DeJuan Blair who’s now a member of the Dallas Mavericks has been talking trash about his ex team, NBA finalists San Antonio Spurs. When asked about the Spurs getting back to the finals he said this…
I don’t think we (The Spurs) would have came up short if I would’ve played but, hey, keep that out there.
Snarky comments there. He only played four minutes in game 4 and six minutes in game 5 of the Finals. He has some leverage but I’m not going to argue with one of the best coaches out there Gregg Popovich and I don’t think he should argue either.
I get it, nobody wants to get left out, but as everybody know, in the world of sport coaches know best and if there’s a coach that knows his team inside out, it’s Gregg Popovich.
Blair was picked 37th by the Spurs in the 09 Draft. In his rookie season he averaged 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds a game. Not too bad for a rookie but if we skip to last season… Blair averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds per game.
Now we have to take in account that his minutes have diminished since his rookie season due to Boris Diaw becoming useful and the flourishing of Brazilian center Thiago Splitter, but if coach Pop doesn’t think he’s deserved more minutes I’m taking the coaches side on this one.
But don’t forget that he is 24! He’s still growing as a player. He has already played 4 years for one of the best teams in the NBA and had a great first two years there. He’s done wrong by saying that the spurs would have won by playing him more, but if Clark Carlisle give him the minutes I’m sure he’ll exceed his already mediocre stat line.
