2 in a row?! - Wizards @ Rockets

[dandridge 10]

Actually Blatche has put eight decent games together now. He's effective as a starter, sucks when he comes off the bench.

A lot of problems with the team this year is because they are pressing. Caron is pressing. When Blatche comes in off the bench he is pressing. N1 is obviously pressing. DS is obviously pressing. You're trying to do more than you are capable and you make mistakes and it gets in your head.

Looks like the light went off for Blatche, with the "I sucked, I only got two rebounds" thing and the "excellence is a habit" thing. I think he's going to be fine from here on out.

I don't know where you came up with a string of 8 decent games. I thought Blatche was horrible in the Dallas game and below average in Charlotte game.

Notwithstanding, my point wasn't that Blatche can't serve a role on this team or that he sucks. My point is I have yet to see anything to convince me that Blatche will be as good as some people, like Hands, claims he will be, let alone an elite PF. Indeed, if you look at his personal statistics, this season's stats are not too much different than his career stats despite getting more minutes. In fact, although I'm not a statistician, I would venture to guess that any increases in his stats, except for his PPG, would probably not be considered statistically significant.

2008-09 Statistics FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G MIN FGM-A FG% 3PM-A 3P% FTM-A FT% OFF DEF TOT STL BLK TO PF AST PTS
Season 29 22.3 113-241 .469 3-14 .214 52-67 .776 1.9 3.4 5.3 .79 .76 1.59 3.00 1.6 9.7
Career 196 16.2 479-1041 .460 13-67 .194 199-282 .706 1.6 2.6 4.1 .50 .89 1.12 2.42 1.0 6.0

Maybe you are right, maybe Blatche will be fine here on out. The question is not whether he will be fine, but whether he will develop into something more than fine. I don't believe he will, primarily because of his poor work ethic. I don't have a problem with people disagreeing with me. I just have a problem with people like Hands saying that people have to apologize for doubting Blatche just because of a small handful of games when he happens to play decent.

[dobrojim]

there's a hilarious post on the HOU forum game thread by a guy who
first admits he is 'trashed" (drunk driving on the information superhighway).

I won't repeat the quote but go to the last or 2nd to last page.
Hilarious.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

I'm confused... who on here is saying Blatche is going to be an all star? He needs to be a solid starter. He needs to be better than AJ I guess. Problem with AJ is he is a bad match with Gil, whose defense is terrible. You can only hide one terrible defender at a time. Right now we're hiding AJ's defensive problems, with MJ, Caron, McGuire, and Blatche being decent enough defenders so AJ doesn't get exposed. Put Gil out on the court with him and the defense goes in the toilet. So Blatche has to be good enough offensively to hold up his end on that end of the court, and be able to help hide GA's defensive ineptitude on the other end.

Then have AJ come off the bench as a scoring spark and be the sixth man of the year again. Yeah.

[dobrojim]

^

problem with that is that AJ is a legit if perhaps arguably borderline
AllStar

So saying 'dray has to be better than AJ, IS saying he needs to be
an AS.

[dandridge 10]

I'm confused... who on here is saying Blatche is going to be an all star? He needs to be a solid starter. He needs to be better than AJ I guess. Problem with AJ is he is a bad match with Gil, whose defense is terrible. You can only hide one terrible defender at a time. Right now we're hiding AJ's defensive problems, with MJ, Caron, McGuire, and Blatche being decent enough defenders so AJ doesn't get exposed. Put Gil out on the court with him and the defense goes in the toilet. So Blatche has to be good enough offensively to hold up his end on that end of the court, and be able to help hide GA's defensive ineptitude on the other end.

Then have AJ come off the bench as a scoring spark and be the sixth man of the year again. Yeah.

Hands 11 has, and that's who my initial post was directed to.

I do agree with you that before the Wizards can take the next step, they need a starting caliber PF who can take over for AJ. While I love what AJ has done for this team, I don't think the Wiz will ever be contenders with a huge defensive liability at the PF spot. They need someone that can, on a consistent basis, be an offensive threat, rebound, and be a tough defensive presence down low. Can Blatche be that person one day? He certainly has the raw skill to potentially be that person. But in order for Blatche to become that person, he needs to have the work ethic and passion to develop his game where he is a consistent force on a regular basis. That is what I see lacking in Blatche. And unfortunately, as I said many times before, players with poor work ethics rarely change their ways.

[hands11]

Will Blatche actually play well 2 games in a row? I'll be surprised...

Let me go get that pillow so you can make it up to Blatche for not believing.

Lets get the list together of all the people who were wrong about this.

The Blatche bashers
The AJ bashers
The tank experts

Hey WD. What was the +/- on Blatche over Yao with their averages ?
Time to break out that formula again.

Hands you crack me up. You act as though all the people that said the Wizards suck or that Blatche will never live up to expectations should apologize based on 3 out of 23 games. Yeah, we should just forget about the other 20 games. I'm the one that's LMAO

Neither the Wizards nor Blatche have proved anyone wrong. The Wizards are 6-23. Their record speaks for itself. Winning two games in a row for the first time this season means nothing, especially when one of the teams was the worst in the NBA and the other team clearly was coasting until the fourth quarter. Although I never believe the Wizards were tanking on purpose, I still believe the Wizards suck without Gilbert and Haywood. And, they have done nothing yet to prove me wrong.

