SB Nation - Malik Rose

Magic 118, Knicks 104

Seth — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:25:45 -0000

More photos » by Phelan M. Ebenhack - AP

This game was ugly. Can't blame either of these guys for crying. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Well, that wave of competence didn't ride long, did it? In fact, the Knicks picked up just about where they left off on Sunday against the Magic. After keeping things relatively competitive in the first half, New York once again allowed the Orlando gunners to shoot the game out of reach. After a brilliant performance last night, tonight was more of the usual. The defense was consistently a step slow, the shot selection was poor, and the team-wide verve from Tuesday had completely faded. Much of that can be credited to the Magic, who moved the ball briskly on offense, defended superbly on and off the ball, and generally made the Suns look like a gaggle of chumps by comparison.

Some notes, after the jump...

- Tonight's big story was the full-on explosion of something that smoldered and sparked last night. Nate Robinson did not play. Not a single minute. Alan Hahn just tweeted D'Antoni's explanation of the benching, and it's equal parts vague and threatening:

"It’s just something we’re trying to build a winning group and you have to go with that."

"We want to win and if he’s conducive to winning then he’ll obviously be back in the lineup. If not, then not."

Coach has been peeved by Robinson's flimsy defense and occasional displays of immaturity, and this is clearly his way of sending a message. Particularly following Nate's torrid fourth quarter on Sunday, that's a strong message to send. And you know what? As much as Nate's presence is missed, I'm on board. It's refreshing to see someone really challenge the little dude- who's now in his fifth year, mind you- to focus and play to his potential. If benching is D'Antoni's best answer, then so be it. I ask only that he be even-handed. If Nate has to ride the pine for stretches, then Al Harrington should probably take a seat as well, and Chris Duhon should be hit over the head with a chair. Each of those guys has been equally disappointing in the talent-to-output ratio.

- Harrington, Robinson, and Jared Jeffries were seen dancing and singing along to "We Will Rock You" during the pre-game festivities. Toney Douglas did not look impressed. Listening to Queen is apparently not what Toney Douglas do. You're all on notice. More on TD later.

- The earliest indicator that Orlando wasn't going to fold defensively like Phoenix did was the way they covered baseline cuts to the basket. Larry Hughes got his early assists against Phoenix because he repeatedly hit Knick forwards in stride off of backdoor cuts. Dwight Howard et al., though, did a superb job of identifying and reacting to any off-the-ball movement, and Hughes repeatedly had to swallow his pass when Howard flashed in front of the cutter. This made for some rather unsightly outside shots.

- On the other end, Howard simply couldn't be stopped by any combination of miniature Knicks. Guys doubled, but they couldn't really use the baseline properly or close him off from passes except for a few instances. Whatever. It's not like we have to worry about that matchup in the postseason.

- Danilo Gallinari, for his part, did not return to his comfortable corner hideout, but he did post a prolific but sub-optimal shooting night. Gallo buried a three within 15 seconds of tipoff, and didn't stop shooting after that. As the game progressed, though, Danilo's shots grew more and more forced, and he ended up with an unsightly (but not awful) 5-14 line. I was happy to see the kid get that many shots up, and ecstatic that he attempted 10 free throws, but he's gotta strike a balance between coasting and chucking. It feels weird to say that after lamenting Danilo's lack of shots in previous games, but I really expect the best from him.

Meanwhile, Gallinari's simply got to adapt better on defense. We know Danilo is athletic enough to defend capably (see Tuesday's game), but he doesn't always have his head on straight. Case in point: If Mickael Pietrus has just hit three straight three-pointers, CLOSE OUT. Let him beat you off the dribble. Bite on his pump fakes. Just make him do something different. I guess that comes with familiarity and coaching, but like I said, I expect the best from Danilo Gallinari. Not a terrible game for The Cock, but there's room to improve.

- Al Harrington is dedicated to keeping the memories of past Knicks alive. Not only does he pull the chair like Malik Rose used to, he's resurrected Quentin Richardson's tendency to scream "HEY" whenever he feels contact.

- 8 first quarter turnovers is probably not an ideal statistic if you're trying to win a basketball game, especially when you shoot as poorly as the Knicks do. Can't waste possessions.

- In Nate's absence, Toney Douglas was the first guard off the bench. In the second quarter, and also in garbage time later on, Toney DWTDD like he's been known to. Toney scored a quick 17 points on 7-11 shooting in 20 minutes. I'm still not blown away by his passing, but the rook's range and intermediate game (such a pretty floater!) make me drool just a little. I continue to be impressed by his D as well, though someone needs to tell him to use his forearms, not his hands.

- Remember that time David Lee told me he intended to keep his mouth shut amongst the replacement refs? Well, we've got regular refs now, but Dave ain't exactly minding his manners. Lee bitches constantly, and it got to the point that D'Antoni scolded him for dawdling up the court because he was chewing out an official. I don't especially care...just saying. I don't like getting LIED TO, David.

