Andray Blatche - Resurgence Thread ( Merged )

[Nivek]

Blatche has ability. But he has never been in proper physical condition and his mental approach to the game is wrong. And he's shown little interest in doing anything to change. Aside from meaningless rhetoric, of course.

[dandridge 10]

Blatche has ability. But he has never been in proper physical condition and his mental approach to the game is wrong. And he's shown little interest in doing anything to change. Aside from meaningless rhetoric, of course.

The question I have is does the organization finally see Blatche for what he is, or does it still see Blatche as a potential building block. Last year, I thought Blatche was getting the minutes he was getting because the organization was trying to showcase him for a trade. However, all the comments I have heard from Flip and Ernie have led me to believe that they actually like Blatche and still think he can turn the corner. I just don't understand how that could be. Is it all a ruse to get teams to buy into Blatche or do they really like him? If they really like Blatche and still think he will turn it around, I would say that Flip and EG have no business being in the NBA. I'm hoping that the latest comments by Blatche are the final nails in his coffin, and he is shipped out of here ASAP.

[tontoz]

Blatche has ability. But he has never been in proper physical condition and his mental approach to the game is wrong. And he's shown little interest in doing anything to change. Aside from meaningless rhetoric, of course.

I have ability too, just not NBA ability.

When i think of guys like Blake, Dirk, Amare, Josh Smith, KG etc i don't see Blatche's talent on that level. I think most GMs agreed which is why he fell to the 2nd round. GMs have proven time and again they will take chances on talented bigs high in the draft, even if they are projects or known head cases.

I agree that Blatche does not make the most of his talent but let's not pretend that his talent is All-Star calibur. Guys like Amare and Blake Griffin could sit on their couch for months, not work out at all, and still be far stronger and faster than Blatche. Amare actually did go months awhile back without working out (doctors orders due to his eye injury) and still had a big season.

[7-Day Dray]

Blatche has ability. But he has never been in proper physical condition and his mental approach to the game is wrong. And he's shown little interest in doing anything to change. Aside from meaningless rhetoric, of course.

I have ability too, just not NBA ability.

When i think of guys like Blake, Dirk, Amare, Josh Smith, KG etc i don't see Blatche's talent on that level. I think most GMs agreed which is why he fell to the 2nd round. GMs have proven time and again they will take chances on talented bigs high in the draft, even if they are projects or known head cases.

I agree that Blatche does not make the most of his talent but let's not pretend that his talent is All-Star calibur. Guys like Amare and Blake Griffin could sit on their couch for months, not work out at all, and still be far stronger and faster than Blatche. Amare actually did go months awhile back without working out (doctors orders due to his eye injury) and still had a big season.

I guess you weren't here after the Jamison trade. The guy was killing it before he got hurt (ankle I believe). When he's in-shape, he can do it all. He can pass, shoot, handle, and dominate on the block.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlzrf_ia3Ow[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z3hAbv7Kn0[/youtube]

[tontoz]

Even during that two month stretch his scoring efficiency and rebounding were weak. In that first highlight clip it looked like he could barely jump over the morning paper and was shooting fadeaways. He was able to get past a couple of stiffs off the dribble. Big deal

In the second clip the initial picture tells the story. Who is that trying to block his shot? That's right, Yi. We all know what kind of defender Yi is. Remember the Lakers game last year?

[sfam]

I guess you weren't here after the Jamison trade. The guy was killing it before he got hurt (ankle I believe). When he's in-shape, he can do it all. He can pass, shoot, handle, and dominate on the block.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlzrf_ia3Ow[/youtube]

I love it that when I run this Youtube clip, the ad that comes up is for a classic Hogie. We've had so many threads requesting a trade of blatche for a Salami sandwich that we can actually see the sandwich in question when we click on his youtube clip!

[Nivek]

Even that stretch of good play by Blatche wasn't as good as it may have seemed. Even then he was inefficient.

[verbal8]

Blatche has ability. But he has never been in proper physical condition and his mental approach to the game is wrong. And he's shown little interest in doing anything to change. Aside from meaningless rhetoric, of course.

I have ability too, just not NBA ability.

When i think of guys like Blake, Dirk, Amare, Josh Smith, KG etc i don't see Blatche's talent on that level. I think most GMs agreed which is why he fell to the 2nd round. GMs have proven time and again they will take chances on talented bigs high in the draft, even if they are projects or known head cases.

He may not be freakishly talented like Blake Griffin or Amare in the talent department, but I would put him in the next level of guys.

I don't think that he significantly less talented than Randolph, Boozer or Al Jefferson. I would be shocked if he put in the effort(either in training or games) to be as productive as those guys.

