At the start of last season, DeJuan Blair was the Spurs special find. Everybody wanted their own Blair — hard working guy who did the dirty work inside, would score efficiently (53.4 percent shooting last year) and could rebound a little. He started nearly every game for the Spurs last season.
By the end of the playoffs, Blair was out of the Spurs rotation.
Things change that fast. But there is still value for Blair and he expects he will get shipped out this summer because of that, Blair told the Express-News (via SLAM).“I’m trying to get down to 260 (pounds), and it’s working,” Blair said. “I’ll be great by September. I know I’m on the trading block, so we’ll see what happens…
“I love the Spurs, but they’ve got a lot of ‘bigs,’ and they’re bringing somebody else from overseas, so where am I going to fall at?” he said. “I was out of the rotation at the end of the season, so imagine next year. That’s something I really don’t want to go through again, because it tore me down.”
There should be a lot of interest in him, I can think of 29 teams who could use a guy like that. The Spurs probably do move him, but not until they find a deal they really like. Which means he needs to be patient because that could be this week or in training camp. Or later. San Antonio will wait for the market to come to them.
But it’s a safe bet that whenever next season tips off he is not a Spur.