- While we're talking about him, I was happy to see Lee drag Dwight Howard out of his domain by making catches near the perimeter, but I found myself wishing he'd take Howard off the dribble instead of attempting jumpers.

- It's weird how much Jared Jeffries's jumper form has regressed since he was wetting J's in preseason. It's like the warm weather loosened up some ligaments in his wrist that have since reverted to a state that causes his shots to spin in three different directions simultaneously.

- At the risk of sounding psychotic, I'd really like to cook and eat Dwight Howard's shoulders, and then do the same with Brandon Bass's to compare taste and texture. I'd bet Anthony Johnson would make a fine cut of meat as well. Word has it they hand-feed him beer and massage him daily to marble the fat.

- Rashard Lewis is probably kinda gamy. I'm sorry. I'll stop.

- Wilson Chandler might not be rising as high as he was last season, but his second jump is pretty quick for a guy who recently had ankle surgery. For a guy that takes a lot of tough shots near the rim, the ability to get his own rebound and stick it back is prized. 24 (10-18) and 5 for Wil, by the way, though it seemed like all of that came in garbage time.

- This movie Brothers looks really rough. Similar story to Pearl Harbor, but probably a lot less funny when you're high.

- Mickael Pietrus shimmies? Nobody informed me that Mickael Pietrus shimmies. Do other people in Guadeloupe shimmy? Did a Guadeloupean invent the shimmy? I always thought the shimmy was strictly American. If that's a foreign import, than what else have we got? Monster trucks?

- Speaking of Pietrus, MSG accidentally displayed his game stats alongside a photo of Donté Greene, which is their subtle way of reminding us that all sorts of fringe starters have looked like All-Stars against the Knicks this season.

- Chris Tucker was at Amway Arena tonight. King Kong ain't got shit on him, if you catch my drift.

- I was really psyched for extended garbage time, but Toney and Wil were the only two to really have an impact. Marcus Landry missed a bunch (1-5), and Jordan Hill was a little less trigger-happy than last night. He hit one of two jumpers and got the wind knocked out of him by Brandon Bass's ass a few times.

- Darko Milicic was bench-bound again tonight, which would qualify as a DNP-BMDISETDHITTSOAK. Enjoy. (Incidentally, your winner from last night is FreeBradshaw. Well done, sir.)

Anyway, after last night's sudden and overwhelming majesty, tonight was a hasty retreat to mediocre Knicks basketball. I wouldn't expect otherwise. Next game's Friday in Atlanta. We'll talk before then.

Toros Opening Night Preview/Game Thread

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:39:29 -0000

The Toros are being televised in the Austin market this season on Grande Communciations. Check it out if you have it because Malik Rose is the analysis guy. If you don't live in Austin or don't have Grande, they stream all the D-League games from NBA.com. Maybe they'll be picking up the television feed. Can you step up to the challenge and watch two games at one time?

Tip off is 7:30 Toros time.

That's it for the preview. Catch you guys later.

Thunder Gameday: Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder

Mr Pappagiorgio — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:56:05 -0000

So the Oklahoma City Thunder will make their 2009-10 home debut tonight in the Ford Center as they take on the Phoenix Suns. Thus far the Thunder are 0-2, with both losses coming last week on the road. All in all the Thunder have been able to take a lot of positives and negatives from each of their first two games. In reality, The Thunder probably should have won both those games as they let 4th quarter leads slip away to big runs. Tonight will be another important step in getting this team ready for the regular season, and being as its the first home game, perhaps head coach Scott Brooks has a plan to get us a win.

The starters have yet to play much more than 25 minutes in either game last week, but perhaps being the first home game, guys like Durant, Green, and Westbrook can get into the 30's (minutes) for the first time this pre-season, in an effort to not only get them a little bit closer to regular season type minutes, but to also re-energize Thunder fans as they make their way back into the Ford Center for the first time since last spring. In the process it could very well give this team a much needed win and a boost as we head closer to the regular season opener. I also apologize for not getting this up sooner and being as late as it is, we'll skip the long winded game preview that usually gets posted, and instead let you take a quick look at the roster as you're probably already about to head down to Bricktown for a little wining and dining before trotting on over to the Ford Center for tonight's game. So make the jump and take a peak. Tipoff is 7pm, and we'll have an OPEN THREAD posting 30 minutes prior as we usually do for commenting and such.

