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马刺中文论坛 » 环球刺讯 » Spurs rookie grateful for knee-jerk reaction

 
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 2009-07-05 14:05  #1
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Spurs rookie grateful for knee-jerk reaction

By Jeff McDonald
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_rookie_grateful_for_knee-jerk_reaction.html

It was supposed to be a routine physical, just a normal part of the poking and prodding that all prospects at the NBA's May pre-draft combine had to endure.

For DeJuan Blair, the exam turned out to be anything but routine.

It wasn't what doctors found inside his knees that left them so perplexed. It was what they didn't find.

It turned out that Blair, unbeknownst to anyone, had no anterior cruciate ligament in either knee. He couldn't have been more surprised if tests had also revealed him to be pregnant.

“I had no idea. I was shocked,” said Blair, the 6-foot-7 forward from Pittsburgh selected by the Spurs at No. 37 in the June 25 draft. “It's pretty amazing when you think about it.”

Blair, 20, was widely considered to be the steal of this year's draft, a lottery-caliber rebounding machine the Spurs hope to plug directly into their frontcourt rotation as a rookie.

Had it not been for that astounding medical discovery in May in Chicago, Blair wouldn't be in San Antonio right now.

A consensus All-American at Pitt after leading the nation in offensive rebounding last season, Blair dropped into the Spurs' lap on draft night as team after team deemed his confounding medical report too risky.

Blair underwent a pair of knee surgeries in high school, most recently during his 10th-grade year, after which his ACLs became scar tissue that his body reabsorbed.

He has experienced no problems in the knees since. In his two seasons at Pitt, Blair did not miss a game or practice.

“There was never a red flag,” said Tom Herrion, Pitt's associate head coach under Jamie Dixon. “There was never any indication that we had to be cautious because of his knees. It had zero impact on us.”

Though the Spurs do not anticipate Blair's knees to be an issue in the short-term, nobody can say for sure how they will affect his long-term future as a player. There is little recorded precedent for his condition in the NBA.

It is the job of the ACL to help stabilize the knee during movement. That particular ligament is especially crucial in the constant starting and stopping that happens during the course of a basketball game.

In lieu of the ACL, Blair's quadriceps and hamstring muscles must do the work of stabilizing the knee. Once Blair gets to San Antonio for good, the Spurs' strength and conditioning staff could put him on a regimen meant to bolster those muscles.

“We're going to learn to manage any situation we have to deal with,” Spurs general manger R.C. Buford said. “Whether it's a 19-year-old set of knees or a 39-year-old set of knees.”

As the draft approached, several NBA teams grew worried that Blair's uncommon condition might develop into a nagging ailment later in his career. That made him a gamble in the first round, where the contracts are more expensive and can be guaranteed for up to four seasons.

Once Blair slid to the second round, the potential reward in selecting him began to outweigh the risks.

“It provided us with an opportunity to get a hell of a pick in an area where we might not have been able to otherwise,” Buford said.




This much is for certain — Blair's missing ligaments don't seem to have affected his basketball abilities.

“I've won a lot of games on these knees,” Blair said.

As a star at Pittsburgh's Schenley High School, Blair was the centerpiece of team that once won 57 games in a row. In two seasons at Pitt, where he blossomed into one of the top rebounders in college basketball, Blair was a combined 58-15.

Undersized for an NBA power forward, Blair atones for a lack of height with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, hands like baseball mitts and a natural instinct for “see ball, get ball.” He ranked fourth in the country in rebounding last season (12.3 per game), posting three 20-rebound performances.

At Pitt, Blair's coaches used to compare him to Wes Unseld, the former Washington Bullets star and Hall of Famer.

“He's kind of a throwback a guy,” Herrion said. “He's kind of old school. He's crafty for his age.”

The highlight of Blair's sophomore season was a 22-point, 23-rebound game against Connecticut and its 7-foot-3 center, Hasheem Thabeet, the eventual No. 2 overall pick of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Heading into that Feb. 17 game, most UConn opponents had employed a strategy meant to draw the shot-blocking Thabeet away from the basket. With Blair at their disposal, Pitt coaches went another direction.

“We told him, ‘You go right at him,'” Herrion said. “DeJuan definitely likes contact. Thabeet likes space. DeJuan had the ability to get into his body.”

Now that he's headed to the NBA, Blair will need to polish the offensive parts of his game. He will have to work to learn the subtleties of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's defense. A 61.4 percent foul shooter in college, Blair will look to improve in that area as well.

In the meantime, Blair figures he can always contribute by doing what he does best.

“I'm not worried about points,” Blair said. “I'm going to rebound. If this team has a rebounder, then there's your championship. Because they have everything else.”

Blair readily recognizes he would not be here had he been blessed with the requisite number of knee ligaments. Perhaps, he says, sliding to the Spurs will wind up being a blessing in disguise.

Already something of a medical marvel, Blair is poised to prove something to the 29 NBA teams that passed on him, as well as the doctors who might have doubted him.

“No ACLs,” he said, “no problem.”


DeJuan Blair
Position: Power forward

Size: 6-foot-7, 265 pounds

College: Pittsburgh

Career highlights:

- 2008-09 All-American, finalist for Wooden and Naismith awards, Big East Co-Player of the Year

- 23 rebounds and 22 points in game against No. 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet, the other Big East Co-Player of the Year

- 21 double-doubles in 35 games for Pitt
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