Andray Blatche - Resurgence Thread ( Merged )

[yungal07]

Common sense tells me that an immature joker like Blatche (and Gilbert) don't lead teams ANYWHERE. Common sense tells me that hardworking, talented players with solid work ethics and a professional attitude are ALWAYS worth $13 million a year more than talented punks who whore themselves for stats and are constantly in the middle of some BS controversy.

"I have no problem dealing with his immaturity considering his production & salary. "

Of course you don't, but that's because you don't interact nor "deal" with Blatche on a day-to-day basis. You're not his coach that he ignores, or the teammate he yells at for grabbing his rebound, or the medical staffer he shoves away. Youre not the target of "conduct detrimental to team", and he doesn't reflect poorly on you when he does something stupid like solicit prostitutes. So you having "no problem dealing with his immaturity" is utterly ridiculous.

[montestewart]

Common sense tells me that an immature joker like Blatche (and Gilbert) don't lead teams ANYWHERE. Common sense tells me that hardworking, talented players with solid work ethics and a professional attitude are ALWAYS worth $13 million a year more than talented punks who whore themselves for stats and are constantly in the middle of some BS controversy.

"I have no problem dealing with his immaturity considering his production & salary. "

Of course you don't, but that's because you don't interact nor "deal" with Blatche on a day-to-day basis. You're not his coach that he ignores, or the teammate he yells at for grabbing his rebound, or the medical staffer he shoves away. Youre not the target of "conduct detrimental to team", and he doesn't reflect poorly on you when he does something stupid like solicit prostitutes. So you having "no problem dealing with his immaturity" is utterly ridiculous.

I think you're letting your emotions take over. Shaq's an immature joker, often unprofessional, and often not so hardworking. Barkley, more of the same. Rodman was at times a hard worker, but he was nuts. Every big scorer has padded stats at one time or another (how many times was the player taken out with 49 points?), and every insinuation that the fans want to be wowed acknowledges the floor show aspect of the game. It's all whoring in a sense.

Bosh . . . will never win a championship as a max contract player unless he's a greatly overpaid second fiddle. Maybe he's worth 13 million a year, which means Blatche is worth zero, but Blatche is making 3 million a year! Maybe we can package him with a pick to some other team's BOYD program.

Ever wonder why the NBA drafts so many immature players straight out of high school?

[hands11]

You jump on my back for pointing out, correctly, that Dre is constantly blocked in the low post and needs to find a way to improve on that part of his game? Even after I said I think he'll be able to do it? In the words of Dre "C'mon son!"

I didn't jump on your back.

[yungal07]

I think you're letting your emotions take over. Shaq's an immature joker, often unprofessional, and often not so hardworking. Barkley, more of the same. Rodman was at times a hard worker, but he was nuts. Every big scorer has padded stats at one time or another (how many times was the player taken out with 49 points?), and every insinuation that the fans want to be wowed acknowledges the floor show aspect of the game. It's all whoring in a sense.

Bosh . . . will never win a championship as a max contract player unless he's a greatly overpaid second fiddle. Maybe he's worth 13 million a year, which means Blatche is worth zero, but Blatche is making 3 million a year! Maybe we can package him with a pick to some other team's BOYD program.

Ever wonder why the NBA drafts so many immature players straight out of high school?

Montestewart...there's fun immaturity, and then there's immaturity that hurts the team. Aside from Gilbert's last run-in, his immaturity was on the lighter side. Same thing with Rodman. As for Barkley and CWebb...did these guys win anything?

Anyway, I'm done with arguing about Andray. I just hope that whoever comes in here as the new GM pulls a Mike Shanahan and gets rid of the unprofessional, whiny, selfish attitude that has permeated this locker room. I'm tired of this sense of entitlement by a bunch of guys that have literally won jack squat.

[Dat2U]

Common sense tells me that an immature joker like Blatche (and Gilbert) don't lead teams ANYWHERE. Common sense tells me that hardworking, talented players with solid work ethics and a professional attitude are ALWAYS worth $13 million a year more than talented punks who whore themselves for stats and are constantly in the middle of some BS controversy.

"I have no problem dealing with his immaturity considering his production & salary. "

Of course you don't, but that's because you don't interact nor "deal" with Blatche on a day-to-day basis. You're not his coach that he ignores, or the teammate he yells at for grabbing his rebound, or the medical staffer he shoves away. Youre not the target of "conduct detrimental to team", and he doesn't reflect poorly on you when he does something stupid like solicit prostitutes. So you having "no problem dealing with his immaturity" is utterly ridiculous.