Oklahoma City Thunder Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Ryan Bowen	40	F	11.20.75	218	6-9	Iowa
Nick Collison	4	C	10.26.80	255	6-10	Kansas
Kevin Durant	35	F	9.29.88	215	6-9	Texas
Jeff Green	22	F	8.28.86	235	6-9	Georgetown
James Harden	13	G	8.26.87	220	6-5	Arizona State
Mike Harris	-	F	6.15.83	240	6-6	Rice
Serge Ibaka	9	F	9.18.89	220	6-10	None
Tre Kelley	6	G	1.23.85	188	6-0	South Carolina
Nenad Krstic	12	C	7.25.83	240	7-0	None
Shaun Livingston	14	G	9.11.85	185	6-7	Peoria Central HS
Byron Mullens	23	C	2.14.89	260	7-1	Ohio State
Kevin Ollie	7	G	12.27.72	195	6-2	Connecticut
Malik Rose	9	F	11.23.74	255	6-7	Drexel
Michael Ruffin	51	F	1.21.77	248	6-8	Tulsa
Thabo Sefolosha	2	G	5.2.84	215	6-7	None
Etan Thomas	36	C	4.1.78	260	6-10	Syracuse
Kyle Weaver	5	G	2.18.86	201	6-6	Washington State
Russell Westbrook	-	G	11.12.88	187	6-3	U-C-L-A
D.J. White	3	F	8.31.86	251	6-9	Indiana

Phoenix Suns Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Louis Amundson	17	F	12.7.82	225	6-9	U-N-L-V
Leandro Barbosa	10	F	11.28.82	202	6-3	None
Earl Clark	55	F	1.17.88	220	6-9	Louisville
Dan Dickau	12	G	9.16.78	180	6-0	Gonzaga
Goran Dragic	2	G	5.6.86	180	6-4	None
Jared Dudley	3	F	7.10.85	225	6-7	Boston College
Channing Frye	8	C	5.17.83	245	6-11	Arizona
Taylor Griffin	32	F	3.16.89	238	6-7	Oklahoma
Grant Hill	33	F	10.5.72	225	6-8	Duke
Robin Lopez	15	C	4.1.88	255	7-0	Stanford
Steve Nash	13	G	2.7.74	178	6-3	Santa Clara
Carlos Powell	11	F	8.29.83	225	6-7	South Carolina
Emir Preldzic	-	G	6.9.87	220	6-8	Bosnia
Jason Richardson	23	G	1.20.81	225	6-6	Michigan State
Amare Stoudemire	1	F	11.16.82	249	6-10	None
Raymond Sykes	4	F	7.3.86	220	6-9	Clemson
Alando Tucker	29	G	2.11.84	205	6-6	Wisconsin

Thunder Gameday: Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Hornets

Mr Pappagiorgio — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:30:22 -0000

The first thing you need to know about tonight's second pre-season game is that it isn't "tonight's" game at all, its actually an EARLY afternoon game, which tips off at 1pm Local time. Once again, the game won't be televised, and you're only chance to watch this one is going to be listening to WWLS, The Sports Animal, on FM 98.1 / AM 640 in the Oklahoma City area, or on 97.1 FM in the Tulsa Area. Again if there is anyone out there with a little bit of pull or power that wants to push for all the pre-season games to be televised next season, we'd certainly appreciate it, and I think just by me watching the game it'll have better ratings that "Matlock" and "In the Heat of the Night" which apparently was more important for KSBI to broadcast than showing a Thunder pre-season game. So if you can get that taken care of for us, I'm sure all us die hard Thunder fans would appreciate it.

As the Oklahoman points out in this article, essentially four players are battling for one roster spot. Those guys are Ryan Bowen, Mike Harris, Tre Kelley, and local boy Michael Ruffin. In the Thunder's first pre-season game the other night against the Memphis Grizzlies, Ryan Bowen got a nice chunk of playing time to show what he could do, while the other 3 guys watched from the bench. Bowen got 21 minutes of playing time which he used to take just 2 shots, both of which he missed (1 of which was a 3 point attempt), grab 3 rebounds (1 offensive), block 1 shot, and turned the ball over just once. All in all, just looking at the stat-line its hard to judge his performance, especially when we didn't get to see the game since it wasn't televised, but he didn't have too bad of a game, considering he's making an attempt at being the last guy on the bench, so to speak. From the article linked above, it was his hustle that really stood out, and I think one thing all Thunder fans love, and me especially (which is why I love Nick Collison so much), is hustle. Today's game should give one of the other three an opportunity to prove what they can do. Click the jump link to hear some more about today's game and what we are hoping to see.

The first thing I'm looking for in today's game is Russell Westbrook, and whether that 10 assist effort the other night was a fluke, or if he's improved his style of play so much this off-season that he's already going to be one of the leagues better point guards this season. He took just 4 shots, and racked up assist after assist to go along with 4 rebounds and only turned the ball over twice. Sure, we're used to RW0 racking up at least double digits in points, but with the addition of James Harden to the mix, perhaps that pressure for him to score upwards of 20 points per game is being lessened, significantly. If that's the case, imagine how many double doubles the kid is going to have this season, seriously! If he can keep up distributing the ball like this he'll be pushing the double digit assist mark all season, and I think we can pretty much bet that he'll be at least double digit in score on a nightly basis as well, and that's not even mentioning his rebounding which can sometimes pop up there into double digits as well.

