The Amazingly Sucky Andray Blatche Thread

[willbcocks]

I think it's rare that people make dramatic improvements in their habits or lives. It is really, really, hard to change. But a lot of people, if not most people, do make such a transition at least once in their lives, and in my experience, both personally and with people I know, people make changes after they hit the bottom.

Dray was amnestied for having neck fat. Is that the bottom for him? Has this caused profound change?

Amnestied for neck fat seems craterous. But then again Blatche is still getting paid a ton of money, still probably has groupies and leeches acting as yes-men, and two playoff teams, including the NBA champion heat, wanted his services. I seriously doubt he's a reformed, humbled player or man.

I don't have the exact stats in front of me, but Blatche might be leading the nets in FGA or FGA per minute. He did one of his patented behind the back dribbles in the Wiz game. I don't see humbled in his game, either.

[closg00]

Interesting comment from a poster replying to an article about Blatche in the NY Post. The poster knows a lot about the Wizards offense and about how the Nets are utilizing Blatche. I think Wiz D would approve this post
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/netsblog/ ... uUaJH1RXyL

[Knighthonor]

I think he's got to mature and will do so with time. Lamar Odom is the best comparison I can think of to Blatche. Odom is more physically gifted but he has a similar work ethic IMO. If Blatche is around a Kobe-type leader he will follow and work hard IMO. I think Andray is going to be compelled to grow as a player. Environment matters a lot. As with Odom, I would only expect Blatche to do well under favorable circumstances to him. He's predictable IMO.

Avery Johnson is a great coach for Blatche. Fiery and supportive, always in your face-type coach. He will put the slightest drift to the right or left by Blatche on blast. Also, the guys Andray has to go against in practice are straight up beasts! Kris Humphries, Reggie Evans, Gerald Wallace all seem like they'd be at home in the WWE if they weren't ballers. Teletovic is an aggressive scorer, too. All those guys are going to bring out the best in Blatche, because one thing I do know is Blatche doesn't back down. As long as he is healthy he will do well in Brooklyn.

I think the Wizards focused on his faults in work ethic without considering their own lack of professional development and roster development. That young man is definitely shaky and flaky but what about the Wizards?

Whoever said give Blatche another year would have been a good idea, I agree. We saw his best and worst. He got in shape one time before and came back as Seven Day Dray. Seems to me with Nene his job would have been easier … and it would have become easier to trade Blatche once his image were rehabilitated. Instead, the Wizards forced a showdown, got no takers in trade because they played their hand, and per usual lost what might have been an asset for nothing.

I'm not saying Blatche isn't a bum at times at all ...

As someone who held out hope for Dray, here is the problem CCJ. That year for him to do it was last year. That was his audition. It was the make or break year for him to be a core player for the Wizards. He was given the green light. A starting slot. A captain spot and a microphone.

He didn't get it done. They held onto him and tried to get something in return. There were no takers. At some point, you just have to move on.

Wall and Beal are their core now and they wanted/needed to start surrounding him with a more mature team. Dray had his chance. They ran out of time waiting for him to get it while he was here.

Dray may be better where he is. But so are the Wizards. Same with the McGee trade.

The Wizards are now built more like the type of mature team they can bring in someone elses Dray or McGee types where they can get a fresh start. So far, its looking like Webster is one of those types. There will be more down the road.

Oh please. The Wizards were in a position where the team just all out sucked after it scrap 90% of its playoff team. What did you expect Dray to do on his own? That's like expecting Wall to lead this team on his own... Lol

Get over it.., you Wizards fan overreacted once again. Now Crawford is the next Dray that the team will put all blame on for everything wrong with this team.

This team won't go anywhere because it's not set up right by management.
No legit bigs, Wall is out, and havnt shown shooting talent. Their Gs are all afraid to shoot from behind the 3 at all...

What kind of team is that? This not football.

Wizards need to get star talent at the G if they can't get a star big man.
Look at the draft and stop getting these euro guys for the time being.

[payitforward]

Anyone ready to speak up for Dray? So far, in @ 17-18 minutes/game, he's playing at a level much higher than he ever has in the league.

Above all his offensive rebounding and getting to the line. Still not a lot of minutes of course, so not necessarily enough to be confident it'll continue. Worth mentioning all the same.

[montestewart]

Anyone ready to speak up for Dray? So far, in @ 17-18 minutes/game, he's playing at a level much higher than he ever has in the league.

Above all his offensive rebounding and getting to the line. Still not a lot of minutes of course, so not necessarily enough to be confident it'll continue. Worth mentioning all the same.

Blatchemo! How can you do this to me?

