at the next level. When he is motivated to play, he is as active and as high energy as anyone going to the glass. But how good he will be in the league will depend solely on how well he develops the rest of his game. One thing to keep in mind - he tore both of his acl's in high school, and being just 20 years old, he is still relatively "young" as a player, so to speak.

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Hasheem Thabeet and DeJuan Blair Share Big East POY

Since I am covering the Big Easy tournament this week, I figured I would pass along this piece of relevant news. UConn's Hasheem Thabeet and Pitt's DeJuan Blair have been named co-Big East Players of the Year. It was the first time since 2001-2002 that the Big East POY was shared. That year, coincidentally, it was shared between a UConn and Pitt player as well - Caron Butler of the Huskies and Brevin Knight of the Panthers.

As you know, I chose Terrence Williams of Louisville as the BIAH Big East POY. I missed on that one, but I nailed the Coach of the Year and the Freshman of the Year as Jay Wright of Villanova and Greg Monroe of Georgetown, respectively, won those awards. Continue reading...

College Basketball Week In Review: It is going to be a fun stretch run

The end of this season is going to be really exciting as each of the big six conferences and packed at the top. Take a look:

• ACC: UNC (10-3) has a game and a half lead over three teams in second place (Duke, Florida State, and Clemson at 8-4) with Wake Forest (7-5) just a game behind them. Below that, there are five more teams with a realistic shot at making a run to the NCAA's if they can get hot in the season's final weeks.
  
• Big East: There are four teams tied for first in the loss column: UConn (13-2), Pitt (12-2), Louisville (12-2), and Marquette (12-2).
• Big Ten: Michigan State (11-3) is in first, but both Purdue (10-4) and Illinois (10-5) are within striking distance. There are also five teams within a game and a half battling for the fourth and fifth spots (first round bye in the Big Ten tourney).
• Big XII: Oklahoma and Kansas (11-1) play tonight to settle the tie atop the league, with Missouri (10-2) sitting just a game behind them.
• Pac-10: In perhaps the craziest of the four power conferences, Washington (11-4) is, once again, sitting all alone atop the conference at 11-4, but Arizona State (10-4), Cal (9-5), UCLA (9-6), and Arizona (8-6) are all in the mix.
  
• SEC: LSU has already clinched the SEC West, but the SEC East is far from decided. Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky (8-4) are all tied atop the division, while Tennessee (7-5) is just a game back.
• Atlantic 10: Xavier (10-3) has a half game lead over Dayton and Temple (9-3), but Rhode Island (9-4) is in the mix as well. St. Joe's, who was leading the conference a week and a half ago, is now is sixth place (7-5).
• Mountain West: Utah has taken control of the league (10-2), but San Diego State, New Mexico, and BYU (8-4) all could make a run at the Utes, while UNLV (8-5) is just a half game behind that group.
  

It is going to be a lot of fun this next month and a half. Right now, most people have UConn, Pitt, Oklahoma, and UNC penciled in as the four #1 seeds, but what if UConn loses another game while Pitt, Louisville, and Marquette win out? Can you really give the Huskies a #1 seed if they finish fourth in their conference?

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
DeJuan Blair, Pitt
As tough as it was to ignore what was arguably the most dominant performance of the season (Greivis Vazquez going for 35 points, 11 boards, 10 dimes, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in an OT win against UNC), the Terps got blown out on Wednesday against Clemson, which, to me, nullified the amazing performance. But Blair was fantastic all week. On Monday, he dominated UConn's Hasheem Thabeet, going for 22 points and 23 boards while holding him to just 5 points and 4 boards. Thabeet is turning into one of the most fearsome defensive presences in the league, and Blair scored on him pretty much every time he touched the ball. If it wasn't for an elbow that caught Blair on the eye, sending him to the bench for about five minutes, we could be talking about a 25 and 25 game.

Blair followed up that performance with another impressive game against DePaul. In the first half alone, he had 16 points and 16 boards. He finished the game with 20 and 18 (kind of disappointing, no?) with 10 of those boards coming on the offensive end. The craziest stat of all from this week? With the amount of banging Blair did in the post, he only went to the line six times all week.