The next thing I'm looking for is Jeff Green, and a much a improved outing for him. In Wednesdays game he had probably his work game, at least statwise that I can ever really remember seeing from him. Again, its hard to know what else he was doing on the court just from listening to the game, but, in 26 minutes of play, he managed just 6 points on 3-10 shooting to go with only 2 rebounds and 2 steals. This is not the Uncle Jeff we know and love, and this is not the guy we expect to see on a nightly basis this coming season. So it'll be interesting to see how he responds today and what kind of game he has. I'm banking on a 16-20 point performance with 5-7 boards today for Jeff Green. Let's see if he can do it.

Thirdly, is that even a word? I guess so since spell-check didn't change it, anyway, we're going with it. Thirdly, I want to see more of the young guys, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, D.J. White, and Kyle Weaver. I want to see what Ibaka can do with 20-30 minutes if he was able to score 4 points (2-2 shooting) and grab 2 rebounds in just 4 minutes of playing time. I want to see if D.J. White can continue to perform at such a high level in back to back games, and against good competition. Perhaps throw DJ out there early in the first quarter to get him some time against Nola's starters and see what he can do. Of course to do that, you'd likely have to cut into Jeff Greens time early, but hey its pre-season, why not start D.J. and throw Green out there late in the first and let him work the remainder of the 1st and most of the 2nd before bringing D.J. back in with the rest of the starters to clean up the end of the half? Look at me trying to be coach here. Anyway, I'm just intrigued by the way D.J. played on Wednesday and want to see what the kid can really do, as I'm sure Uncle Jeff's performance was just a fluke, we all know what he's capable of.

Finally, I'm just interested to see what Brooks plans on doing today. Is he going to give starters 25 minutes of playing time again? Is he gonna play with the rotations more? Work some of the young guys in with the starters to see how they will work with our premier players and against better competition? What's he gonna do? How is he going to continue to get this team prepped for the season opener which is already less than 3 weeks away! Can you believe that? just 18 more days until live regular season Thunder basketball! Man I'm excited, so turn that radio (come on guys, its the Hornets!) on at 1pm today and Thunder UP!

Oklahoma City Thunder Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Ryan Bowen	40	F	11.20.75	218	6-9	Iowa
Nick Collison	4	C	10.26.80	255	6-10	Kansas
Kevin Durant	35	F	9.29.88	215	6-9	Texas
Jeff Green	22	F	8.28.86	235	6-9	Georgetown
James Harden	13	G	8.26.87	220	6-5	Arizona State
Mike Harris	-	F	6.15.83	240	6-6	Rice
Serge Ibaka	9	F	9.18.89	220	6-10	None
Tre Kelley	6	G	1.23.85	188	6-0	South Carolina
Nenad Krstic	12	C	7.25.83	240	7-0	None
Shaun Livingston	14	G	9.11.85	185	6-7	Peoria Central HS
Byron Mullens	23	C	2.14.89	260	7-1	Ohio State
Kevin Ollie	7	G	12.27.72	195	6-2	Connecticut
Malik Rose	9	F	11.23.74	255	6-7	Drexel
Michael Ruffin	51	F	1.21.77	248	6-8	Tulsa
Thabo Sefolosha	2	G	5.2.84	215	6-7	None
Etan Thomas	36	C	4.1.78	260	6-10	Syracuse
Kyle Weaver	5	G	2.18.86	201	6-6	Washington State
Russell Westbrook	-	G	11.12.88	187	6-3	U-C-L-A
D.J. White	3	F	8.31.86	251	6-9	Indiana

New Orleans Hornets Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Hilton Armstrong	12	C	11.11.84	235	6-11	Connecticut
Earl Barron	55	C	8.14.81	268	7-0	Memphis
Bobby Brown	6	G	9.24.84	175	6-2	Cal State Fullerton
Devin Brown	23	G	12.30.78	210	6-5	Texas-San Antonio
Darren Collison	2	G	8.23.87	160	6-0	U-C-L-A
Ike Diogu	1	F	9.11.83	250	6-9	Arizona State
Sean Marks	4	C	8.23.75	250	6-10	California
Emeka Okafor	50	C	9.28.82	255	6-10	Connecticut
Larry Owens	25	F	1.8.83	210	6-7	Oral Roberts
Chris Paul	3	G	5.6.85	175	6-0	Wake Forest
Morris Peterson	9	G	8.26.77	220	6-7	Michigan State
James Posey	41	F	1.13.77	217	6-8	Xavier
Darius Songaila	9	F	2.14.78	248	6-9	Wake Forest
Peja Stojakovic	16	F	6.9.77	229	6-10	None
Marcus Thornton	5	G	6.5.87	205	6-4	L-S-U
David West	30	F	8.29.80	240	6-9	Xavier
Julian Wright	32	F	5.20.87	225	6-8	Kansas

