The Slowly Improving Andray Blatche Thread

Wizards2Lottery · Post #1 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:55 am

About time this guy had one of these for himself. I give up. He is a mental midget and he will never string together a week of good games.

Update on December 30, 2008: Ok a few games strung together in which he didn't suck. Lets see if he can keep it up.

Post #2 » by **LyricalRico** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:23 am

I think part of the frustration with Blatche is that he goes off for 20 every now and then, teasing with what could be. But he's just not a smart human being. He's got size and ability but his head is going to hold him back. He's going to be a frustration for fans his entire career.

Now when you look at his production and compare it to his salary, it would seem to be about right. But I think he could still be regarded around the league as a potential star or something close to that. We need to capitalize on that before people realize that he's going to be an 8 and 4 guy for his whole career.

Of course the question then becomes "Why trade a guy who can give you 8 and 4 off the bench at $3M per year?" It goes back the the frustration thing I listed above. I'm just sick of the teasing. If we can get something for him, let's do it.

yungal07 · Post #3 » by **yungal07** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:36 am

If he were on the Lakers, he'd be a great player. He needs a true bigman coach that can teach him moves in the lowpost, positioning, etc. He also wouldn't be able to dog it out there because Phil and Kobe would be riding his ass.

That being said, I also wouldn't shed a tear if he were traded in a move that rids us of Stevenson and/or Song or any of other crappy contracts. He just doesn't have the IQ, heart, toughness, nor work ethic to be anything more than what he is now.

JWizmentality · Post #4 » by **JWizmentality** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:23 am

Meh...the whole team is raw sewage.

GilArenas88 · Post #5 » by **GilArenas88** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:48 am

Oh wah wah wah, you guys are the ficklest fans ever. Blatche had an off shooting night, so freaking what, the whole team outside of Caron couldn't hit the ocean if the tried. If he made 3 more of his buckets he'd be 5-10 for the night and had a solid 11pts 8rebs 1ast 1stl 1blk in only 23 minutes of play. Yeah he had some cheapy fouls but he got called for a few bull ones too. And why dont you blame his teamates, I mean how many touches did they actually give him in the post, 1 or 2. They give him the ball 18 feet out on the perimeter and expect him to pull a David Blaine. Have you guys ever noticed that many of our perimeter players shy away passing into the post?

P'Oed · Post #6 » by **P'Oed** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:58 am

GilArenas88 wrote:Oh wah wah wah, you guys are the ficklest fans ever. Blatche had an off shooting night, so freaking what, the whole team outside of Caron couldn't hit the ocean if the tried. If he made 3 more of his buckets he'd be 5-10 for the night and had a solid 11pts 8rebs 1ast 1stl 1blk in only 23 minutes of play. Yeah he had some cheapy fouls but he got called for a few bull ones too. And why dont you blame his teamates, I mean how many touches did they actually give him in the post, 1 or 2. They give him the ball 18 feet out on the perimeter and expect him to pull a David Blaine. Have you guys ever noticed that many of our perimeter players shy away passing into the post?

Agreed. The guy plays at center with guys seemingly twice his body weight and is given no chances to develop his post game because Mike James is too busy jacking up 3's and Caron is too busy taking completely contested midrange jumpshots. They don't even run any damn plays for the guy to see if he can handle someone down low. People just need to start realizing that we aren't going to be racking up W's or stats this year in impressive fashion. Realize the situation.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #7 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:02 am

GilArenas88 wrote:Oh wah wah wah, you guys are the ficklest fans ever. Blatche had an off shooting night, so freaking what, the whole team outside of Caron couldn't hit the ocean if the tried. If he made 3 more of his buckets he'd be 5-10 for the night and had a solid 11pts 8rebs 1ast 1stl 1blk in only 23 minutes of play. Yeah he had some cheapy fouls but he got called for a few bull ones too. And why dont you blame his teamates, I mean how many touches did they actually give him in the post, 1 or 2. They give him the ball 18 feet out on the perimeter and expect him to pull a David Blaine. Have you guys ever noticed that many of our perimeter players shy away passing into the post?

Yeah and what if Blatche made all 10 of his shots?? He would have gone 10-10 with 20 points and 8 rebounds! What doesn't he hit half his shots every game, he could be a double double player!

If if and buts were candies and nuts...

MJG · Post #8 » by **MJG** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:13 am

I'm still firmly in Blatche's corner. The key to that: don't put too much stock in any one of his games. 19 points on 9-12 shooting with 10 rebounds and 3 blocks? Don't expect another one of those for a week or two. 2 points on 1-7 shooting with 4 turnovers and 6 fouls? He'll play better next game. Basically, he's a weird combination of low IQ, high skill, and inconsistency. For $3 million per year, I can live with that. If we were giving him Etan-type money, maybe I'm a little less forgiving.

