Question about Blatche

OzThunder · Post #1 » by **OzThunder** » Thu Oct 9, 2008 7:54 am

I just traded for Blatche in a fantasy league, and i have a question that i'm sure you guys can answer.

Why did he drop from a starting role and good minutes at the end of the regular season, to the end of the bench in the playoffs against Cleveland?

I thought he could be a solid 10-10 guy this year...what do you think? Will he be starting?

Thanks

Post #2 » by **VintaGe36** » Thu Oct 9, 2008 12:42 pm

With Haywood out, Blatche will get alot of PT at C.(or so I hope)

I think he could reach 10-10, maybe more, but i'm very optimistic about his growth and development. I'm just hoping he doesn't regress.

He might not start, but he will get more minutes this year.

doclinkin · Post #3 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Oct 9, 2008 12:42 pm

Not the end of the bench, first Big off the bench. He was only starting while all-star Caron Butler was out of the line-up. Now with Center Brendan Haywood out Dray is in serious contention for the starting Center job.

Dray will probably be a 10pts 6reb 3ast 1bk type stat filler, but struggles with fouls so whomever is behind him will also get minutes. On the plus side he's the primary back-up at both frontcourt positions so he should be a safe bet to get solid minutes no matter if he's starting.

BigA · Post #4 » by **BigA** » Thu Oct 9, 2008 12:48 pm

One Wiz fan's perspective....

Blatche was the primary back-up center in 07-08. He also started some games at forward when Butler was injured and when Jamison missed a few games.

Over the course of 07-08 Blatche showed a fair amount of progress over 06-07, but continued to be held back by a lack of consistency, poor conditioning, and a tendency to pick up fouls (to some extent all those things are related).

At the end of the season and during the playoffs he lost backup PF minutes to Songaila, who stunk for over half the season but really started playing better in March. He also lost a few C minutes because Haywood played a few more as starter and Blatche wasn't even as effective on Big Z as Songaila.

He had another brush with the law early in the summer and was spotty in Las Vegas, but by all accounts came into training camp in very good shape and had a great camp.

With Haywood out, Blatche will get alot of C minutes again, even if Thomas starts. On talent alone, he should beat out Etan for the starting job, and/or pull heavy minutes at backup PF. The team would benefit by cutting Jamison's minutes.

Blatche will have a prominent role to start the season, how prominent depends on whether Jamison's knee injury drags into the season. We all see him as a 10-10 guy, but whether he lives up to that is up to him. It's there for the taking.

Post #5 » by **nate33** » Thu Oct 9, 2008 2:00 pm

If you took Blatche's per-minute numbers from last year, increased his shooting percentage by 2%, shaved down his turnovers and fouls by 10%, and gave him 30 minutes a night, his numbers would look like this:

Code: Select all

Player          PTS  REB  AST  STL  BLK   TO   PF  TS%  PER
blatche,andray  12.0  7.9  1.7  1.0  2.1  1.9  4.3 .538 17.5

If we do all of the above, only we assume he really solved his foul problems and trimed his foul rate by 25% so that he could play 36 minutes a night, he'd put up numbers like this:

Code: Select all

Player          PTS  REB  AST  STL  BLK   TO   PF  TS%  PER
blatche,andray  14.4  9.4  2.0  1.2  2.5  2.2  4.3 .538 17.9

doclinkin · Post #6 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Oct 9, 2008 3:14 pm

On the minus side: as a three time offender of driving with a suspended license, he's almost certainly due some kinda time in law and order Virginia. I never heard the resolution of that, and it may be stalled to the offseason or something, but Virginia scowls at scofflaws, they don't care how big you are. Ask Mike Vick.