Blair a beast in his NBA debut

 Former Pitt star DeJuan Blair, who left school with two years of eligibility remaining to enter the NBA Draft in June, played in his first NBA game tonight with the San Antonio Spurs and was quite impressive. Picking up where he left off after a stellar preseason, Blair did what he did at Pitt with regularity, posting a double-double in San Antonio's blowout victory against New Orleans.

Blair was 7 for 10 from the field for 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in 23 minutes. He had five offensive rebounds.

Some scouts question whether Blair's game would translate to the NBA, but he is doing the same things he did at Pitt with the Spurs. He played hard, got good position and used his superior hands to produce points and rebounds.

Listening to the telecast on ESPN, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson believe the Spurs can challenge the Lakers for supremacy in the Western Conference. I'm not a big fan of the NBA, but I think I'll be tuning in to Spurs games this season to check up on Blair and the Spurs.

Wouldn't it be fun to watch the Big Fella beat Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the conference finals and then LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals.

 

Posted Oct 28 2009, 10:35 PM by Ray Fittipaldo
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Comments

Expat Pitt Fan wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Thu, Oct 29 2009 2:01 PM

Ray, thanks very much for putting something in the Post-Gazette about DeJuan.  I was never really a fan of the NBA either.  It was college ball for me, but boy am I a fan now!   It is because of how much I love Pitt Basketball and how good DeJuan and the team played last year.

Now I am a big NBA fan, Spurs naturally.  I check in at the San Antonio newspaper, thay love the big kid from Pittsburgh there. I don't think it could have worked any better.

I think the Post-Gazette is making a big mistake by not having some articles about the Spurs and DeJuan in the paper.  The kid is going to be a superstar, and quickly too.  Plus, think about it, it would be good for Pitt Basketball.  Jamie and the players read the paper so it would help them if they could read about one of them that it making it good in the NBA.  Should help with recruiting too.  DeJuan is still a Pittsburgh guy.

Just my two cents, I am glad that you and I are now fans of the Spurs.  GO PITT.

chancellorpink wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Thu, Oct 29 2009 2:14 PM

it has gotten too acceptable in this (sometimes backward) sports town to say, "i am not a fan of the NBA".  hopefully Blair and Young will put an end to that.

Expat Pitt Fan wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Thu, Oct 29 2009 4:04 PM

For sure chancellorpink, I didn't mention Sam because my post was too long as it is.  I am following him with Memphis too.  He's doing good.  But DeJuan is playing great on a team that can take it all.

My point stands, for the good of Pitt Basketball and the fans the Post-Gazette should be putting articles in the paper about DeJaun.  The Post-Gazette, the home town paper, is failing on this.  

Ray Fittipaldo wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Thu, Oct 29 2009 4:56 PM

We had a story on DeJuan and the game in today's paper. My understanding is that because the game was over after 11:00 p.m. that we didn't get it in until our final edition. We will be doing our best to keep the readers abreast of DeJuan and his progress whenever the Spurs play. Plus, we plan to go to San Antonio for an in-depth story on DeJuan sometime this winter, so stay tuned.  

Bryan wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Thu, Oct 29 2009 7:27 PM

In Ray's defense, before last night there really wasn't anything to write about "The Big Fella."  I have been following the preseason in the San Antonio paper and a Spurs blog, but preseason is preseason.

Additionally, I am not sure I would classify Pittsburgh as "backwards" because there is not an NBA following - that is simply the result of not having a local team.  Although, I will agree that many people simply dismiss the NBA for reasons that are beyond me.  I think the NBA has one of the most watchable and compelling post-seasons in all of sports.  The Boston-Chicago series last year was simply can't miss stuff.

Hopefully DeJuan and Sam are the first of many Panthers that go on to have successful careers in the pros.

Joey Bats wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Fri, Oct 30 2009 5:49 AM

Looking forward to any and all Dejuan and Sam updates.

DeJuan was fortunate to go to a great franchise, excellent coach, a "team" environment...one of the basketball HEAVENs.

Poor Sam ...he had the misfortune of landing with one of the Pittsburgh Pirates/ KC Royals of the NBA.  Playing on a team with OJ Mayo and Alan Iverson ...Sam may have to fight to even see the ball...in some very meager early rookie NBA minutes. He is in basketball H*LL  (too bad).

GO DeJuan

GO Sam

Hail to Pitt !

Holley's Trolley wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Fri, Oct 30 2009 11:57 AM

Off topic, but worth a read I think.

An open letter to loyal sons (and daughters, too…SP: Gotta change the Fight Song before the University gets sued)

Here we have a top 20 team coming off a Top 10 basketball season. Name another school with that distinction. You can’t. And we can’t get 40,000 to a football game?

It’s a damn shame.

So it’s time to unleash a Primanti Scheme (get it?). I’m inviting all of you to the Syracuse game. Each of you invites one other, who invites another and so forth. We’ll fill the seats.

Who’s in? C’mon, you so called “loyal sons/daughters”…

Clemente#1 wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Sun, Nov 1 2009 11:54 AM

BlairWatchProject:

10/31/2009 Sacramento vs. San Antonio. In 26 minutes, DeJuan  Blair has 5 points on 2-4 shooting field goals, and 1-2 free throws. Also had 10 rebounds, with 9 coming on the defensive end. I had thought before the season that he would be undersized on the boards, but so far through 3 games he has 11, 4 and 10. Seems so far to be doing ok, but still a long way to go through a much longer season than his final year at Pitt.

Clemente#1 wrote re: Blair a beast in his NBA debut
on Sat, Nov 7 2009 8:13 AM

BlairWatchProject:

11/05/09 Utah vs. San Antonio. In 21 minutes, DeJuan Blair had 14 points on 7-10 shooting field goals and no foul shots. Also had 9 rebounds, with 4 coming on the defensive end. Even at 6'-7" amongst the trees, through 4 games he has a total of 34 rebounds.