Andray Blatche - Resurgence Thread ( Merged )

[ErikChowbay023]

It's 16 & counting for Wiz after blowing another game in HOU. Andray Blatche scores 31 pts but shoulders the blame: http://bit.ly/bTKC7d

This is great to hear from Blatche...he is the future of this team..

"I was thinking there was no way we could lose this game," Blatche said.

Blatche had 31 points at the time, having little trouble working around Rockets undersized center Chuck Hayes or anyone else thrown against him. And therein was the problem. Because as the game continued, Blatche refused to believe that the Rockets could stop him. But not only did the Rockets figure out how to keep Blatche silent the rest of the night, they also held the Wizards to just one meaningless field goal the rest of the game, resulting a disappointing 98-94 loss at Toyota Center.

Rockets reserve Chase Budinger broke a 92-all tie with a bank shot with 28.3 seconds remaining and later added two decisive free throws as the Wizards extended their franchise-record losing skid to 16 games. It was the fourth time during this streak that the Wizards (21-52) had lost a game decided by six points or fewer. They lost another game to Charlotte in overtime.



"We were there. We've been in games. That's the frustrating thing," Coach Flip Saunders said afterward. "But I told our guys. 'We don't have that trust factor.' The reason we did so well over the first 46 minutes is because we shared the ball. All of sudden we got down to the last few minutes and decided to play a different way -- stand and watch."

Saunders singled out Blatche, who had his fifth 30-point game since the all-star break. But after his three-point play gave the Wizards an 89-84 lead, he missed his final four shots -- including two in the final 61 seconds, when he admitted to ignoring open teammates. "I got to learn from it," said Blatche, who added 10 rebounds and three assists (all of his assists were in the first half). "I just want to say my teammates did what they was supposed to do. I take full responsibility for the loss. I don't know; I just got to grow from it. I have to show trust in my teammates, be more relaxed and take what's given."

I trust Flip as well, he`s teaching them to play the right way...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

AB is a knucklehead, but he is not THAT bad. His apology seems more sincere than any we received from Gil earlier in his Wizards career. (Lately I think Gil's been extremely sincere, by necessity). AB seems sorry for his verbal diarrhea on the Flip issue. He also seems sorry for ignoring his coach. I think he'll learn what it takes to win, and soon.

He's 23 and was thrust from role-player to 1st option abruptly. He'll grow, and he'll produce, which is all that matters.

I'm 49.

The way I see things Andray has better character than Flip Saunders. Flip should know better but I think he genuinely has divisive, self-serving ways. That'd be okay if the team had 50 wins. However, because he's obtuse when it comes to dealing with people I don't care for Saunders' ways. He knows the basketball part but what else does Flip know?

He can't admit when he's wrong and he doesn't apologize for trampling people's feelings. I've had a lot of struggles in my life when I've been wrong and trampled on others. Flip seems to not care and even seems intent to destroy others at times.

I'll take Blatche any day over Flip.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Livingston is absolutely not a starter unless he can improve his defense considerably. He's a borderline backup PG right now. He wouldn't get any minutes on a good team. I'm not complaining, though. I didn't even think he'd achieve backup PG status when we first signed him.

Wizards got it wrong when they stuck with Livingston and passed up Gee. Livingston's a nice story, but he's not a major player.

Two guys that definitely could have helped from the D League are Gee (but I didn't know that ahead of time) and Curtis Stinson. Another guy I suggested long ago, even admitted he's better than Almond, REGGIE WILLIAMS, is tearing it up with Golden State. Just like Anthony Tolliver.

The Wizards are so bad with evaluating talent it's not even funny. Instead of wondering what a player might be like if you draft him, there are guys like Williams and Richard Hendrix that are BETTER than folks the Wizards are willing to throw money at. They let good players like Gee go over a few dollars when the common sense move is to release Boykins or Foye to keep Gee around.

What Washington will do is pay a small fortune to resign Mike Miller. They'd pay WAY TOO MUCH for Stoudemire or Bosh. They'll give away McGee or even Blatche for nothing.

Oh, I digress. This is the Blatche thread....

Andray is stepping up as a leader. I'm really pleased with him this season. He's been the shining star this season for the Wizards.

[hands11]

Funny.. Just had a flash back looking at Dray year over year stats.

So who was our resident expert who was saying Dray couldn't play more minutes. I think at the time he was one of the worst in the league at fouls per minutes.

IIRC they said with confidence, as it happens to much on this board, ... Dray couldn't play more and was he is just a tease. Any suggestion to do so was just wishful thinking of the naive. The fact was about how players with high foul rates don't change their stripes.

There was no way Dray could play more minutes... He would foul out every game.

Well, Dray has gone from 2nd year.. 12 minutes 1.7 fouls to this year 26.7 minutes 2.8 fouls

5 game running totals.. 39.8 minutes 2.2 fouls

But who's counting ? That was years ago when he was still developing. Easier to just pill on.

Ahhh, look at you who knows so much... See he is only MOSTLY DEAD... See mostly dead is still partly alive. Where as with dead..Well you search his pockets for loose change.

Anyway.. I can't remember who it was or how many people piled on .. but I find it funny how wrong they were. Hey, but it sounded OFFICIAL at the time.

[miller31time]

Ahhh, look at you who knows so much... See he is only MOSTLY DEAD... See most;y dead is still partly alive. Were are dead..Well you search his pockets for loose change.

"You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles."

[hands11]

Ahhh, look at you who knows so much... See he is only MOSTLY DEAD... See most;y dead is still partly alive. Were are dead..Well you search his pockets for loose change.

"You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles."

Hmmm. No doubt.

So... are you claiming this gem of a prediction ?

