Pittsburgh's Blair is a possible pick for Utah Jazz

Just more than a month ago, there was plenty of DeJuan Blair to share.

Three hundred fifteen pounds' worth, to be precise.

Yet, as a big man with a nose for the ball, the 6-foot-6 1/2 (in shoes) sophomore forward from the University of Pittsburgh has no doubt there's a place for him in Thursday night's NBA Draft.

"That's what everybody needs is a rebounder and a guy that's tough, and that's me," said Blair, a first-round prospect — and possible pick for Utah at No. 20 overall — who worked out Monday for the Jazz.

"If I could cut my body," the 20-year-old added with a grin, "I think every team would take a little piece of me. But they can't do that."

What one club will get is a quite slimmed-down version of the Blair that ballooned after his second season at Pitt — but also one that comes with red flags raised via MRI exams taken at last month's pre-draft camp in Chicago.

The caution comes because Blair tore both of his anterior cruciate ligaments as a youngster, with one knee giving way before high school and the other as an underclassman in a Pennsylvania state-title tournament game.

Combine that with MRIs he said show pre-arthritic symptoms, plus wide-ranging rumors about how the ACLs appear on the exams, and the ample weight he puts on his knees, and it's understandable that certain teams may be concerned.

"Of course. I would," Blair said. "But I feel great. I lost a lot of weight."

That he has.

Forty-five pounds shed five weeks before the draft, actually.

Still, the knees are cause for some to wonder and others to worry.

"I'm a little concerned," Jazz player personnel vice president Walt Perrin said Monday.

"We're gonna talk with docs a little bit later and see what their concerns are," he added, "because their concerns are more prevalent than our concerns."

But there's really no need to fret, suggested Blair, who never missed a game in his college career due to his knees.