I think anyone with an unbiassed opinion would be hard pressed to say the Spurs haven’t had a great week. Good stuff Rik

Buford inferred that McClinton will be playing right away. It sounds like they drafted him to be the shooter off the bench. He’ll probably split time between SA and Austin next year.

I am a fellow Florida State alum and followed ACC basketball very closely these past couple of years and I must say McClinton is very dangerous from behind the arc. He singlehandedly (sp?) took over games last year and destroyed teams with his shooting alone. As much as I hate to see a fellow ncaa rival on my beloved Spurs, I give him the respect he deserves and admit he is a great player. I would not be surprised at all to see him excel this upcoming season and to get many minutes off the bench.

Don’t know if anyone mentioned this on the thread as I was out all eve and haven’t read it yet, but anybody know the SPURS didn’t even work out Blair? Didn’t even give him a look. Meaning, can you imagine the shock and amazement in the FO when he was still available??! It’s like getting change for a 10 and getting handed three 50s and a 20. In addition, when all is said and done, we got Hairston and Blair from Phoenix for Dragic, so we’ve got that going for us.

Don’t see either of the other two playing this year in SA, but they’re a solid foundation, and that’s encouraging.

Great week indeed. Hope and total consciousness have returned in force. Keep it up, RC. And great write-up, Tim.

Watching some youtube of workouts for De Colo (hehe) and Blair last night and a thought struck me. Are we scouting Pacers workouts? Both De Colo and Blair worked out for the Pacers as shown in their post-workout interviews. Then i remembered that James White also has worked out for the Pacers before we snagged him. Maybe its nothing, just wondering.

Blair is the biggest steal of the draft. He’s a great rebounder and a good defender. If Duncan plays center that Blair could, and should in that situation, start. But if Duncan plays power forward, then he’s a great guy coming off the bench for some defense and rebounds. Which are things our bench severely lacked last year. I’m still waiting for a third power forward to the rotation.

I’m a little unsettled that we didn’t get a SF though. We still need a backup and we need one very badly. Even if Bowen comes back, we would be lacking a solid SF behind Jefferson. Bowen is only good for some defense and Udoka can get a couple threes. If Finley returns than I will be satisfied, but until he does SF is still very thin.

Look for the Spurs to use that MLE on a center. Or they might trade for Camby. The clippers with Blake Griffin are now overflowing at PF/C and they can’t keep them all. I’m thinking they’d take just about anything for someone to take Camby off their hands and keep their cap looking nice for 2010. My one question though is can we afford Camby?

No one has mentioned it about McClinton, but Buford also says that at 6’1" he is a great defender and can guard the 1 and the 2 which makes him very versatile since Tony and Hill can as well.

I have watched Blair when he played against my UConn Huskies last year and let me just say that we had no answer for him. He just bullied his way through our front line.

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me when I read that. Can’t … stop … smiling.

I think Jack could help us out when the season starts. He was probaly one the best shotters in the draft. Just cause of his size and postion that why he probaly ended up so low. WIth one of the big three getting doubled just dish out to Jack and hell knok down.

There was only one A+ given out. I’ll let you guys find out who he gave it to…

Guys, with the 51 pick if McClinton can at least be a steve kerr or eddie house type it would be AMAZINE

I was not excited about the Jefferson trade, but I was a bowl of jello as Blair kept falling in the draft.

Exactly what the doctor ordered…rebounding and toughness. He can easily play behind Duncan and wreck havoc. What struck me right away from watching his videos was his Moses Malone like quick second jump at a rebound.

He gobbled up rebounds like peanuts at the circus. There would be 3-4 big guys around him and he would spring up so fast they didn’t even no what hit them. Once he gets the ball inside, his fundamentals are outstanding. Always in the right position. Puts his body into a taller players chest negating the height advantage. Always looking to get deep in the paint, not just giving up and jacking up long fade aways.

In conclusion…this dude is bad MOFO. I can’t wait to see him eat up the post.

GREAT SUCCESS!

Sorry, I have to interject here. It wasn’t because the team didn’t think that Blair would be there. They never even considered him, regardless of draft position.

The day after the draft, McMillan went on the local radio station and was asked about Blair. McMillan said that they felt he was a lottery talent, but passed him by for a reason that the public could probably guess. It was implied that this reason was his injury.

So, Portland (and many other teams) passed on Blair for health reasons… apparently he has no ACLs. Now, I’m the guy who had “Draft dejuan blair” as my signature for the last six months. It was an obvious disappointment. But the team didn’t pass him by because they were ill-prepared.