TEAM OF THE WEEK:
Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue went 2-0 last week, with their big win coming on Tuesday against Michigan State (by 18!). The Boilermakers were expected to contend for the Big Ten title, but a series of injuries (Robbie Hummmel's back, Chris Kramer's nose/ankle) have kept them from playing at 100% most of the season. But it seems as if both players are back and, while they may not be 100% just yet, are playing at a high enough level for Purdue to win big games. It has always been about defense for the Boilermakers, and they got back to that in recent games, holding their three opponents before Indiana to 54 points or less. Maybe more important than all of that is that E'Twaun Moore seems to have found his jump shot. Moore was 5-6 from three against Indiana after going just 4-23 in his previous six games.

MATCH-UPS OF THE WEEK:
2/23 - Kansas @ Oklahoma: A battle for first in the Big XII, but will Griffin be playing?

2/24 - Florida @ LSU: There is a lot at stake every time two of the five NCAA teams in the SEC play each other.

2/25 - UConn @ Marquette: Believe it or not, this is Marquette's first game against one of the top three in the Big East.

2/26 - Arizona State @ Washington: First place in the Pac-10 will be on the line in this one.

2/28 - Clemson @ Florida State: A important game for ACC tournament seeding. Both teams are in a three-way tie for second, and no one wants to come in fifth place and have to play a first round game.

2/28 - LSU @ Kentucky: We will really find out if LSU is for real this week.

Once again we get a great Sunday line-up of games: Michigan State @ Illinois, Marquette @ Louisville, and Missouri @ Kansas. Continue reading...

Hasheem Thabeet or DeJuan Blair: Who Will be the Better Pro?

Anyone that watched the Pitt Panthers beat (up, physically) the UConn Huskies last night will know that DeJuan Blair owned Hasheem Thabeet in a match-up of the two best big men in the country.

Clearly, Blair was the better player last night and probably will have Thabeet's number come the March 7th match-up in Pittsburgh (and any potential match-up in the Big East or NCAA tournaments). But it is tough to argue that Blair has more upside than Thabeet.

The question becomes who will be a better pro. More than anything, last night really exposed Thabeet. Right now, Thabeet is an exceptional help defender - he thrives on being the weak side shot blocker and defending the rim against perimeter penetration. Where he struggles is when he is forced to guard someone stronger than him (especially a guy like Blair, whose center of gravity is so much lower) or someone who is quicker than him and can play the perimeter (remember what happened when the Huskies played Georgetown?).

Who will be the better pro?
(photo credit: ESPN)

He succeeds as a 1-on-1 defender when he goes against other players with similar physiques, other true centers. In the NBA, those are the kind of players he will face. He still needs to get stronger, but once he does he will be able to guard guys like Andrew Bynum or Amare Stoudamire simply because of his length and athleticism. Because of his limited offensive repertoire and the way he struggles defending the pick-and-roll (and on the perimeter in general), Thabeet may never be more than a role/bench player. But there is definitely a place for him in the league.

It is a little different for Blair. Here is a guy who is listed at 6'7' but is probably closer to 6'6", not a great athlete, and around 260 lb. On the surface, Blair looks destined to follow in the footsteps of a guy like Mike Sweetney - too short to survive in the post, not enough perimeter game to become a Corliss Williamson.

But Blair really impressed me last night. Yes, 22 and 23 in a game against the #1 team in the country should impress everyone. It wasn't the numbers, however. It was the way Blair executed his moves offensively. Everyone knows about Blair's rebounding ability and how well he understands positioning, but I always questioned how well Blair would play going against a tall shot blocker. It is safe to say Blair was somewhat successful last night.

What Blair did was hit Thabeet first, knocking Thabeet off balance, back a half step, and thus taking away his jumping ability. Essentially, he neutralized Thabeet's shot blocking. He did it going to his right, to his left, finishing with a fade-away, off the dribble. I understand that Blair is a tough match-up for Thabeet right now, but he really made an impression with his complete dominance on both ends of the floor.

Another thing that impresses me about Blair is his passing ability, especially on outlet passes. One of the reasons Pitt is so good this year is that they can overcome their offensive struggles by running the floor. They are able to get out and run in large part because the guy that gets the majority of their rebounds can throw an exceptional outlet pass.

His strength and rebounding ability alone should allow him a Danny Fortson type of career, but if last night is any indication, he could become much more.

My take? I think at worst both will be effective role players in the league. Thabeet has a much higher ceiling (he could turn into the next Dikembe Mutumbo), but that is a big 'if'. Blair could probably average 8 boards a game right now in the league, but if things break right (right system, loses some weight while keeping that strength) there is a good chance he becomes a 15 and 10 guy. Continue reading...