[hands11]

Look like Dray should end up around 14 pts a game for the season.

Then hopefully be comes back next year and averages 18-22 per game.
Then hopefully he stay there for 5-6 or more years.

That would make for a nice chart of progression. He will be 25 when his next contract is due. I guess you sign his up for 5-6 years and ride it out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/s ... yerId=2746

[Halcyon]

Blatche has 8 assists through 1 quarter...granted it's against the Nets but still damn impressive.

[hands11]

How did he not get that last rebound for his first triple double. I had forever to get just two more rebounds but it didn't even look like he was trying to do it. He looked like he was just coasting or really tired.

44 Mins. 5-18FG, 10-10 FTs, 9 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 20 pts.

He missed two dunks back to back either of which would have been awesome. One was a real monster dunk that hit the back to the rim.

His FG percent wasn't great but I'm happy he is getting to the line a lot more. 10 FTs is awesome and he made them all. That's what you want to do if your not hitting your shot. Get to the line.

13 assists. 7 in the first quarter. wow,

The kid has some skills.

Just pissed he didn't get that last rebound.

[hands11]

Livingston is absolutely not a starter unless he can improve his defense considerably. He's a borderline backup PG right now. He wouldn't get any minutes on a good team. I'm not complaining, though. I didn't even think he'd achieve backup PG status when we first signed him.

Another sound evaluation. Now if we can find the poster who said he couldn't shoot.

But I guess that discussion of for another thread.

[verbal8]

The most common comparison with Blatche is Kevin Garnett.

What about Lamar Odom? It is not an exact match because Odom is a PF who could play SF and Blatche is a PF who could play C. However they seem on similar levels in terms of being long, decently athletic and skilled. I also think they are both great as 3rd options and will have brilliant nights where they show glimpses of being dominant.

[hands11]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDzRvZcFn48

That's to funny. I missed all of that because my DVR stopped recording with like 1 minutes left.

Ahh Dray.. So close brother.

But if he really wanted to 3x 2x so bad, why didn't he go for it earilier. He was coasting for several minutes before all of that happened.

Guess it wasn't meant to be. That first one where the foul was called was it.

The Martin thing was there for him but the Martin was just acting on instincts.

Dray was laughing though of the time that I have no problem with him getting wrapped up in it.

Your first 3x double has to be a pretty big deal.

[yungal07]

More immaturity from Blatche? What a shocker.

[hands11]

More immaturity from Blatche? What a shocker.

IMO that is little over board. I didn't see anything that worried me from that he was doing.

He went for the board in the flow of the game and had his 3x 2x but the refs called a foul.. oh. so close.

Then he went for a rebound and was a split second to late...ohhh

I'm sure a lot of people would have gotten wrapped up in the moment being so close.

2x 2x are somewhat common.
3x 2x.. Not so much so. Specially for a PF/C

Anyone have a percentage of all NBA active players who have posted a 3x 2x ? My guess 2%, maybe.
PFs with a 3x 2x ?

[yungal07]

^^Yea, maybe it would be overboard if, oh, Andray didn't have an extensive history of being IMMATURE.

[dlts20]

Some people were upset about Blatche at the end of the game last night but I dont think thats really fair. Im not into guys stat padding and going for indivdual stuff like that either but I understand it because Blatche is a young guy who is more specifically a big man and how many big men get triple doubles? Its nearly impossible to get 10 blocks in an NBA game and big men can go there whole career without getting 10 assist so when its there, I understand. Its not like he was 3 boards shy and tried to go crazy at the end. It was just 1 board and it was still relatively in the context of the game.

Lebron doesnt trip because he can come close every night but even the best big man may never ever get one. The good thing for Dray is that he's a skilled enough passer to actually do it again and I wouldnt be shocked if he got one against GS in the very next game. The funny thing is that Martin after the game apologized and said that he has to take care of his "old head". Dray an old head? That tells you how inexperinced our roster is right now, lol

[hands11]

^^Yea, maybe it would be overboard if, oh, Andray didn't have an extensive history of being IMMATURE.

What exactly did he do that you are saying was immature ?

The fact that he reacted to narrowly missing his first triple double ? Twice

I suppose you would have acted like a drone about it and showed no re-action at all.

[montestewart]

More immaturity from Blatche? What a shocker.

He's showing the long-term effect of post traumatic sh*t-in-shoe disorder. If the Wizards had a better medical staff, he'd be getting counseling for this.

He looked a bit odd toward the end, even comical, trying for that last rebound, but I'm not dwelling on it. I've seen great players do odd things going for personal records, and it doesn't necessarily equate to chronically playing for your own stat line.

[yungal07]

^^Yea, maybe it would be overboard if, oh, Andray didn't have an extensive history of being IMMATURE.

What exactly did he do that you are saying was immature ?

The fact that he reacted to narrowly missing his first triple double ? Twice

I suppose you would have acted like a drone about it and showed no re-action at all.

Personally, I wouldn't even be counting, and I wouldn't even consider it an accomplishment because a) it was against the nets, an even sorrier team than the lowly wizards, and b) the team I play for sucks balls.

This may not be as bad as the Ricky Davis stunt, but it's just as lame.

And on a side note, you Blatche apologists are as hilarious as the Gilbert apologists.

At some point, don't you get tired of defending the constant negative situations Blatche happens to find himself in on an almost bi-weekly basis? it's like a bad rerun of a horrible soap opera.

[go'stags]

Well, aside from the Flip incident, his "negative" stuff doesn't really need to be defended. Its all blown out of proportion. I'm not upset about that, it is a message board, but to answer your question: No, I'm not tired of Andray Blatche. I'm actually quite refreshed.