And you have??? Seriously, get a grip dude. Apparently you have never been around professional athletes. You think what Blatche does is any different from any other young multimillionaire? Is he immature, stubborn & spoiled? Sure, but they all are.

There's alot that happens in an NBA locker room that were never privy too unless it gets out to the public. Unfortunately, a few of Blatche's incidents have become public fodder but I don't think I heard anything that makes me take a pause.

But honestly, my biggest problem is your doing all the bitching yet offer no alternatives. Ok, we get you'd trade Bosh for Blatche. But that's not realistic. You want Blatche gone, but for what? I hear D.J. Augustin is still available.

I don't know, maybe we'll find these perfect athlete/role models your looking for who can win a championship while simultaneously singing 'Kumbaya My Lord' during the games. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

[verbal8]

I think you're letting your emotions take over. Shaq's an immature joker, often unprofessional, and often not so hardworking. Barkley, more of the same. Rodman was at times a hard worker, but he was nuts.

The championships that Shaq has won have been on teams with a serious star(Wade and Kobe). All of Rodman's teams had serious players on them. I don't think the Wizards need to get rid of Blatche or Arenas because of their personalities, however acquiring another "goofy" star could be a mistake.

[montestewart]

I think you're letting your emotions take over. Shaq's an immature joker, often unprofessional, and often not so hardworking. Barkley, more of the same. Rodman was at times a hard worker, but he was nuts.

The championships that Shaq has won have been on teams with a serious star(Wade and Kobe). All of Rodman's teams had serious players on them. I don't think the Wizards need to get rid of Blatche or Arenas because of their personalities, however acquiring another "goofy" star could be a mistake.

Arenas and Blatche have redeeming qualities on and off the court, but the team could use some level-headed leaders. Arenas's defense won't look so bad (and it might actually improve) if the team makes it a point to add hustling, defensive-oriented players. Blatche's post game might look better if the team looks to add tough interior players to complement him. Both of them will do just fine on a team that has serious, tough, two-way players.

It seems like years of no-D, shot jacking, and no accountability team-wide may have created an atmosphere that encouraged such antics as well as making them stand out more once they finally turned the light on. It's easy to see countless scenarios that add good complementary players to the current core and create a good team. I have yet to see a feasible plan that gets rid of Arenas and Blatche and produces anything but cap space and/or a lousy team.

[nate33]

It seems like years of no-D, shot jacking, and no accountability team-wide may have created an atmosphere that encouraged such antics as well as making them stand out more once they finally turned the light on. It's easy to see countless scenarios that add good complementary players to the current core and create a good team. I have yet to see a feasible plan that gets rid of Arenas and Blatche and produces anything but cap space and/or a lousy team.

+1

Blatche is a knucklehead. This isn't a revelation for anybody. But the solution isn't to trade him. It's to surround him with the right kind of mentors. Indeed, I think EG has done a pretty good job with this. Singleton and Oberto both play the right way, both seem like good guys, and neither are good enough to seriously challenge Blatche for PT and take his confidence away.

I think Blatche is on the right track. All he needs is a little more time to grow accustomed to being a primary threat. This is all new to him.

[dobrojim]

plus 7DD is a LOT younger than FO and an important ~5 years younger than
Singleton.

[ErikChowbay023]

The guys reaction to this is a tad bit ridiculous isnt it? Hate, thats a very strong word, he seems very ignorant.

http://tribalpursuit.northcoastnow.com/ ... -the-most/

[hands11]

http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=300409002

This dude will never fill into his shoes. Only 2 assists ?

[Zonkerbl]

"Number one thing is I have a lot of respect for my coach. He said, 'Just don't say nothing.' So this time, I just didn't say nothing at all," said Blatche.

Be patient, you guys. It's a process.

[Zonkerbl]

OMG, hilarioius. Dray's fb account has almost 5,000 friends, which is the fb limit. He posts "how do I delete friends" which inevitably starts a big flame war, between some noname and one of andray's girlfriends. There's 95 posts of these two going back and forth with each other --

Salum 'Vado' Subah
I play for the raptors

Salum 'Vado' Subah
i just added him to see if he had any important nba players on his friends list, and so far all ive seen is nick young who dunked on lebron so i respect that guy

Andray Blatche
Salum is a male groupy soo u added me to find more **** sound a lil gay to me but hey to each it's own

Salum 'Vado' Subah
shut up andray u aint nice your suck i challenge u to a 1on 1 game ill bet u ill beat u

Andray Blatche
Salum take that 31 and 11 bitch

[hands11]

"Number one thing is I have a lot of respect for my coach. He said, 'Just don't say nothing.' So this time, I just didn't say nothing at all," said Blatche.

