Andray Blatche - Resurgence Thread ( Merged )

[hands11]

Ok, Dray is showing no signs of letting up.

He seems to have leveled off at about

24 pts 8 rebounds 3 assists, 1.5 steals, 1 block on .503 is shooting and .778 FT
I think he can raise he FT % a little more and maybe get a few more foul calls so that another 1 or more right there. Plus I think he will extend to 3 range in time. Not sure if that will translate to more points or just scoring more on less attempts.

So how good is Dray ? The way the numbers read, he is a top 10 player and clearly a franchise center piece to build around. Of course he will need to keep it up. The good thing is we still have plenty of game to watch the rest of this year to evaluate him. But if he does, and I think he will, we have to start playing for extending his contract down the road. Good thing we have another two years on his contract. How sweet is Dray at 3.2M next year looking? That's got to be one of the best value deals in the league.

I was playing around with nba reference a little. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Can someone check my work.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=kt3B3

[hands11]

If Dray can get that rebounding number to hover around 10 a game, then

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=R3wR3

Here is age adjusted at any position

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=iJ4Ef

[ErikChowbay023]

Ok, Dray is showing no signs of letting up.

He seems to have leveled off at about

24 pts 8 rebounds 3 assists, 1.5 steals, 1 block on .503 is shooting and .778 FT
I think he can raiser he FT % a little more so that another 1 or more. Plus I think he will extend to 3 range in time.

So how good is Dray ? The way the numbers read, he is a top 10 player.

I was playing around with nba reference a little. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Can someone check my work.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=kt3B3

I think all of that will go up next season, for sure.. Blatche is really just scratching the surface.. in terms of reaching his potential. I think he is capable of 27 -12-5...All he needs is better conditioning, meaning his body being prepared to be a number one option for 82 games. His rebounding will also go up with better conditioning. And his assists will increase with better players, and a better understanding of how to pass out of the double team.

His scoring will definitely go up, especially if we can ever get some decent, consistent, PG play.

[hands11]

Well 27 12 and 5 would just be insane.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=VEqdu

But before we get to way over the top, how about just sizing him up to the existing players who are actively playing. Where does he rank ? I think it's easy to say he is producing at a Dirk level and in the top 10 list and a top 5 power forward.

But we will have to wait to see what he looks like on a better team playing against the better talent.

[ErikChowbay023]

But realistically, he was just thrust into the role of being the number 1 option. Not just from a physical stand point, but also from a mental standpoint. And look how he handled last summer, not knowing what role he was gonna play, now going into the summer he know what his role is, and it will motivate him to work even harder.

He is producing at a Dirk level, being no were near as good of a shooter. But a much better ball handler, inside game, and passer.

[GhostsOfGil]

27 12 and 5 would put him at the number 1 pf in the league.

[Astonished]

Let me get what some of y'all are smoking.

[nate33]

He won't average 27 points next year. He won't even average 24. Blatche is getting a TON of shots right now because he is the only offensive option on the team other than Al Thornton. After we add Arenas, a draft pick, and probably a free agent, Blatche won't get as many shot opportunities.

That's fine with me though. I'd rather him average 20 points per game with a TS% around .570, than 25 points per game with a TS% around .520.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Consider Blatche is balling with garbage guards.

Wizards get Gil back with Wall or Turner, and Blatche could turn into a straight beast.

[hands11]

He won't average 27 points next year. He won't even average 24. Blatche is getting a TON of shots right now because he is the only offensive option on the team other than Al Thornton. After we add Arenas, a draft pick, and probably a free agent, Blatche won't get as many shot opportunities.

That's fine with me though. I'd rather him average 20 points per game with a TS% around .570, than 25 points per game with a TS% around .520.

If Gil can score more efficiently than Dray, then he can take more shots than him, if not and he tries, get him out of here. Only reason I want Gil around is to raise his stock before we get ride of him. Maybe EG can package him at the draft. Something with Miami so we can get Wade here.

I see no reason why Dray shouldn't continue to get his 24 a game. Only he will do it more efficiently with better players around him.

[ErikChowbay023]

He won't average 27 points next year. He won't even average 24. Blatche is getting a TON of shots right now because he is the only offensive option on the team other than Al Thornton. After we add Arenas, a draft pick, and probably a free agent, Blatche won't get as many shot opportunities.

That's fine with me though. I'd rather him average 20 points per game with a TS% around .570, than 25 points per game with a TS% around .520.