Post #9 » by **nate33** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:20 am

This thread is totally unjustified right now. Yeah, Blatche is inconsistent, but he certainly is not amazingly sucky. I can't believe he's getting the blame for this loss when Jamison shot 5-18 with 6 boards in 40 minutes and James shot 4-16 with 1 assist in 37 minutes. Blatche was 2-10 but pulled down 8 boards, 1 steal and 1 block in 23 minutes. He had a modestly bad game but nothing worth whining about.

WizarDynasty · Post #10 » by **WizarDynasty** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:34 am

yeah this is a pretty dumb thread. i hope blatche doesn't read this. We got a jermaine oneal/chris bosh shot blocking powerforward with an offensive game. Seems like the losing bullet culture still lives on in the fans. Can't recognize when the dice roll in your favor until you seem him blowing up on another team.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #11 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:36 am

Considering what he can be, and what he can do to help this franchise take the next step, he is definitely amazingly sucky in my opinion. I wouldn't be quick to trade, I'll give him until he has better teammates to work with even though this was his time to shine, assert his role as a prime player on this team, one we can depend on night in and night out...

yungal07 · Post #12 » by **yungal07** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:42 am

Well, for the record, I'm not talking about this one game. I'm talking about the entire season. He has been a turnover prone, foul prone, dumb mistake making idiot basically from game one till tonight. He's a player that cannot be counted on because his game has no consistent qualities. His rebounding is extremely inconsistent. His jumpshot comes and goes with the wind. He almost never posts up. He gets blocked more than anyone I've ever seen. He blocked 1.4 shots last season - now he blocks less than 1 a game in the same exact mpg. While his scoring on gone up a bit, everything else has suffered.

The other intangibles - work ethic, toughness, being a positive person off the court...Blatche fails in those aspects too. The guy just disappoints in the summer time with his stupid decisions off the court and his unwillingness to strengthen and tone his body. He is basically Kwame Brown with a little bit more talent.

WizarDynasty · Post #13 » by **WizarDynasty** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:01 am

usually big men develop alot quicker when they have a smart point guard that put them in a good position. This team does not have a floor general that can be counted on every play to put our bigs in an offensive advantageous position.
I can see why Blatche would have trouble developing. Bigs don't handle the ball and rely on guards to deliver. Making Jamison and Butler the captains of the team is why EJ should have been fired. I would be inconsistent too if I had no point guard I could rely on to get me the ball with an offensive advantage.
After busting your ass on defense to get a stop..your so called leader goes down on the other end of the court and doesnt reward you for you hustle, he grabs the ball and launches a three that usually bricks and you race back down the court, play great defense just so Jamison can jack up another brick.
Its one thing for your leader to be a defensive presensce and help win games...but the guy who youare busting your ass for on defense...lets his own guy score with ease. Trots down the court..and stands by the three point line launches a three and not only that..you have to guard his man because he sucks on defense. Who could look forward to that for the next four years.
Until they get a leader point guard that makes it a priority to develop his young big man rather than try and be a shooting guard...our young bigs are going to be inconsistent. Which is why I like getting earl clark. A scottie pippen point forward that not only plays outstanding Defense, but creates on offense for others. CAron and Jamison and James don't create..aka develop other players.
I am kind of excited about the small things i have seen from crittendon. He drives and loves to dish...and his pass usually gives the player he passes to an offensive advantage over a defender. We just gotta develop him. Nick just seems to weak to take it inside...he hates contact...and he doesn't have any shuttle power in his legs. He will be a good bench player but nothing more. You need bench players though.

hands11 · Post #14 » by **hands11** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:44 am