Thunder Gameday: Oklahoma City Thunder at Memphis Grizzlies

Mr Pappagiorgio — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:42 -0000

Finally, finally, finally! The Oklahoma City Thunder get their 2009-10 season underway tonight, in Memphis, against the Grizzlies! Who cares if its only the pre-season? Thunder Basketball is back, so get ready to Thunder Up! Sadly enough, at the time of this writing (Last night), we don't have any update as to whether or not this game will be televised anywhere that Oklahomans will be able to see, but at the very least we should all be able to listen on the WWLS, The Sports Animal, which should be carrying the game (although I haven't confirmed that yet either). I'm sure you are quite tired of hearing me complain about the game not being televised, but let's face it, if you are reading this blog on a regular basis, chances are you are a pretty big Thunderhead yourself and just as pissed off. So hey, I'm being your voice, and you just never know who is reading. I griped and moaned all season about games that weren't broadcast in HD and a quick look at the TV schedule for the upcoming season will show that perhaps someone was listening as every single game is listed as being in HD this season.

It is still just a pre-season game, so why should you even care? Well, I'm gonna take a few minutes and hopefully give you enough reasons to be interested. First and foremost is your Thunder Roster is very different than it was just a few short months ago as the team closed out its inaugural season. When you make the jump, you'll see the entire pre-season roster which will be cut down substantially before the season begins. Gone are the likes of Robert Swift, Malik Rose, and Earl Watson, and inserted in their place are a host of new players that you should be just as anxious to see such as Etan Thomas and Kevin Ollie. As young as this team was last season, it may have gotten even younger this year as James Harden joins the mix along with some other terrific young players including Serge Ibaka, and Byron Mullens, amongst others. So go ahead and make the jump to see the full roster, along with our continued preview which will have a few more reasons to be interested in tonight's game, because there are a few more, I assure you.

If you can remember back a few short months, there was some extremely heated debate regarding who the Thunder should take, Hasheem Thabeet, or James Harden. Regardless of who we wanted or who we would have picked (although it does seem pretty clear that Harden had emerged as our guy shortly before the draft), the Grizzlies went ahead and made things a bit easier for us by picking Hasheem Thabeet with the #2 overall pick. So tonight will be our first chance at seeing these two guys match up head to head, even though they'll rarely be close to one another on the court since Harden plays guard and Thabeet is six million feet tall.

Another reason you are going to want to tune in is to check out Allen Iverson in his new home. We all know him, we all um, okay, so we all don't love him, but you still have to respect the guy on the court, no matter his flaws. For now he doesn't even seem to be a clear cut starter on the team, but it'll be interesting to see if that's a motivating factor for him in the pre-season. It'll also be fun to see how he works and interacts with guys like O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay. Oh wait, that's what you could have looked forward to if he didn't get himself injured on Sunday, so I guess we'll have to look forward to seeing that later on in the year. The Grizzlies are quite possibly the most exciting young team in the league outside of our own beloved Thunder, so this game will definitely be intriguing as two of the leagues better, up and coming, young teams, square off head to head. I tend to think we're a bit further ahead in our cycle than they are and should come away with a win, even if it is just a pre-season game, but the fun part will be watching, err, listening tonight.

Also, we will have a Live Game OPEN THREAD for commenting tonight as I'm sure one way or another a lot of us will be either listening to or watching the game. Hell, if we are listening, there is no reason to not be on the site commenting, so you better get your ass into the thread by tipoff so we can get some nice live game commenting going. Also, we'll update this post and the live game thread with anymore information on TV and Radio Coverage as the information becomes available.

2009-10 Oklahoma City Thunder Pre-Season Roster
NUM	PLAYER	POS	HT	WT	DOB	FROM	YRS
40	Ryan Bowen	F	6-9	218	11/20/1975	Iowa	9
4	Nick Collison	F-C	6-10	255	10/26/1980	Kansas	5
35	Kevin Durant	F-G	6-9	230	09/29/1988	Texas	2
22	Jeff Green	F	6-9	235	08/28/1986	Georgetown	2
13	James Harden	G	6-5	220	08/26/1989	Arizona State	R
	Mike Harris	F	6-6	240	06/15/1983	Rice	1
9	Serge Ibaka	F	6-10	235	09/18/1989	Congo	R
6	Tre Kelley	G	6-0	188	01/23/1985	South Carolina	R
12	Nenad Krstic	C	7-0	240	07/25/1983	Serbia & Montenegro	5
14	Shaun Livingston	G	6-7	185	09/11/1985	Peoria Central HS (IL)	4
23	Byron Mullens	C	7-0	275	02/14/1989	Ohio State	R
7	Kevin Ollie	G	6-2	195	12/27/1972	Connecticut	12
51	Michael Ruffin	F-C	6-8	248	01/21/1977	Tulsa	9
2	Thabo Sefolosha	F-G	6-7	215	05/02/1984	Switzerland	3
36	Etan Thomas	C	6-10	260	04/01/1978	Syracuse	7
5	Kyle Weaver	G	6-6	201	02/18/1986	Washington State	1
0	Russell Westbrook	G	6-3	187	11/12/1988	UCLA	1
3	D.J. White	F	6-9	251	08/31/1986	Indiana	1

