*Well, as long as you weren’t red-shirted. Travon Woodall and Dwight Miller got jack, since they were glued to the bench this year.

The basketball team had their awards banquet and everyone else got some sort of award.

Ten team awards were announced by Dixon. Fields, Young and Blair became the first trio to earn co-Most Valuable Player honors. Sophomore Brad Wanamaker earned the team’s Most Inspirational Player Award, junior Jermaine Dixon was honored with the Best Defensive Player Award and sophomore Gary McGhee earned the Coaches Award for outstanding attitude. Freshman Nasir Robinson was named the team’s Most Improved Player. Freshman Ashton Gibbs was named the team’s Free Throw Shooting leader after converting 80.0 percent and sophomore DeJuan Blair was the team’s top rebounder (12.3 rpg.). Seniors Tyrell Biggs, Fields and Young all received the Captains Award for outstanding leadership. Biggs won the Jaron Brown Pursuit of Academic Excellence Award and redshirt sophomore Gilbert Brown received the team’s Academic Excellence Award for his success in the classroom.

…

TEAM AWARDS

Most Valuable Player:  Levance Fields, DeJuan Blair, Sam Young
Most Improved Player:  Nasir Robinson
Best Defensive Player:  Jermaine Dixon
Captains Award:  Tyrell Biggs, Levance Fields, Sam Young
Team Rebounding Leader:  DeJuan Blair (12.3)
Free Throw Shooting Leader:  Ashton Gibbs (80.0%)
Most Inspirational Player:  Brad Wanamaker
Coaches Award:  Gary McGhee
Academic Excellence Award:  Gilbert Brown
Jaron Brown Pursuit of Academic Excellence Award:  Tyrell Biggs

Maybe the hiring of a licensed NBA agent is the first step.

[Happy] Walters is the founder of Immortal Entertainment of Santa Monica, Calif., which has subsidiaries such as Immortal Records, Immortal Soundtracks and Immortal Film and Television in addition to Immortal Sports.

He is probably best known for launching the music careers of such acts as Korn, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill, Kanye West and House of Pain.

Walters only has a few NBA clients, most notably Mickael Pietrus of the Orlando Magic and Shawne Williams of the Dallas Mavericks. Walters also represents players who play overseas and got to know Blair through another Pitt player, Tyrell Biggs, who signed with Walters first and is attempting to earn a professional contract.

Okay, so it isn’t David Faulk.

When Blair announced, one of the soundbytes was that he was “not Chris Taft.”

No, but he sure didn’t inspire the confidence of his decisionmaking or where his head was in this. It seemed more about celebrity. Talking about local marketing deals. Showing up as the coach of the Steelers basketball team.

The end of the article is more encouraging.

Blair will leave next week for the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., to work out with its executive director, David Thorpe. He will be there for most of the month of May as he attempts to get himself into the best shape possible for workouts with teams.

Blair could not be reached for comment, but Sharene Dixon, Blair’s aunt who will be living with him in his new NBA city, said the family chose Walters to represent Blair because they felt Walters was the best fit for Blair.

Dixon, who graduated from Robert Morris University and has a master’s degree in curriculum development and structural design, said she and her husband will be helping Blair adjust to life as a professional basketball player. She will be leaving her teaching job in Virginia to work for her nephew.

I would have been happier if he took off to start training right away (since he was no longer taking classes). It will be curious to read in the coming weeks what he looks like in the workouts. That seems to be the big issue.

Because of his lack of height, Blair has to come in willing to work on getting his body in peak condition and out-working everyone on the boards. If Paul Millsap can thrive, so can Blair.

I do like that his aunt is the one that will be staying with him and helping. Even as an employee of Blair. She is educated, stable and hopefully will make him think beyond just getting paid.