Be patient, you guys. It's a process.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... rdsinsider

All this recent Flip stuff was nothing IMO. It was way more Flip being a knucklehead than Dray being one and even Flips seems to have learned from it. He has been better since that happened.

Dray has been solid this year. He had one episode where he was suspended a game for something and I'm not really sure what that was about.

The kid went through a lot this year as the team went through a lot this year.

New coach
Coming off the Bench
Gil and Crit Gun Fun
New roster after new roster
breaking out
breaking out and adjusting to double team

I am so not worried about Dray being the knucklehead. Gil has been far worse and had always been the bigger concern because of his contract and strange ways. Dray was always a low risk gamble and EG hit the lottery with him.

Two more years on a cheap contract 3M. Dray is pure Gold.

Now if we can get McGees 1.6M breathing addressed and he get stronger, EG may have found Gold twice.

If we had Livingston already signed, I would say he hit the trifecta. Livingston is a mature young man who as Flips states - was born a PG. 6-7 match up problem because of a solid mid range and post up game that now includes a baby hook. The knee is clearly come a long way as he is logging a ton of minutes and we never see or hear about the side affects of those minutes. The kid has already shown enough to prove he deserves a chance to start even when Gil returns. He is still only 24

Next biggest issue, our future has a lot to do with Gil and his contract. We need a Gilish player. So for now it is Gil. Can he not be a knucklehead ? Can he get with the program ? Will he finally move to SG ? Will he play D ? Can he focus on basketball and TEAM and forget the Mega star Kobe, LeBron, Shaq, Melo stuff ? There are other stars in this league who get attention but aren't wrapped up in it at that level. You have CP, Dirk, Nash, Kidd, Durrant, PP, Gastol, Duncan types. He can be a star without being a Hollywood mega star. He needs to get back to just focusing on basketball and winning.

For me, I like his chances to be what we need short term. Gil needs a 7DD moment. Gil would always put in the work but what he really needed to change was something between his ears. From everything he has gone through, I hope that has happened and I have to believe it has. The knee should be 100% rested. Gil should be humbled and focused. I believe we wouldn't get the old Gil but a new one. Cuz if we do, we have some nice pieces already. His year off could end up working for us.

Livingston/?
Gil/Nick/Foye?
AT/MM - J Howard later in the year if signed cheap
Dray/Singleton
Center?/McGee/Center?

In case of injuries
Our biggest hole is a center and that is where we need the most depth. No center and everything falls apart. Dray is our only center and we need him mostly at PF.
Gil can play some PG. So can Foye. But we would be smart of get another pure PG.
Foye can back up Gil in case of injury plus you have Nick ( microwave ) and MM can play SG
Nick is your 3rd back up at SF
McGee is your 3rd back up at PF and could start if Dray gets injured. Scoring would go more to Gil.

But center ? We need at lot more there to be stable and I believe it is the key position for success next year. McGee is a nice back up energy guy ( birdman) but we need power and defense. A 1 1/2 way player as a starter. More D than O and a back up.

The key to all this is signing Shaun. If not, we have a hole at PG also and they is also key.

Just one mans take on a scenario to success.

[dobrojim]

I thought it was interesting last night to see Dray actually not play that
well in some respects, still put up great numbers and (help) lead team
to a win while greatly outproducing KG. And kept his mouth shut the
whole time. Let KG say whatever he wants, let your play on the court
have the final word. While what Flip did publicly was wrong, it was only
the public aspect of it that was actually incorrect. Way to go Dray.

[yungal07]

OMG, hilarioius. Dray's fb account has almost 5,000 friends, which is the fb limit. He posts "how do I delete friends" which inevitably starts a big flame war, between some noname and one of andray's girlfriends. There's 95 posts of these two going back and forth with each other --

Salum 'Vado' Subah
I play for the raptors

Salum 'Vado' Subah
i just added him to see if he had any important nba players on his friends list, and so far all ive seen is nick young who dunked on lebron so i respect that guy

Andray Blatche
Salum is a male groupy soo u added me to find more **** sound a lil gay to me but hey to each it's own

Salum 'Vado' Subah
shut up andray u aint nice your suck i challenge u to a 1on 1 game ill bet u ill beat u

Andray Blatche
Salum take that 31 and 11 bitch

LMAO Jeez...