[Zonkerbl]

Dray has never been a leaper. He has really long arms and that makes up for his lack of athleticism, it's one of the reasons he fell so far in the draft.

[verbal8]

Dray has never been a leaper. He has really long arms and that makes up for his lack of athleticism, it's one of the reasons he fell so far in the draft.

It is kind of amusing that Turiaf and Blatche were picked in the second round of the same draft. Turiaf is a guy who is undersized and not overly athletic, but seems to maximize what he has by putting out a great amount of effort. Blatche on the other hand has the tools to be very successful, but doesn't seem to put forth the effort.

[Zonkerbl]

I don't understand this. In your early twenties you should be able to roll out of bed and be in perfect physical condition. Is he a chain smoker or something?

[Wizardspride]

I don't understand this. In your early twenties you should be able to roll out of bed and be in perfect physical condition. I

Not necessarily.

[tontoz]

Blatche has ability. But he has never been in proper physical condition and his mental approach to the game is wrong. And he's shown little interest in doing anything to change. Aside from meaningless rhetoric, of course.

I have ability too, just not NBA ability.

When i think of guys like Blake, Dirk, Amare, Josh Smith, KG etc i don't see Blatche's talent on that level. I think most GMs agreed which is why he fell to the 2nd round. GMs have proven time and again they will take chances on talented bigs high in the draft, even if they are projects or known head cases.

He may not be freakishly talented like Blake Griffin or Amare in the talent department, but I would put him in the next level of guys.

I don't think that he significantly less talented than Randolph, Boozer or Al Jefferson. I would be shocked if he put in the effort(either in training or games) to be as productive as those guys.

Those three guys have the beef and strength to bang inside. Dray doesn't. He is soft, slow and can't jump. In order to make up for that he would need a skill advantage over other players and he doesn't have that. He struggles just to make open jumpers.

[queridiculo]

He may not be freakishly talented like Blake Griffin or Amare in the talent department, but I would put him in the next level of guys.

I don't think that he significantly less talented than Randolph, Boozer or Al Jefferson. I would be shocked if he put in the effort(either in training or games) to be as productive as those guys.

I look at Blatche and I see Kevin Love minus the demeanor, desire and work ethic.

Heck, I'd say Blatche is probably more gifted, but above the shoulders Love is so far ahead of Blatche that it's actually an insult to compare the two.

[7-Day Dray]

Those three guys have the beef and strength to bang inside. Dray doesn't. He is soft, slow and can't jump. In order to make up for that he would need a skill advantage over other players and he doesn't have that. He struggles just to make open jumpers.

He wasn't slow before the foot injury. When in-shape, he has an elite first step, and can get past bigs with ease. And he was a good shooter before the injury too.

[Ruzious]

Those three guys have the beef and strength to bang inside. Dray doesn't. He is soft, slow and can't jump. In order to make up for that he would need a skill advantage over other players and he doesn't have that. He struggles just to make open jumpers.

He wasn't slow before the foot injury. When in-shape, he has an elite first step, and can get past bigs with ease. And he was a good shooter before the injury too.

Yeah, he's definitely lost some athleticism, and while he was never a big leaper, he could at least jump over a phone book. Now, could getting in good shape help get back his athleticism? I don't see why not. He's still young enough, and I don't think his injuries were very serious.

[7-Day Dray]

Here's snippets of Draftexpress' scouting report on him:

A near 7-footer with nice athleticism

Able to get to the rim against nearly any player he was matched up with

Though he got to the rim nearly at will

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Andray-Blatche-232/

Hardly sounds like a guy that's "unathletic".

[Dat2U]

Dray was never a great athlete. That's part of the reason he fell to the 2nd round combined with the rep for having questionable focus.

I don't remember ever seeing a quick step from Blatche, in fact I remember saying after I saw him for the first time that he was floorbound with heavy feet. He was adequate athetically for PF however and had excellent body control for a guy his size so he could get by. Now, he's just a terrible athlete for the position and I'm not even sure he could be effective inside anymore because most of his moves are made in slow motion.

[tontoz]

Here's snippets of Draftexpress' scouting report on him:

A near 7-footer with nice athleticism

Able to get to the rim against nearly any player he was matched up with

Though he got to the rim nearly at will

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Andray-Blatche-232/

Hardly sounds like a guy that's "unathletic".

Getting to the rim against high school players doesn't make someone athletic. Blatche is lacking strength, hops and quickness/speed relative to other starting 4s, especially the top guys.

He is probably quicker than Dirk but Dirk's skill level is a light year beyond Dray's.

[pancakes3]

questionable focus probably came from the fact that he went to a prep school instead of college.