Andray Blatche - Resurgence Thread ( Merged )

[hands11]

Overall Blatche had a very nice game against the Knicks but you can tell he's not used to playing those types of minutes since he was gassed late in the 4th and in OT. And it's not just the minutes, its the way he's being used that's new to him. He spends so much time fighting in the post as the team continually gives him the ball there now - he's having to expend much more energy in his minutes now that he's a focal point of the offense.

Between that and the fact that for the first time in his career he's seeing constant double teams he's certainly turning it over more, but I can live with that for now. As JonJoseph says, he's still got a lot of upside as he figures how to deal with all of this.

51 minutes 11-21 FG 1-2 3FG 3-5 FT 18 RB ( wow ) 6 ast 1 steal 3 blocks 3 PF 26 pts

This dude is a definite candidate for MIP

7DDray put in a solid summer last year and I expect the same this summer. Just imagine him returning with a little more upper body strength.

And if Dray is going to be a/the leader, I hope he gets in McGee's ear and gets him to follow his program over the summer. Blatche and a more mature McGee would be a nasty front court next year. McGee defense may improve slower then is offense but he can be such a problem offensively that he can get other teams centers in foul trouble that way.

Add in Singleton and Al and I actually think we have a solid core. I would keep MM cheap also. He makes a great back up PG/SG/SF. Perfect bench player.

I think there is soup to be made from this.

Move GIl and a Wade and or Nash with the right draft pick and you really may have a great team that isn't in cap hell.

[hands11]

Blatche's pace-adjusted per-36 stats over the past 10 games:

Code: Select all

Player           PTS  REB  AST  STL  BLK   TO eFG%  TS%  PER
blatche,andray  23.3  9.0  2.2  1.7  1.2  2.1 .555 .596 26.3

Actual minutes averaged: 28.5

wowza

Numbers for Last 5 Games

Code: Select all

MIN    FG     3P    FT     STL   BLK   TO    PF   OFF   DEF    TOT  AST   PTS
38.8  48-87  1-5   20-24   1.2   1.4   3.6   3.0  2.8   8.0   10.8   3.8  23.4


[hands11]

What If ?

I just thinking about watching Dray hit those outside shoots. I remember people used to get up in arms every time he tried one but I always believe he had a smooth stroke and it he just needed to find his range. So What If is what I'm thinking about with a fresh mind again.

What will Blatche grow into now that he can play his game without being a second fiddle ? He started the season strong. He put in the work over the offseason so you would image he would do that again.

You talk about wanting to draft a young guy to be the talent on this team.

I'm excited to see what Dray does.

And with Al Thorton coming here, how will that all work out. Will Dray see some SF with MM at SG ?

It's just to bad we didn't figure a way out to do with with Haywood here but that Ok I guess. McGee will finally get some minutes to grow. Then we can come back and pick up a center.

Now the only big remaining question is what do they do with GIL

Amazing... it was only 9 days ago that I posted this.

Back then... it was what if... people were still wondering.
Now... I would think most have been won over.

Amazing to look back and see how much things have changed in such a short time. But as amazing as he has been, given his position he, he still needs the right player to be he second star. Dray can be our star PF but we need a matching player SG/SF ala Wade, Kobe and we need a PG ala Nash/Kidd

With the right moves, I think he can be really good really soon.

[no D in Hibachi]

This dude is a definite candidate for MIP

Since the trades Blatche has averaged 25 and 11. If he plays every game for the rest of the season and continutes to average 25 and 11 his season averages will be 15.3 ppg and 7.4 rpg. That is a jump from last year of 10.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg. Respectable increases, but fringe MIP candidate. I won't waste another breath on this as Kevin Durrant basically has the award already.

[hands11]

This dude is a definite candidate for MIP

Since the trades Blatche has averaged 25 and 11. If he plays every game for the rest of the season and continutes to average 25 and 11 his season averages will be 15.3 ppg and 7.4 rpg. That is a jump from last year of 10.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg. Respectable increases, but fringe MIP candidate. I won't waste another breath on this as Kevin Durrant basically has the award already.

First off, I didn't say he would win, I said he is a candidate. That would be enough for me and it would be great for the franchise.

Secondly, is that how they do it ? It is solely based on raw end of the season number ? Cuz if it is, then it would be more relevant to use Drays starting numbers or numbers since the trade. But even if you don't and they use your numbers, a 10 pt 5 rebound bump is huge at he is doing it with 50%+ shooting. What player has more then that ?

Durrants numbers are not even close to that.

[DallasShalDune]

How good has Blatche's J become? He was shooting pretty against the Knicks. Has he really become this good of a jump shooter or is this just a phase?

[Wizards2Lottery]

How good has Blatche's J become? He was shooting pretty against the Knicks. Has he really become this good of a jump shooter or is this just a phase?

He just has more confidence now. In the past, he only had so many oppurtunities to score so of course he would have been more nervous on this shots. But now he knows he gets to play through them. He's always had a nice looking J. Now it's falling.

[DallasShalDune]

How good has Blatche's J become? He was shooting pretty against the Knicks. Has he really become this good of a jump shooter or is this just a phase?

He just has more confidence now. In the past, he only had so many oppurtunities to score so of course he would have been more nervous on this shots. But now he knows he gets to play through them. He's always had a nice looking J. Now it's falling.