Thats terrible logic in my opinion, its not like Blatche is averaging 24 and shooting a poor percentage. None of his games since the break have been volume shooting performances..

I could understand you saying he`s is getting a lot of shots, but why wouldnt he, is he not producing at a high rate, and at a high percentage..I mean thats what big time players usually do in this league..I would want to let a guy shooting a high percentage get a lot of shots...

You also have to understand, he is doing all of this within the flow of the offense, unlike most big scorers in this league... He is also being doubled a lot...
Only thing he needs to continue working on is, getting stronger, and getting to the free throw line.

[hands11]

Dray sprains his ankle but it didn't look so bad.

He had it rolling again. Nasty baseline move for that dunk and he was getting to the line.
If only we made a few more.

Quality lose though. And how about GEEE.

GEE 13 pts 10 rebounds 2 steals 24 minutes

How can players like Nick suck so bad as to loose minutes to a player who just showed up. Players like GEE are going to be the best thing to happen to McGee and Nick. Time to wake up young men.

[Gilfanatic123]

I really don't want to hear any more bad news from the Wizards. I think it would be great if we could just play out the remainder of the season with everyone out there now healthy. We need to build chemistry so we're a good team. But... it doesn't help when we're always getting hurt like this.

[Kanyewest]

What is Blatche's TS % since the trades? I did a check 5 games ago that showed that Blatche had a 53 fg %, while prior to the trading deadline his fg % was at around 47%.

[spaceman_E]

If Dray can get that rebounding number to hover around 10 a game, then

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=R3wR3

Here is age adjusted at any position

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=iJ4Ef

In other news, why did Charles Barkley shoot so many 3 pointers?

[DaRealHibachi]

If Dray can get that rebounding number to hover around 10 a game, then

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=R3wR3

Here is age adjusted at any position

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... i?id=iJ4Ef

In other news, why did Charles Barkley shoot so many 3 pointers?

B/c there weren't any 4's...

[dlts20]

Has Our Crap Offense Been A Blessing In Disguise?


Blatche has been such a beast that even when he misses or makes a bad play I still go like "wow, I havent seen too many guys in this league be able to do that". I thought in his prime that Gil was one of the most exciting players in the league and we didnt really have another one until NY came along and played ok for a little while, then McGee came along, did some things, and still does some things, but Blatche right now is one of the most exciting in the league for me and more exciting then all those guys were at there most excitingness if thats a word, lol.

Seriously, his game is crazy exciting right now from the post moves, spin moves, crossovers, fadeaways, reverses, and so on. The thing that is funny about his play as a starter is that in like the first few games he was basically strictly in the post. He would step out and shoot a J sometimes but for the most part he was back to the basket. Then the doubles came and he for a long while went almost strictly outside to the faceup game and started playing more like a guard. Alot of fans from other teams still think thats what kind of player he is because theyve never see his down low game. This is when I got a little upset a Dray because I thought he was settling too much and drifting too much to the perimiter.

Then the last few games again he went back to the block and basically we run like 1 or 2 plays for him every time now and they all are to try to catch it on the block. Now its like forcing him to do low post moves on the regular and you can tell that even though he already had some moves, his game has grown on the post so much even since the very 1st game he started. Thats why I hate fools like Tapscott benching these guys even though we were way out of it. They need to play and you can see it in Dray these last few games that he's killing it on the blocks right now. Strength wise he's even looking good as Ive seen him back down strong dudes like Boozer and so on.

Then what about that spin move in the post? Thats money. If you lean hard on him to the inside then he's spining off every single time and its so quick that no big can stay with him. The only thing that upset me about it is when he does those moves and gets to the rim he then either tries to reverse lay in or do a bunch of fakes. Sometimes thats just his nature without the explosion and other times he's anticipating someone trying to block it on the front side that never comes. I get upset because Im like Dray, its already open for you right there. Then today against Nene he finally spun and dunked it on the front side. He needs to do that more because even if he doesnt get it, he will be fouled.

I just like the fact that for the 1st time ever it seems like we are starting to have a legit "low post" big man. IDK if you can 100% be comfortable saying that yet but Im starting to feel like we can throw it into him and he can get it done even strictly on the block. I see him growing in his mind to where he's even backing down big guys now when at 1st he would only try it against smaller guys. I also see his whole facial expression & mindset has changed now to where he truly has no fear of even the best bigs in the game. Did you see in the 3rd against Denver where he came and got it at near the top of the key, took the dribble right, got Nene moving that way, and then hit a mean crossover to the left, and pulled up for the J while Nene was nowhere in site? How many bigs can do that? Then a couple of plays later is when he did that play where he got the ball against Nene in the post, spun real quick, and dunked it on him. He's sick right now.