[daSwami]

OMG, hilarioius. Dray's fb account has almost 5,000 friends, which is the fb limit. He posts "how do I delete friends" which inevitably starts a big flame war, between some noname and one of andray's girlfriends. There's 95 posts of these two going back and forth with each other --

Salum 'Vado' Subah
I play for the raptors

Salum 'Vado' Subah
i just added him to see if he had any important nba players on his friends list, and so far all ive seen is nick young who dunked on lebron so i respect that guy

Andray Blatche
Salum is a male groupy soo u added me to find more **** sound a lil gay to me but hey to each it's own

Salum 'Vado' Subah
shut up andray u aint nice your suck i challenge u to a 1on 1 game ill bet u ill beat u

Andray Blatche
Salum take that 31 and 11 bitch

Actually that's a fake account. Dray uses the alias "Dray Baily" on his real fb page.

[Zonkerbl]

This is the account where he posted he was going to Vegas and got taken to task in the Post about.

[doclinkin]

Reply excerpted from the Hawks game thread:

One of the things for Dray's homework list for the summer should be learning to draw fouls. He doesn't play the games/tricks that veterans traditionally use to "draw contact". And with his array of moves, he could certainly be effective at it.

Actually many of his moves are predicated on avoiding contact. Wiggle, show the ball, pivot, then lean back and hit a fadey. Dribble to the open space and pull up from an unconventional distance. He's learned alot from Jamison in this regard, and I suspect some from Akeem by way of Sammy.

Fact is this aspect of his game will improve as he continues to build muscle, though. Once he can finish after contact the refs will begin to give him the benefit of the doubt. He needs to be elusive by choice not by default. Needs to show he could have made that shot anyway, otherwise the refs will have reasonable doubt. He might have simply lost it going up, 'sure looked out of control to me...'

Weight room dominance is the prescription. He just needs to be able to power through and slam it home. Then the refs become ancillary to the issue, and in fact become your ally. Refs hate the weak flailing stuff, reward the power game in the paint. And refs are as susceptible to Sportscenter street cred as anyone. The Network rewards strong play with replay. Star status accrues with reknown. If Dray shows footwork and power, finishes with authority, then refs assume well he's never out of control, and if he lost the ball, well someone must have done something untoward and unseen. Whistle. And one.

Just leave no one in doubt. Finish strong. The whistles will take care of themselves.

[Ruzious]

Reply excerpted from the Hawks game thread:

One of the things for Dray's homework list for the summer should be learning to draw fouls. He doesn't play the games/tricks that veterans traditionally use to "draw contact". And with his array of moves, he could certainly be effective at it.

Actually many of his moves are predicated on avoiding contact. Wiggle, show the ball, pivot, then lean back and hit a fadey. Dribble to the open space and pull up from an unconventional distance. He's learned alot from Jamison in this regard, and I suspect some from Akeem by way of Sammy.

Fact is this aspect of his game will improve as he continues to build muscle, though. Once he can finish after contact the refs will begin to give him the benefit of the doubt. He needs to be elusive by choice not by default. Needs to show he could have made that shot anyway, otherwise the refs will have reasonable doubt. He might have simply lost it going up, 'sure looked out of control to me...'

Weight room dominance is the prescription. He just needs to be able to power through and slam it home. Then the refs become ancillary to the issue, and in fact become your ally. Refs hate the weak flailing stuff, reward the power game in the paint. And refs are as susceptible to Sportscenter street cred as anyone. The Network rewards strong play with replay. Star status accrues with reknown. If Dray shows footwork and power, finishes with authority, then refs assume well he's never out of control, and if he lost the ball, well someone must have done something untoward and unseen. Whistle. And one.

Just leave no one in doubt. Finish strong. The whistles will take care of themselves.

Exactly right on all counts. It's the finish strong - and stick your butt out strategery. And the weight lifting. I didn't want to mention it (but I will), but the incident on defense in the 4th quarter last night... He got bonked on the head and just laid down saying - "Ouch my head hurts" and let his man get an important layup - instead of gutting it out. He's got to be physically and mentally tougher than that - just part of the growing up process.