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Take Ten…and Then Take Blair!!
AP
Call this what you will. I call it my Blair Itch Project.
It is my not so humble desire/suggestion/decree (read with emphasis) that the Milwaukee Bucks take DeJuan Blair with their first round pick (10th overall) in Thursday’s NBA Draft…pro basketball’s version of America’s (and the world’s) Got Talent.
DeJuan is DaOne!
That is, of course, if the 6-6, 277-pound forward from Pittsburgh of the powerful Big East Conference, is still around. I get the sneaking suspicion that he is doing what the Jeffersons did all those years ago…he’s movin’ on up.
The Bucks themselves have made Blair a part of the conversation as they talk about the grouping of players from 5-13 that could be available when Commissioner David Stern takes the podium.
But Bucks General Manager John Hammond has done what GMs do this time of year. He is significantly vague. He is coy. He plays his cards close to the vest.
We have heard about point guards like Jonny Flynn of Syracuse, Jrue Holiday of UCLA, Jeff Teague of Wake Forest and Brandon Jennings, a high-schooler who worked around the NBA’s imposed age limit by playing in Italy last season.
This makes sense. Point guard is a position of need, especially since it looks like economics being what they are for this franchise, free agent Ramon Sessions may be out of reach.
Hammond is charged with turning the Bucks into a playoff team with good, young, hungry and inexpensive players to fill out their roster.
Forget about flirting with the salary cap. Don’t expect Milwaukee to be a player in this year’s Supermarket Sweepstakes known as Free Agency when it kicks into gear next month, either.
That’s getting off the track, however. Let’s talk Blair. The Bucks also need a power forward. With the emphasis on POWER. They will likely not re-sign Charlie Villanueva. Somebody who plays close to the hoop, is tough to get around and generally does what widebodies do – score inside.
Blair reminds some people of Wes Unseld and Leonard (Truck) Robinson. He reminds me of this generation’s Charles Barkley. I will submit to a saliva test after I finish writing this piece.
Barkley was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984 and tried out for the USA Olympic Basketball team coached by then-Indiana Coach Bobby Knight. Barkley was listed at 6-6, but was barely 6-4. That summer he was tipping the scales at his broadcasting weight – over 300 pounds.
Knight called Barkley a fat pig and cut him from the team. He shared a car home from the trials with two guys that were also cut: John Stockton and Milwaukee South Division’s Terry Porter.
Barkley used the comments to motivate him to get in shape. He was around 260 pounds of pure muscle when his rookie season rolled around and the rest, as they say…
Porter was ill but still managed to impress Knight. Not enough to knock the likes of Michael Jordan and future Barkley teammate and NBA referee Leon Wood from their Gold Medals at the time, however.
Stockton simply has more assists than any other player in NBA history. Not a bad carload of talent.
Others are sending up flares as a warning not to take Blair because he has lost (some say) 50 pounds and then some to get DOWN to what they feel is still too much weight.
Those voices worry that he will get the contract and balloon back up. I accede to the possibility, but I have a hunch.
As someone who has struggled with numbers a couple of hundred pounds north of the ones were talking here, I know it is a battle. The big paycheck can as easily be a motivating force to stay at a fit weight.
Blair is able to do so much more since his weight loss. He doesn’t want to give back ground that he so worked hard to take.
These same people hearken other names who have also distinguished themselves. Not for their basketball abilities, however, but for literally eating themselves out of the league and their careers. Names like Oliver Miller, Quentin Richardson, John (Hot Plate) Williams and the strong sense-memory around these parts of Robert (Tractor) Traylor.
Blair also boasts a 7-3 wingspan. If you have every heard former MU Coach and current Hoosier head man Tom Crean talk about wingspan, you would know that is good. That allows him to “play taller” than his height would suggest which helps him guard taller men in the post.
I wouldn’t want to be the GM who passes on Blair, if he turns into the next Barkley. Like the guys who tabbed the likes of LaRue Martin and Sam Bowie instead of oh, a Michael Jordan.
I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’…I have a hunch!
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SportsBubbler was on hand when Blair worked out for the Bucks a few weeks back...