Is it better than Butlers and Jamison's are? Or around that level, you think?

[Kanyewest]

I don't think EG is a genius for getting Blatche into that contract. Blatche hurt his value by soliciting a prostitute with his friend or something like that when he was free agent.

[Ed Wood]

Some combination of his comfort level and just being on a roll offensively probably has contributed to his strong shooting lately but he's also being given opportunities to catch and shoot from the midrange much much more frequently post-trade. He tended to do a lot of driving and pulling up for jumpers when the team wasn't really looking to create shots for him and he's never been especially good at converting those. Anecdotally the couple of pull up jumpers he's taken recently haven't fallen either so I think shot selection may be a pretty significant part of his recent results.

I'm sure you could pull up some data on mid range efficiency to compare 'dray and Antawn (and from what I can remember Andray hasn't really been that effective as a jump shooter over the course of his career) but my hope is that Antawn benefited from never having to dribble into a jump shot and that Andray will be consistently effective if he can do the same.

[Ruzious]

This dude is a definite candidate for MIP

Since the trades Blatche has averaged 25 and 11. If he plays every game for the rest of the season and continutes to average 25 and 11 his season averages will be 15.3 ppg and 7.4 rpg. That is a jump from last year of 10.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg. Respectable increases, but fringe MIP candidate. I won't waste another breath on this as Kevin Durrant basically has the award already.

The award has been a jinx for the Bullezards. Purvis Ellison won it and went downhill. And I know at least 1 other Bullet won it in that era and also didn't do much afterwards, but I can't remember who - Hot Plate Williams? Harvey Grant? Terry Catledge?

But I'd be fine if he won MVP next season.

But first he's got to learn to not dribble when he's double-teamed.

[montestewart]

This dude is a definite candidate for MIP

Since the trades Blatche has averaged 25 and 11. If he plays every game for the rest of the season and continutes to average 25 and 11 his season averages will be 15.3 ppg and 7.4 rpg. That is a jump from last year of 10.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg. Respectable increases, but fringe MIP candidate. I won't waste another breath on this as Kevin Durrant basically has the award already.

The award has been a jinx for the Bullezards. Purvis Ellison won it and went downhill. And I know at least 1 other Bullet won it in that era and also didn't do much afterwards, but I can't remember who - Hot Plate Williams? Harvey Grant? Terry Catledge?

But I'd be fine if he won MVP next season.

Don "American Pie" MacLean.

[montestewart]

I think Muresan too.

[Ruzious]

Yup, soon after, it was Byebye Mr. American Pie and Big Gheorge. Did I mention I rode up in an elevator with Gheorge a year or so ago? He looked good - very humble for a 7'5 guy.

[JonathanJoseph]

I don't think EG is a genius for getting Blatche into that contract. Blatche hurt his value by soliciting a prostitute with his friend or something like that when he was free agent.

That's true, but Grunfeld has always known and believed in Blatche's upside and he did lock up Blatche for FIVE years at about $3M per. In fact, Blatche had so little value on the market that Grunfeld might have insisted on 5 years at $3M. Even if Blatche were still posting 10/5, that's still a bargain for a 6'11'' guy who can play 4 and 5.

But you can't withhold the credit due to Grunfeld here. For all of the injuries he could not have forseen and that somehow talent wouldn't translate into chemistry, you can't criticize Grunfeld for that without giving him as much due credit on Blatche.

[montestewart]

Yup, soon after, it was Byebye Mr. American Pie and Big Gheorge. Did I mention I rode up in an elevator with Gheorge a year or so ago? He looked good - very humble for a 7'5 guy.

He works with all the community groups and the guests from Walter Reed Hospital. He's a great representative for the franchise. I'm glad he's still with the Wizards, and I hope he stays after Leonsis takes over.

MIP = bad luck for the Wizards

[fishercob]

Yup, soon after, it was Byebye Mr. American Pie and Big Gheorge. Did I mention I rode up in an elevator with Gheorge a year or so ago? He looked good - very humble for a 7'5 guy.

He's so humble that he seems two inches shorter than he really is!

[Ruzious]

Yup, soon after, it was Byebye Mr. American Pie and Big Gheorge. Did I mention I rode up in an elevator with Gheorge a year or so ago? He looked good - very humble for a 7'5 guy.

He's so humble that he seems two inches shorter than he really is!

Hey, Gheorge feels that if he says he's 7'5 instead of 7'7, people will treat him like anybody else, so that was my homage a Gheorgy.

[hands11]

I don't think EG is a genius for getting Blatche into that contract. Blatche hurt his value by soliciting a prostitute with his friend or something like that when he was free agent.

But he was smart to sign he when his value was low and signing him long term when most people didn't see his value and wanted him gone.

There have been posts are recent as a few days ago calling for him to be traded while his value is high.

[TheBigThree]

Other than limiting his turnovers and playing a bit smarter, the one big thing I want Andray to do is to develop another move he can go to when backing a guy down. If his behind the back move doesn't work and can't get separation for a jump shot, or a fadeaway, he generally turns the ball over or is stifled. I think if he developed some sort of a hook for when he's backing a guy down and is 4-5 feet out, his offensive game would be nigh unstoppable.