2009-10 Memphis Grizzlies Pre-Season Roster
NUM	PLAYER	POS	HT	WT	DOB	FROM	YRS
00	Darrell Arthur	F	6-9	235	03/25/1988	Kansas	1
1	DeMarre Carroll	F	6-8	212	07/27/1986	Missouri	R
11	Mike Conley	G	6-1	185	10/11/1987	Ohio State	2
31	Thomas Gardner	G	6-5	225	02/08/1985	Missouri	2
33	Marc Gasol	C	7-1	280	01/29/1985	Spain	1
22	Rudy Gay	F	6-8	222	08/17/1986	Connecticut	3
2	Trey Gilder	F	6-9	185	01/24/1985	Northwestern State-Louisiana	R
15	Hamed Haddadi	C	7-2	265	05/19/1985	I.R. of Iran	1
45	Steven Hunter	C	7-0	240	10/31/1981	DePaul	7
3	Allen Iverson	G	6-0	165	06/07/1975	Georgetown	13
55	Marko Jaric	G	6-7	224	10/12/1978	Serbia	7
32	O.J. Mayo	G	6-4	210	11/05/1987	USC	1
50	Zach Randolph	F	6-9	260	07/16/1981	Michigan State	8
21	Leon Rodgers	F	6-6	217	06/19/1980	Northern Illinois	R
24	Mike Taylor	G	6-2	165	01/21/1986	Iowa State	1
34	Hasheem Thabeet	C	7-3	267	02/16/1987	Connecticut	R
5	Marcus Williams	G	6-3	205	12/03/1985	Connecticut	3
4	Sam Young	F-G	6-6	220	06/01/1985	Pittsburgh	R

Get to Know Your New Spurs #6: DeJuan Blair

Tim C. — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:19 -0000

DJB: Is that a wine stain? RC: Well, Pop said he was just going to try it on for size...

So, last week, silverandblack_davis gave us an interesting look at the most enigmatic new Spur added this offseason - Marcus Haislip. Now it's time to find out more about PtR's choice for most exciting new addition to the Spurs: Mr. DeJuan Blair, whose nickname could be any one of 30 different things proposed on this site.

Obviously, we're all very happy that DeJuan slipped down to #37 in the draft. I previously wrote that by drafting him, the Spurs proved that they are the best-run team in the league, but maybe I shouldn't have been quite so complimentary. All it really showed is that other teams' GMs were stupid and/or frightened by the fact that all of them knew prior to the draft: DeJuan has no ACL's, after two knee injuries he sustained[and the reconsructive surgeries that followed those injuries], when he was still in high school. Seriously, every NBA team except Orlando[zero picks] passed on Blair at least once.

So, was it a bad choice? Is that why all those other teams passed on Blair? Let's learn a bit more about the man before we start jumping to conclusions.

Background

A Local Icon

A decent amount of research about DeJuan Blair will inevitably lead to one conclusion: this is an exceptional man, and he has "Spur" written all over him. Blair is quite possibly the most well-known, well-liked local figure in the city of Pittsburgh, if this article by Dana O'Neil of ESPN is any indication. [please ignore the political stuff]

He is the Pied Piper-grown gargantuan, a hometown hero who can't go unrecognized even hidden in a nondescript rental car. Grown men stop working to take a picture alongside him, and other adults insist he can't leave without putting his name on a basketball. And kids? Kids who don't know a thing about the University of Pittsburgh know who No. 45 is.

That article also includes quite a bit about the surroundings Blair grew up with.

Not a lot of hope comes out of Blair's neighborhood, and if it does, it usually takes wing for greener pastures. Once a cultural mecca and home to the Crawford Grill jazz spot, the Hill began to fall on hard times when the bulldozers made way for the Civic (now Mellon) Arena. Its population more than halved, the city's attempts at urban revival via new, well-appointed homes sit next to boarded-up shells.

...

But now, there are no kids outside Schenley [High School] as Blair drives by. A year after he graduated, the city shut the school's doors, citing an asbestos problem that would be too costly to remove from the 93-year-old building. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Schenley is just another vacant building in the Hill.

That's right, Blair has no ACL's and he's had prolonged exposure to asbestos. I, for one, prefer to think that dealing with the asbestos only made him stronger - you know, like the radiation that Godzilla was exposed to. Now if only there were some cold, mechanical, overrated center for Dejuan to go up against...

Oh, right - it's already happened. More on that below.

All exaggeration aside, I can't help believing that being from a place like that has rather profound effects on who you are, and how you prioritize your life. He definitely doesn't shy from attention, but Blair's definitely got one thing I like to see in silver and black: heart. In fact, this is a guy who's so full of heart and desire, it might even make Manu jealous[OK, maybe not... but you get the point]. Which brings us to the basketball side of DeJuan's history.