Even that play where Malik Allen blocked him, the moves were sick. Thats not even including the guard like passes he can make in the post or in transition. Basically I think our O is so bad right now that its almost forcing Dray to work more in the post and he's quickly developing at a crazy fast rate. I just love it and he's going to be a beast next year. My only fear for Blatche now is that ankle injury, espically when we are about to play big tough teams. Will he be able to move the same and will he have the same aggressive mindset after it? I worry that just when he was coming into his own as a great low post scorer, now this will hinder that growth and maybe even change the way he plays some

[hands11]

Way back when and along the way in defending Drays development and comparing him to KG I would point out how few minutes he got and how little free range he got to develop his game. Dray is basically in a similar position to other talented players who are young like Durrant and KG where. He is now on a team where he is the number one where the team is bad enough that he can explore his game and take as many shots as he would like to develop his game.

Players like KG and Durant had similar opportunities.

The situation he is in now is almost the exact opposite of what it has been most of his career. Before he was behind Gil, CB, AJ and even sometimes other players. He was treated like McGee and Young are treated now. If he did one or two things wrong he would get pulled. Specially if it was centered around effort or poor D. It was a tough environment for him to excel and I don't feel like there was any player out of that group that was helping him develop on court by getting him the ball. But when AJ and I think Haywood were heard a few years back and he started, he did very well.

Now I'm not really assigning blame here. Part was Drays fault. He was a knucklehead and messing up so it wasn't like he was Duncan coming to SA. Some was just the situation he came to. We had Gil, Hughes, AJ and Haywood or Gil, CB, AJ and Haywood. Some of it was that he was to raw, etc. etc.

Maybe he could have benefited from some D League play. Maybe this. Maybe that. But the bottom line is that this is a perfect storm for Dray. He put in the hard work over the summer. He seems to have grown up some over the years after making some poor decisions and now he is in one of those positions like those other young talented players where he can be the number 1 and just go out and explore and develop his game without looking over his shoulder. This is a similar situation to that which Gil had when he first got here. Gil had been in the league a few years but was still young and when he got here he explored his game. But Dray is way more efficient than Gil was back then and he is playing way better D.

In the short term, I think a inside out game with Dray and Gil can be pretty nasty. If Gil can buy into running the offense through Dray such that the first thing they do is feed Dray in the lower left post and let him do what he wants. If he dishes it out to Gil he either reposts to Dray or Gil nails that open three. If not the three, Gil drives for the finish, foul or dishes. That could be deadly.

One thing that comes to my mind IIRC, Gil likes to be on the upper right side more than the upper left and Dray likes to post on the left more than the right. Not sure how hard that is to work out but they would need to. But in the short term, this could be a dangerous combo.

Longer Term. Same problem, different day. Gil is just to expensive. For now it isn't a big a deal because Dray is singed cheap so Gil making a lot more than him isn't something they have control over, but once Dray comes do, Dray should be earning more than Gil. By then Gil will be making like 20M. But we should at least get to see what they can do together next year before worrying about this. Or you can try to be proactive from the start if you can work out a deal to get a Wade for Gil. Sure Wade makes a lot, but Wade is a more complete player also. Either way, next year should be fun to watch.

The future looks bright for the Wiz for at least the next two years since we have found 7DD.

I just imagine if we had a better sharp shooter than MM. Someone like R Allen sitting on the wing. We need that and a defensive center or two. We can make soup from the rest of what we have.

[no D in Hibachi]

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/03/17/much-improved-blatche-could-head-nba-all-underpaid-team/

More national press about Blatche.

Blatche, speaking about his contract:

"But it's already done. It was already in the works [at the time of his arrest]. I just have to live with it ... Who would have known this situation where I would [now] be the key go-to guy?''

Blatche continues:

"Definitely next year, if I'm going out and I'm doing the same thing and I become an All-Star player, it's definitely going to bother me a lot because I'm definitely going to feel underpaid and like I'm not being appreciated,'' Blatche said. "But there's nothing I can do about that.''

[Rafael122]

Knew that was going to come up eventually. Wizards would seriously have to look into paying him next summer by giving him the extension. That's if he's still playing as well as he is now. I'm glad he understands why he got that deal in the first place, my only concern is that he'll be what...25 when his contract runs out...I hope the money doesn't go to his head.