Blatche has put together two good games in a row, good for him. Whoop de do. He's done that before and then proceeded to have several bad games in a row. Let's see him keep it up. I hope he does, I really do. And, I'll be the first one to admit it if he does. However, I'm not ready to annoint him a future HOF or declare the Wizards a playoff team based on a few good games.

Let's not gloat about how you were right about everything and everyone else was wrong until the Wizards and Blatche actually accomplish something.

Everyone isn't wrong but many are.

It's not just 2 games, go look at his game log. Everything changed for him when EJ left. It's not a straight line to HOF. Besides, I never said he would be a HOF, but the kid is producing and he will continue to get better now that he is settling in. I have no idea what the cap on his upside is yet.

Sure he showed flashes before but he never got good minutes with healthy good players on a well lined up team. A lot of his ups and downs was because of age, immaturity and how he was handed.

I always though more minutes was the best path for him getting there. He was a kid that needed to believe in his skills and needed a coach that believed in them also. Players like GA and KG got green lights to play and mess up early in their careers. Blatche didn't have such a clean start at things.

You'll see. Just wait. I don't see him regressing unless he is handed poorly again which I don't believe Tapps will do. With every successful outing he is getting farther away from turning the corner status.

Facts are, his PER has gone up every year so he is growing and he is still very young with good upside. I think we have seen about 60% of what he can become.

[hands11]

Actually Blatche has put eight decent games together now. He's effective as a starter, sucks when he comes off the bench.

A lot of problems with the team this year is because they are pressing. Caron is pressing. When Blatche comes in off the bench he is pressing. N1 is obviously pressing. DS is obviously pressing. You're trying to do more than you are capable and you make mistakes and it gets in your head.

Looks like the light went off for Blatche, with the "I sucked, I only got two rebounds" thing and the "excellence is a habit" thing. I think he's going to be fine from here on out.

+1

[hands11]

I'm confused... who on here is saying Blatche is going to be an all star? He needs to be a solid starter. He needs to be better than AJ I guess. Problem with AJ is he is a bad match with Gil, whose defense is terrible. You can only hide one terrible defender at a time. Right now we're hiding AJ's defensive problems, with MJ, Caron, McGuire, and Blatche being decent enough defenders so AJ doesn't get exposed. Put Gil out on the court with him and the defense goes in the toilet. So Blatche has to be good enough offensively to hold up his end on that end of the court, and be able to help hide GA's defensive ineptitude on the other end.

Then have AJ come off the bench as a scoring spark and be the sixth man of the year again. Yeah.

Hands 11 has, and that's who my initial post was directed to.

I do agree with you that before the Wizards can take the next step, they need a starting caliber PF who can take over for AJ. While I love what AJ has done for this team, I don't think the Wiz will ever be contenders with a huge defensive liability at the PF spot. They need someone that can, on a consistent basis, be an offensive threat, rebound, and be a tough defensive presence down low. Can Blatche be that person one day? He certainly has the raw skill to potentially be that person. But in order for Blatche to become that person, he needs to have the work ethic and passion to develop his game where he is a consistent force on a regular basis. That is what I see lacking in Blatche. And unfortunately, as I said many times before, players with poor work ethics rarely change their ways.

Where did I say he would be an all star ?

I was busting on the people who didn't believe in the kid which is sound like you still are. That would include anyone who said he should be traded or that he shouldn't shoot the outside shot or that he shouldn't put the ball on the court or that don't believe he has passion.

Blatche caused some of his own problems but they were mostly in the offseason. Most of the rest of his problems where EFJ. If you don't believe that, go ask Haywood what he thinks. The kid needed minutes with other good players. Before now, he never started with AJ and was played with stupid EFJ line ups.

Predictions about someone like Blatche being an All Star at this stage of the game isn't something I would do. Besides, a lot of All Stars entries is a popularity contest. I think GA is even getting votes and he has hardly played in 2 years.

But my point about Blatche has always been that he needed court time to grow threw his mistakes and that with the players we had last year and this, he needed to be starting for us to be a better team. We needed what he offered at PF last year and at center this year. That meant AJ playing some SF and CB some SG, both things we are seeing this year. But if we did this last year, we could be farther along as would Blatche.

But instead, EFJ started Etan to start the season and then went to McGee before inserting Blatche. So I ask you.. where were you when I was saying Blatche needs to start at center for McGee ? Were you one of the few that agreed with me or the many that didn't?

I'm happy the kid is finally getting a far shake even if it is a few years to late. I hope he really breaks out. Right now, he is just filling a roll which is great while he settles into believing he can be even better. But right now, he shouldn't force to much. Here and there he can try to push the curve, but steady as she goes is the best thing for him right now.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

[
The good news is I think McGee is a tremendous help defender.

If he were able to block some shots from where he is parked now (with a boot on his tires) he would be the help defender with the most range in the history of the NBA.

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