A History of Winning

So, everyone knows that both of DeJuan's knees were surgically repaired during his high school years, and the subsequent years saw the scar tissue fuse with muscle, leaving him with essentially no ACL's. But since he played his senior year at Schenley High School, and two more years at Pitt, without incident, this wasn't as much of a concern for me as finding out DeJuan brings to the table as a player. So, that senior season at Schenley, how did Blair's team do? Well, they only won the state championship in their class.

via www.post-gazette.com

The first higlights in this mix are from Blair's high school days - sorry about the video quality... I think Nike might have confiscated the originals

Blair only had 18 points, 23[!!] rebounds, 6 blocks and 2 steals in that championship game. But that was high school - surely he wouldn't fare nearly as well under the pressure of playing his college ball in one of the better hoops conferences in the nation, right? Surely his knees would show signs of deterioration with the more serious competition, and physical play that came with it... right? Surely that was the expectation, with Blair's injury history and small size for a PF.

So, DeJuan decided to take an athletic scholarship from the local school, Pittsburgh. In doing so, he turned down what was probably a more attractive offer from Tennessee(I guess now he can ask Marcus Haislip whether he missed out on anything). So, was the college game too much for him to handle? Not even close - in his freshman year, he averaged 11.6 points, 9.1 rebounds per game. Those are pretty impressive stats, especially coming from a freshman. This prompted an appearance on the cover of a rather well-knows sports publication.

But there would be no SI curse for Blair. Instead, in his sophomore season, he burst onto the scene with 15.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, and even led the nation in offensive rebounds(by a mile), win shares per 40 minutes, and PER. And more importantly, he had no recurrence of knee injuries during those two seasons, whilst appearing to get much stronger during that time, rather than fading.

More detailed college stats, courtesy of Draft Express:

Year	League	Team	GP	Min	Pts	FG	FGA	FG%	2Pt	2PtA	2P%	3Pt	3PtA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	Off	Def	TOT	Asts	Stls	Blks	TOs	PFs
2007/08	NCAA	Pittsburgh	37	26.0	11.6	4.5	8.5	53.7	4.5	8.5	53.7	0.0	0.0		2.5	4.0	62.4	3.9	5.2	9.1	0.9	1.7	1.1	1.9	2.9
2008/09	NCAA	Pittsburgh	35	27.3	15.7	6.5	10.9	59.3	6.5	10.9	59.3	0.0	0.0		2.8	4.6	60.5	5.6	6.8	12.3	1.2	1.5	1.0	1.3	2.7

Notice that his minutes barely changed, but the scoring and rebounding became much more prolific in his second year. Blair and his teammate Sam Young(now with the Grizzlies) would lead the team in both of those seasons. Pitt won the Big East Tournament in Blair's first season, and became one of the favorites to take the title in the 2008-09 season. In that second season, Pitt went on to earn a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing to Villanova in the "Elite 8" round. Along the way, Blair was named Big East co-Player of the Year. That's right, he tied with Thabeet for that title, despite the game that was alluded to above.

The Draft and Beyond

In between Pitt's tournament loss and the NBA draft, Blair dropped from 315 lbs to 275, and nowadays says that he is down even further to 260. Because of concerns about his height, and the old injuries that have caused him to be a freak of nature, Blair fell down the board in a lot of mock drafts. However, he was still considered a consenus top-20 pick in most circles. What followed on draft night surprised nearly everyone, not least of which was RC Buford. Buford was ecstatic when such a prolific rebounder simply landed in the Spurs' laps at #37, and made sure the ink was applied to paper during Blair's summer league stint with the Spurs.

He was by far the most popular Spur among fans at the Summer League in Vegas, as evidenced by the people crowding to get his autograph after every game. This photo was taken after he had already been held up after the game against Portland due to a video interview by the NBA.com crew(Malik Hairston, the last new-ish Spur we haven't profiled, is also in this pic, at the top right).

Let's hope that all the weight he lost prior to the draft, and the work he's put in at the Spurs' facilities since the draft have paid off with even more improvement. Especially if RC Buford's prediction of Blair being a main contributor to the team off the bench come true. Blair is going to be fighting a couple of other new arrivals in Theo Ratliff and Antonio McDyess, as well as Ian Mahinmi, for minutes. We can only hope that we'll see more of Blair in silver and black than this:

Isn't that a beautiful sight?

Wait - another guy who can dunk? Somebody tell Pop to bring some Dramamine to the games this year.

So, DeJuan is a Spur now. What do the Spurs expect and/or hope to get from him? Well, his style of play bears a striking resemblance to former Spur, and energy guy extraordinaire, Malik Rose. His motor never stops, and he's relentless when he gets within range of the ball. However, his rebounding abilities would seem to place him as Malik Rose 2.0. DraftExpress lists his "best case" as Paul Millsap, though he already seems to have a lot of that ability.