The reason so many (including myself sometimes) held out irrational hope for so long is because we would see flashes of him putting together good stretches, not just minutes, bit sometimes even several games in a row. When he was in better shape and he bodied up, he could play decent defense, and when he stayed closer to the basket, he was a decent rebounder. But he usually was way out of shape (not only injuries, but conditioning), and he saw himself a stretch big, and as time passed he was slow and/or shied away from contact. Much of his Wizards failure is on him, but much of it is also on EG for crafting a team that positioned Blatche as a #1 option when he's never been a particularly efficient scorer (and he still isn't), and letting Blatche's high profile embarrassment drop his trade value to zero.

As a backup big on a team with plenty of scorers already, Blatche can now focus on using his size to get rebounds, put backs, and draw fouls, while still passing to cutters or spot shooters and reminding he has some skills most bigs do not have. (Although in the games I've seen, he's still struggling with fading to the perimeter a little.) It's a great role for him, and I hope he takes advantage of his second chance and keeps developing his game. AND STAY IN SHAPE DAMMIT!

[hands11]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400277953

This guy is killing me. Really.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400277953

This guy is killing me. Really.

AB scored an efficient 20 points. His first words after the game: "How are the Wizards doing?" That isn't what I noticed, however.

Avery Johnson is playing Jerry Stackhouse and Keith Bogans over Marshon Brooks? That is some very suspect coaching.

[FAH1223]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400277953

This guy is killing me. Really.

BKN lost though

[TGW]

Blatche is playing at his 2010-2011 level, which isn't good. He just isn't being a distraction...yet. I'll give it a couple more months before his does something to get benched by Avery Johnson, who is a no-nonsense coach.

And Marshon Brooks doesn't pay because he's a taller version of Jordan Crawford.

[montestewart]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400277953

This guy is killing me. Really.

BKN lost though

I didn't see the game, but Lopez wasn't playing so Blatche got the start. It always seemed like when Blatche played closer to the basket more, it brought out a post game that he generally seemed uninterested in developing.

The Nets lost by 13, but on the road against the very talented NBA champions. Blatche got his points efficiently, and none of the Heat bigs had memorable games (Bosh had 8 pts) so unless the 80 pts scored by James, Wade, Allen, and Cole can be greatly attributed to Blatche's interior defense, I'd say he had a pretty good game.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Blatche is playing at his 2010-2011 level, which isn't good. He just isn't being a distraction...yet. I'll give it a couple more months before his does something to get benched by Avery Johnson, who is a no-nonsense coach.

And Marshon Brooks doesn't pay because he's a taller version of Jordan Crawford.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... kma01.html

What has Brooks done in 9 games this season to make you reach that conclusion, TGW? Take a look at Brooks' per-36 averages and things like his PER and his WS/48. What has he done wrong this season?

[TheBigThree]

No one should be remotely surprised. A motivated Blatche is a very good player. Borderline great, IMO.

That said, he's motivated by the wrong stuff. He's not motivated to be great simply to be great and win championships. In Washington it was to get stats, not to win games. In Brooklyn, it's to prove the Wizards wrong. That'll last for a while I expect, but not forever.

I always liked the guy and I think everyone knew he could play like this, but as much as I dislike him for flaking on the Wizards and EG for running a dysfunctional organization, he had to go.

[Paradise]

Blatche is playing at his 2010-2011 level, which isn't good. He just isn't being a distraction...yet. I'll give it a couple more months before his does something to get benched by Avery Johnson, who is a no-nonsense coach.

And Marshon Brooks doesn't pay because he's a taller version of Jordan Crawford.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... kma01.html

What has Brooks done in 9 games this season to make you reach that conclusion, TGW? Take a look at Brooks' per-36 averages and things like his PER and his WS/48. What has he done wrong this season?

He really hasn't done anything wrong. Our coach is simply the worst in the league. He claims his reasoning for not playing Marshon is to get "consistency" but when Brooks does play, he puts up very solid games and he gets DNP'd the next night.
He would rather ride out Jerry Stackhouse's shooting streak and run Joe and Deron into the ground than play the kid 6th man minutes until he is given a reason not too. Simply wasting talent.

[TGW]

Blatche is playing at his 2010-2011 level, which isn't good. He just isn't being a distraction...yet. I'll give it a couple more months before his does something to get benched by Avery Johnson, who is a no-nonsense coach.

And Marshon Brooks doesn't pay because he's a taller version of Jordan Crawford.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... kma01.html

What has Brooks done in 9 games this season to make you reach that conclusion, TGW? Take a look at Brooks' per-36 averages and things like his PER and his WS/48. What has he done wrong this season?

This season is too early to tell, but I'm betting it's his style of play that Avery Johnson doesn't like. The numbers for Brooks are statistically insignificant--he hasn't played enough to say he's played right or wrong this season.

[TGW]

No one should be remotely surprised. A motivated Blatche is a very good player. Borderline great, IMO.

Blatche, when he was motivated, was barely good! Where do you guys come up with this stuff?