WizarDynasty wrote:usually big men develop alot quicker when they have a smart point guard that put them in a good position. This team does not have a floor general that can be counted on every play to put our bigs in an offensive advantageous position.
I can see why Blatche would have trouble developing. Bigs don't handle the ball and rely on guards to deliver. Making Jamison and Butler the captains of the team is why EJ should have been fired. I would be inconsistent too if I had no point guard I could rely on to get me the ball with an offensive advantage.
After busting your ass on defense to get a stop..your so called leader goes down on the other end of the court and doesnt reward you for you hustle, he grabs the ball and launches a three that usually bricks and you race back down the court, play great defense just so Jamison can jack up another brick.
Its one thing for your leader to be a defensive presensce and help win games...but the guy who youare busting your ass for on defense...lets his own guy score with ease. Trots down the court..and stands by the three point line launches a three and not only that..you have to guard his man because he sucks on defense. Who could look forward to that for the next four years.
Until they get a leader point guard that makes it a priority to develop his young big man rather than try and be a shooting guard...our young bigs are going to be inconsistent. Which is why I like getting earl clark. A scottie pippen point forward that not only plays outstanding Defense, but creates on offense for others. CAron and Jamison and James don't create..aka develop other players.
I am kind of excited about the small things i have seen from crittendon. He drives and loves to dish...and his pass usually gives the player he passes to an offensive advantage over a defender. We just gotta develop him. Nick just seems to weak to take it inside...he hates contact...and he doesn't have any shuttle power in his legs. He will be a good bench player but nothing more. You need bench players though.

I didn't read the whole post but ya, I've been saying what you said at the top for many years. Same thing was true of Haywood...and other post players here.

Hey, I have a request for you. Can you break your posts into paragraphs with a blank line between then? Long posts are hard enough to read as it is. The way you make it all one block, I never read more then a few lines of what you write because its to hard to read.

But to all of this I add, he isnt a center. He is an outside in player. He is a PF. He doesn't have good strong moves around the basic. Right now he isn't strong enough and since he can't jump he tries to do all these AJ flip type moves.

He is better shooting from the outside, driving to the hoop or getting feed for a dunk. He doesn't have Haywood strength or a Haywood hook shot.

Cast my vote for this is a stupid uncalled for thread. It was bad enough it was brought up in the games thread where I already responded.

BruceO · Post #15 » by **BruceO** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:00 pm

I think this thread is stupid too. I came and was suprised at it being here. He racked up alot of touch fouls and they made him play tentatively because he had to be out there cause songaila was fouling more liberally. Plus he's playing against C's and defending them for the most part adequately enough. He has also defended, rasheed well, Gasol and KG. That's the type of PF we need. The team is so much better on defense with him. Plus he's shown he's able to rebound against those guys.

I also don't know where these low IQ accusations come from. How do you know he's low IQ. It's not low IQ to not have mastered completely skills to dominate in the NBA. I watched the game and my thought through it was ok, good, he has contributed in every area. He;s able to pass the ball well, catch the ball well, rebound, defend the post well. The only thing i need him to do is be able to get stronger to avoid ticky tacky fouls. Also he's that 15-18 foot jumper away from being a 20 ppg player. All they gotta do is fix that jumper. Not alot of bigs have it. Remember he's still young and playing out of position.

Blatche is the future. Alot of you guys are feigning for Griffin. You'll be shocked when he makes the NBA and doesn't have a jumper, doesn't defend as well or block shots. You have to remind me, I don't know any championship PF in the recent past who didn't block shots or defend well. Maybe he's not being asked to show those things. Blatche is a jump shot, and an NBA body away from being a very good player.

fishercob · Post #16 » by **fishercob** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:35 pm

This thread sucks.

Post #17 » by **W. Unseld** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:43 pm

fishercob wrote:This thread sucks.

Agreed. How many of these "amazingly sucky" threads do we really need? Even if you're incredibly cynical, you should be writing positive things about Blatche to try to drive up trade value.

Post #18 » by **LyricalRico** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:31 pm

GilArenas88 wrote:Oh wah wah wah, you guys are the ficklest fans ever.

Maybe some but not me. Let the record show that I've wanted Blatche outta here for a while now.

keynote · Post #19 » by **keynote** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:27 pm

Perhaps we could change the name of the thread to "The Unsurprisingly Mediocre Andray Blatche Thread."

I think we all agree that Blatche is maddeningly frustrating. But I'm especially annoyed at the Wizards coaching staff for enabling Blatche's lazy tendencies on offense. Sure, it takes him less effort to jack up an 18 footer than it does to operate from the post, and sure, Blatche can hit that J from time to time. But he'd be sooo much more effective developing his finesse post game (which he can pull off now without getting substantially stronger). And, offensive post production is clearly an area of team need. So why don't they just stick Blatche down there and force him to work from the block? It's not like the Princeton offense requires wing isos for the 5, seeing how Haywood got his share of touches in the post out of the same sets. I'm baffled by this.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #20 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:30 pm

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/andray_bl ... stats.html

Look at this game log. It speaks inconsistency and sucky when his game is not on. The guy has grabbed more than 6 rebounds a total of 4 times this year and he's hell bent on believing that he's a perimeter skilled player, absolutely refuses to post up (which he is pretty decent at when he tries to).

Until the guy can string together a month of good games, he deserves it.