Blair's Draft Express profile says that his a few of his weaknesses are on the defensive end: defensive fundamentals, lateral quickness, and pick-and-roll defense. As we all know, if he doesn't "get" the fundamentals of the game on the defensive end, Pop will exile him to the bench until the results of any game are no longer in question. The good news here, of course, is that the Spurs are the perfect team for DeJuan to learn those fundamentals with. After that, he can work on the pick-and-roll defense as well. The lateral quickness may never come, but it'd be nice if his weight loss and conditioning over the summer led to better lateral foot speed.

If DeJuan develops a reliable jump shot and the aforementioned defensive fundamentals, he can be a key part of a merciless Spurs second unit that beats their oppenents into submission.("Oppenents" © 2009 Ron Artest) If Blair, Mahinmi, and Haislip all work out the way we hope, not only will the Spurs have the deepest frontcourt in the league, but Matt Bonner could be rendered useless, except as the new human victory cigar. Well, either Matt or Ratliff, anyway.

Overall, there's a lot to be optimistic about with Mr. Blair, though caution is definitely advised. He definitely brings a new wrinkle to the team, being especially ferocious on the offensive end. Is it possible he ends up a bust? Yes. Is it possible he ends up being the next Sir Charles? He definitely could. But it's too early to say - most likely he ends up being a very good role player, similar to Millsap or Rose. I'd be perfectly happy with that, and any further development as a player would just be an added bonus. As Spurs fans, we'll likely be seeing a lot of DeJuan in the coming years, provided he doesn't regress.

Which brings us to the most contentious DeJuan Blair issue here on PtR.

The Nickname

Really important, I know - but this has to be decided sooner or later. There's been a ton of nicknames proposed on PtR for DeJuan. Some of them have been extremely nerdy, and some not so much. There's also at least one nickname that he's had before - "Grizzly" Blair. So, which one wins? I guess we'll just have to wait and see what nickname sticks on the game threads, Where the Magic Happens™.

A Look at the Orlando Magic's Last-String Power Forward/Center Options

Ben Q Rock — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:00:11 -0000

More photos » by George Frey - AP

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Not so long ago, I took a look at potential free-agent point guards whom the Orlando Magic could sign to fill out their bench. Team GM Otis Smith has made it clear that point guard is his highest priority; he's also made it clear that he'd also like to add another big man to the roster. With no movement on the point guard front--except the rumor that Smith is still pursuing restricted free agent C.J. Watson via a sign-and-trade with Golden State--it's high time we look at potential power forwards and centers Orlando could probably sign on the cheap.

The operative word is "cheap." As we've noted previously, the Magic are over the salary cap and have used both the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions, meaning they can only sign players to minimum contracts. NBA experience determines the specific finances of said deals, about which you can read here.

Unfortunately for the Magic, the best minimum-salary bigs have already signed. Joe Smith spurned the Cleveland Cavaliers to latch on with the Atlanta Hawks, while Rasho Nesterovic has re-upped with the Toronto Raptors after a one-year detour with the Indiana Pacers and, in arguably the best signing of the summer, the Cavs landed the productive-but-injury-hobbled power forward Leon Powe. Thus, there are few standouts on this list. Bear in mind that whomever Orlando chooses will be last on the depth chart, behind two All-Stars (Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis), two youngsters combining to earn nearly $10 million this season (Marcin Gortat and Brandon Bass), and the second-year player whom the team views as a long-term building block (Ryan Anderson). In short, the Magic's mystery signee will hardly play, so he need not be exceptional.

After the jump, brief breakdowns of no fewer than 17 free-agent power forwards and centers who are still on the market.

And, as with the point guard piece, I've excluded D-Leaguers, because Smith has never made a D-League call-up in his tenure as Orlando's GM.

Calvin Booth:

The Good: Booth has parlayed his exceptional shot-blocking skills into a 10-year career in which he's earned nearly $36 million. He still has the touch, averaging a block per every 13 minutes played over his last two seasons, which he's split between Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Sacramento. And he'd undoubtedly accept a minimum contract.
The Bad: Just about everything else. He's not much of a scorer or rebounder, and one wonders if he'll even sign in the NBA this year as teams plan to carry fewer players due to the weak economy.
The Verdict: In spite of everything, he's hardly the worst name on this list, which should keep him in the conversation.

	Career Numbers	2008-09 numbers
Minutes	16.2	11.8
FG%	44%	42.9%
FT%	77.4%	47.6% (10-21)
Points	5.4	3.2
Rebounds	3	2.1
Blocks	0.5	0.2

SB Nation - Malik Rose

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Get to Know Your New Spurs #6: DeJuan Blair

Background

A Local Icon

A History of Winning

The Draft and Beyond

The Nickname

More DeJuan Blair Reading

Other Articles in This Series:

A Look at the Orlando Magic's Last-String Power Forward/Center Options

Loud Links: Oklahoma City Thunder News for July 21, 2009

Miss a previous Loud Links Post? Find it quickly Below!

June 2009

July 2009

Denver sends Sonny Weems and Walter Sharpe to Milwaukee for forward Malik Allen

The Knicks' offer to Grant Hill is a little beefier than we thought.