Blaming the Doctors is a Cop-Out

DeJuan Blair, drafted 37th overall despite projecting to be one of the best players in this draft, nabbed 19 rebounds in his first preseason game for the San Antonio Spurs. NBA general managers not named R.C. Buford are reportedly bitter at those smarmy doctors who wouldn't let them draft the Big East player of the year because of concerns about his knees. (Learned about this from Kevin Pelton's fascinating post about young rebounders.) My response to those GMs: Boo freaking hoo. Let's be clear: There is a long history of players getting poor medical assessments and then playing extremely well in the NBA. (Carl Landry comes to mind as one of a recent example.) Every team has such stories. I heard one GM say last year that, because so many players go on to produce heavily after being red-flagged by doctors, he never lets doctors veto a player acquisition. Consider that the doctor's job is to identify problems -- not build title-winning rosters. In other words, a doct...