[adamsdankParticipant]

Can someone tell me why he is considered a lottery pick? HE IS A 6’6″ PF!!!!! That might work in college but not in the NBA. At 6’6″ he needs to be able to handle the ball along with being able to run the floor and guard a 2 or 3,three thingsi’ve never seen him do at Pitt. Why would an NBA GM waste a first round pick on someone who is never gonna be a starter in the league? NBA PF’s such as Amare, Chris Bosh, KG, David West ect would absolutly destory him. At best DeJaun Blair is a Big Baby type player who could give a team some quality minutes off the bench. The GM who takes him in the first round is asking to be fired.

[UC1000Participant]

was a late 1st rounder and will never be a starter. Late 20’s you just want a rotation guy and if he turns out to be a starter that’s just gravy. Leon Powe, Glen Davis, Craig Smith, Maxiell are flawed physical PF’s who are solid rotation guys.

[KATASTROPHEParticipant]

He does have the combination of size, hands, and footwork to play LT. Good Idea

[themidnightriderParticipant]

Was a 6-5 PF and he did ok. Height isnt everything…remember that Blair’s body takes up soo much space. Also he has a freakish 7 footer wingspan. Amazing effort guy with great post moves. I think he will be a monster in the NBA as long as he keeps his weight reasonable.

[Tre74]

well he definately aint charles barkley not even close. Charles barkley could run the court like a guard, Jump out the gym and he could step out and shoot or take another pf off the dribble. Can he do any of this? NO!!! If this site is right about my bulls pickin him at the end of the lottery im going to shoot myself!

[deuce4off]

Tractor Traylor will never succeed in the NBA, he seriously needs to sit down, talk to Dave Wannstedt and start bulking up to play LT for the football team this upcoming season. He has a better chance at football than basketball. Gotta hand it to him though, he is a beast on the college level.

[themidnightriderParticipant]

obviously not a direct comparison, but it was just to show that you can be an undersized PF. Think about Paul Millsap- dude is maybe 6-7 and he looks like the PF of the future in the western conference.

Millsap is one of the few college players (a la blake griffin) whose ability to use their size will actually translate into the NBA. If he can turn himself into a 70% FT shooter and have a decent 12 foot jumper, he will be a 20-10 guy. I don’t forsee a lot of blocks, but he will get steals with his long arms. I would LOVE the Bulls to draft him. No more wimpy Tyrus Thomas putbacks and lack of effort. We need a man in the low block.

[Tre74]

yea he might be a good rebounder but think about it a 6 foot 6 power foward!. At least thomas can jump out of the gym and block shots and rebound all blair can do is rebound and his rebounding wont be as good in the nba as it was in college. Every other power forward will be able to easily shoot over the top of him which will kill our defense bcuz we would always have to send help his way.

[oshawn09Participant]

He may not be all -star player, but I could see seem averaging 10 rebounds a game.

[WildDudeParticipant]

My question tho is why is this guy so highly regarded while John Brockman is not even seen to be drafted at all?

[jsmoove5Participant]

Size is the most overrated aspect of the game. He’s a legitimate 6’6 without shoes, while Blake Griffin is a legitimate 6’7 1/2 without shoes, so the difference isn’t that great. He has the best hands of anyone in college, a knack for rebounding the basketball, which should translate well to the pro level, a big, wide body with EXTREMELY long arms (7’3 wing span I believe) which will more than make up for his lack of height, he’ll play at around 6’9-6’10 defensively. Not to mention, unlike most power players (i.e. Kevin Love) he has solid vertical explosion. He should be an excellent pro, average in the mid-teens in points and around 8-9 rebounds over his career.

[Esenler34Participant]

obviously not a direct comparison, but it was just to show that you can be an undersized PF. Think about Paul Millsap- dude is maybe 6-7 and he looks like the PF of the future in the western conference. Millsap is one of the few college players (a la blake griffin) whose ability to use their size will actually translate into the NBA. chat , Mynet , video sitesi , sevgi sözleri

[TheLastWordParticipant]

There are so many components that go into rebounding. You can’t look too much into any one measurement or could lose out big time in the draft. Here are the primary ones though.

Standing Reach:  You can only jump once every two seconds, so unless a player has perfect timing (see instincts below), they will be rebounding flat footed the majority of the time. Having a 9’+ standing reach is really helpful, but not a necessity.

Wingspan: Basically "horizontal" standing raech. Useful for grabbing balls out of your immediate zone. Not quite as important as standing reach. Due to variations in shoulder width and height, its possible to have a long wingspan, but short standing reach (and vice versa).

Height:  Generally if two players both have the same standing reach, and all other things being equal, the taller player will have a slight advantage in getting a hand on the ball first. It takes a long time to raise a long gangly arm  compared to a short stubby one.

Weight/Mass: Probably the most underated aspect of rebounding. A player with a large base (like Blair) can easily make up 3 inches of height from just taking up so much space.

Jumping: My candidate for the most overrated aspect of rebounding. Guards who have 40" verticals technically can get up just as high as centers. So why do they only average 2 renounds? Because it takes precious time to jump, and the higher the jump the longer it takes to come back down. Light springy guys also get thrown off course while in air from a much stronger big man bumping them in air.

Instincts: There is no way to measure this one, some guys have a knack for the ball and others don’t.

Banger: Not every player has it in them to bang inside. You have to like contact, accept bruises, elbows, and other flailing limbs hitting you in the face. Pretty boys need not apply.

 

 

[JoeWolf1]

 DeJuan Blair has more rebounds than anyone in that entire draft class.  It would be different if Blake wouldn’t have sat out a year, but still.  He got taken in the 2nd round, but in retrospect I’m sure a lot of teams wish they would have taken in the first.

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