Broussard: Blazers Interested In Spurs F DeJuan Blair?

Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports on Twitter that the Portland Trail Blazers could have interest in San Antonio Spurs forward DeJuan Blair.

Will San Antonio finally part with DeJuan Blair? Word is he could be gone before 2/21. San Antonio talked with Toronto weeks ago but nothing brewing now.

San Antonio offered DeJuan Blair to Detroit but nothing. Hear Boston, Miami, Portland could have interest.

Back in December, Blazers GM Neil Olshey said in a radio interview that his team could look to add rebounding help at the deadline or in the summer.

Blair, 23, is averaging 5.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in 13.9 minutes in 38 appearances this season.

Blair was a 2009 second-round pick who was red flagged because he has, um, unusual knees. The Blazers passed on Blair three times. At the time, then Blazers coach Nate McMillan told Blazersedge that Portland "didn't have Blair on our board. We thought he would be gone."

Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com (Insider) writes that Blair is a good "buy low" target...

As silly as the notion of "showcasing" players sounds, the psychological impact of the recency effect suggests it makes sense to make the last impression of a player on the block a positive one. Showcasing a bad player won't work, but feeding minutes to a trade candidate buried on the bench is perfectly sensible because most players perform better with regular playing time.

Blair is a perfect example. He's been in and out of the rotation all season, which has made it difficult for him to live up to his track record of solid production in terms of points, rebounds and high-percentage shooting. Given heavy minutes the next couple of weeks, Blair easily could come up with a couple of double-doubles to tempt teams looking to shore up their frontcourt for the stretch run.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter