Should Andray Blatche be blamed for last night's loss?
by Mike Prada on Mar 31, 2010 1:52 PM EDT
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PrintI still haven't watched most of last night's game (blame Matzah), but a lot of people have been killing Andray Blatche for his performance last night, despite putting up some big numbers.
It says Andray Blatche made 13 of 23 shots, and I promise I'm not piling on because of his (bad) move from last week, but I swear this man takes the worst shots in the NBA at this point. Pargos included. And I'm not overreacting to his missed game-changer down the stretch of this Washington loss. You think he's going to give up on the possession, clearly beat, but ... nope. Still going up.
Andray Blatche's 31 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks you say? Well, when you play 41 minutes and receive the ball ALL. THE. TIME. (he took 23 shots) you are supposed to put up those numbers. He still has too much Tin Man in him ... no heart ... especially when it comes to rebounding toughness.
Hell, Blatche himself:
Saunders singled out Blatche, who had his fifth 30-point game since the all-star break. But after his three-point play gave the Wizards an 89-84 lead, he missed his final four shots -- including two in the final 61 seconds, when he admitted to ignoring open teammates. "I got to learn from it," said Blatche, who added 10 rebounds and three assists (all of his assists were in the first half). "I just want to say my teammates did what they was supposed to do. I take full responsibility for the loss. I don't know; I just got to grow from it. I have to show trust in my teammates, be more relaxed and take what's given."
Honestly, a lot of this stuff bugs me, if only because it's only now, when he has literally no other capable teammates, that we're seeing Blatche take bad shots. I also feel like if you're going to bash Blatche for his inability to facilitate ball movement, you should also blame Earl Boykins for his dribbling routine and Mike Miller for forgetting to clear out the side for Blatche, thereby giving him more room to work. (Trust me, it happens a lot. It happened on one key possession down the stretch last night. Miller dumped the ball into Blatche, and instead of then cutting, he stood there, giving Blatche no room to work. It allowed Kyle Lowry to cheat off Miller and still have enough time to recover, thereby discouraging Blatche from dribbling and making a move).
But I also missed a lot of this game, and these are people whose basketball knowledge I respect, so I'm going to open this one up to you all.
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Well, in all fairness...
In my post, I didn’t “completely” blame Blatche … it’s just that he assumes the brunt of the criticism because he is the Wizards’ best, and most active, player.
Mike Miller also caught blame, as did Earl Boykins for that last play, among others.
Really, only JaVale McGee and James Singleton played well.
I thought that Dwyer was a little harsh with the terrible shots thing … many of Blatche’s shots were bad because Chuck Hayes, a much stronger guy, always kills Dray. As much getting stronger that he thought he did last summer, or even the summer before, he has a long way to go.
Almost as much as McGee, Blatche shies away from contact.
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In my post, I didn’t "completely" blame Blatche … it’s just that he assumes the brunt of the criticism because he is the Wizards’ best, and most active, player.
This is a line of thinking I’ve never been comfortable with, to be honest. I don’t feel like one player should deserve more blame than others just because they’re the best; they should deserve more blame than others if they did more to cost a team a game than others.
And by putting Dray front and center in your post, that’s kind of what I assumed.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Well....
Let’s say a “brunt” is around a third of the blame.
And let’s say usage rate is something to help us assess how much, exactly, Dray is responsible.
Or, you could point to the fact that 60% of the offense is run through him, according to Flip at least.
So, when for the utmost time Blatche is incapable of passing when double teams come … or does something like trying to dribble out of a double-team when there is only five seconds on the shot clock, I will blame him.
And when your usage rate (for last night’s game) is 32.2% …. or when the 23 shots you took is 27% of the shots your team took …. yes, you are going to receive more blame than your teammates because, well, you also have more opportunity to be the hero, and thus, might receive more credit in wins.
C’mon Mike, that’s life. In good times and bad, those who assume more responsibility in the product also assume more of the responsibility in the outcome.
And yes, I did put a picture of Andray as the Tin Man front and center on my post …. maybe because of the amount of times I see him standing straight up, flat-footed and not making contact with anyone when rebounds are on the line.
Sure, not everyone does this all the time …but when you’re the longest tenured Wizard, and team veteran if you will, you better make damn sure you’re not making such mistakes of sub par effort more than others.
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That's one way to think
C’mon Mike, that’s life. In good times and bad, those who assume more responsibility in the product also assume more of the responsibility in the outcome.
Again, personally, this is about trying to figure out who causes a basketball team to lose games. I’m not particularly concerned about assigning responsibility based on pay grade or applying harsher standards to people who shoulder a heavier load. I’m trying to be fair and do as much as possible to evaluate the team without the whole “great expectations” side of it.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Oh, well I just focus on why they're not good enough to win
Not why they are losing ….
:)
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Absurd piling on
Mike is right and Dray is putting up amazing numbers with no help at all. Gee, he didn’t win the game himself at 22 at the end with no one to help. He is learning to be a stud – 13 of 23! – and if he messes up now it is all learning. Wait till he gets help next year.
Wizards championship; NU Cats tourney team - 2013
I will agree about the contact...
That is the one thing that is going to keep Blatche from being an elite player if he does not learn to anticipate contact. I always felt that way about his defense also. He really needs to find a way to put on another 20lbs. I think that would take care of his problems.
by TheRealBigMike on Mar 31, 2010 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions
For what it's worth...
Can’t completely blame Blatche, he is kinda spotty when it comes to getting the other 4 players invoved, but at the same time you have to give him a learning curve. This guy went from just trying to be a productive member of the team to being the star. Not necessarily an easy transition to make, especially when you may not be ready for it and everything that comes with it. I’m still hoping that he is taking something away from every game that he plays and applying it to the next.
Also...
I don’t think his shots were “selfish” per se … just bad because some of them were horribly off-balanced.
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Can't blame just Blache....
I have no idea why he took that 3 in one of the last possessions of the game with a man all over him, but why Boykins is taking the final shot continues to infuriate me. Really, Flip? Boykins dribbling and shooting a three with tough D all over him? Can’t we get a screen play open to Miller…anyone else?
"I am excited about starting 2009. We are looking forward to an outstanding year. We're on our way. We have a lot of healthy players this year." - Vinny Cerrato
Miller
I did notice that one play when Miller wouldnt clear for Blatche, but i dont think it had an impact on blatche taking a bad shot. In fact, if you noticed Blatche did a move that communicated to Miller to clear and he did. I think Blatche needs a little more patience. whenever he gets the ball in the post he wants to do a fantastic move like a spin or a fake that gets the defender out of the picture completely. If he just takes his time and backs down the defender I think he could get better fade-aways that he could easily make. Also Houston rarely had to double Blatche from what I saw.
by Alexander Anteneh on Mar 31, 2010 2:05 PM EDT reply actions
Well, the time that it took for Blatche to tell Miller to GTFO was wasted time and limited his options
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
But I had forgotten that Miller eventually cleared
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Yes and no.
At the end of the game, he was clearly forcing things. Chuck Hayes is an awesome post defender and Blatche went right at him – and got owned. He just kept bashing is face into the brick wall that is Hayes over and over again.
But I don’t entirely blame him – they were clearly trying to iso Blatche and it took FOREVER to get setup (thanks Boykins) and I gotta say, the Wiz were just watching Blatche work rather than cutting around and trying to get Blatche options to pass – Nick Young was probably the worst offender. That said, I’m not sure if Blatche would have passed. One of the worst moves in basketball is to rule out all options, and it seems thats what Blatche did.
The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.
I don’t think this is a situation that you “blame” this guy for this loss. He’s doing what he needs to do in a lost season to get better for the future. That’s exactly what we want him to do. He needs a lot of work. Any time he’s double teamed he is lost. He needs more muscle so he’s not pushed around. But he’s learning from it.
Did he take and miss bad shots? Yes. But that is his job right now. Boykins on the other hand has no excuse. That was a terrible shot by him.
In 1987 Kobe Bryant shot an airball at the buzzer in game 5 of their playoff series against the Jazz. Then in OT he shot 3 more 3-point airballs. Game over. Series over. Season over. But he sure did grow up some from that experience. That’s where Blatche is right now. Bad shots don’t bother me at this point as long as the effort is there.
I can't really get with this line of thinking
Its like a QB throwing for 400 yards and 5 td’s but then throws a pick 6 at the end of the game and his team loses. Can you really blame the QB?
This is 7 day dray we are talking about. A guy a year ago that would lose games with his goofy antics on the court but now he keeps us in them till the very last play. I guess lambasting him for his performance last night is really in a way progress for him.
by ccrun1800 on Mar 31, 2010 2:34 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
well said
i mean, he’s got so little help, he’s really new to being THE single offensive option on the team. this is not to say that he didn’t f-up a little. but he took shots i think because he thought the team needed him to, not because he was simply trying to get his.
he’ll learn, and hopefully have better players around him next year, who don’t stop moving when he gets the ball!
"how ironic - you came here with a mouse in a bottle, now YOU are the mouse in the bottle" - B.M. Smith
by little stevie colter on Mar 31, 2010 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Mike you should be disappointed at yourself.
This is heresy.
If you did not see the game last night Blatche was not selfish in any way or form. He was the only reason we were in the game. He was completely shut off in the fourth and Boykins decided to try and play Gilbert Arenas and we lost.
You want to know who was selfish Boykins and Miller. Miller was stone cold and refused to shoot the ball, denying Singleton, Young, and Blatche the ball at moments. The offense should have continued to move the ball toward Young and Blatche or anybody for that case but that didnt happen. This post to me is utter garbage, I cant believe someone is trying to blame Batche for the way he played last night, it was inspired to say the least. At point he drove to the rim and resembled Arenas, everything that happened was good. Boykins trying to be Agent 0 and Mike Miller missing 3 pt shot after another after another, refusing to pass the ball to Singleton, Ross, or Nick Young now thats something to discuss in a post.
I should be disappointed for ... poaching the topic?
The whole point of this site is to share opinions and discuss things like this, so … uhh … yeah.
Thanks for your opinion though – it’s why I open threads like these.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Yeah I feel you Mike. Maybe I need to watch it again. But I was extremely involved and engaged in the game paying attention. It seemed to me that Blatche filled the numbers all the way through then was shut down by some new guy who came in from Houston’s bench. Defensively Blatche didnt get good looks. However, I think it was a lack of ball movement. In the 3rd-4th, Mike Miller continously shot the ball horidly even Buck was like wow Mike Miller cant make a shot. Boykins just completely shuts any chance of winning a game when he comes in. He comes in at the fourth and just shuts down everything by killing ball movement, dribbling the ball, and shooting shots, trying to be a hero himself. The first and second quarters with Livingston were absolutly amazing every shot was assisted.
I understand the post Mike, but please try and watch the game if you havent and get back to me as to what you think. i am curious as to if you agree. Either I was happy with the game if we can find a way to get Boykins out the image, we had an awesome assisting, ball-moving, machine in the 1st and 2nd. Oberto did well in the 1st I thought too.
Dude, I didn't put an opinion out there
I linked to others. I honestly don’t plan on putting an opinion out there on this issue because I don’t think it’s always necessary.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
For the record ...
Blatche worked hard to get closer to the basket and take decent shots when he was against Jordan Hill or Luis Scola … for the most part.
But when Chuck Hayes was on him, he got out muscled …. and it was ugly. Instead of getting tougher and perhaps finding ways to draw fouls on Hayes’ aggressive defense, he turned to making bad decisions and firing really, really bad shots.
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NICK didn’t touch the ball but once in the 4th quarter and you blame him, i do blame him for getting 4 fouls taking himself out of the game. if he’s going to show what he can he has to stay in the game.
straight talk
by Mae.jude@yahoo.com on Mar 31, 2010 2:57 PM EDT reply actions
Who blamed him? Not me, I said the offense needed to be ran through Young, Blatche and anybody other than the cold Miller and awful Boykins.
Because when it counted Blatche did not have the BALL.ALL.THE.TIME. he was more IGNORED. as well as Young, Singleton, Ross, and anybody else on the team. Last quarter was the missed shot show hosted by Miller & Boykins.
Offense doesn’t run through Young. It runs into him and stops there. Goes no further.
by MR on Mar 31, 2010 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
One of the best statements I’ve read all season.
by purpleonblack86 on Mar 31, 2010 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions
lol. You saying he has no defense?
Regardless of whos running what, the story of the loss last night does not have to do with Blatche and thats for damn sure if you watched it.
You have got to click the reply button
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Point is
Blatche is trying to do it all. I wouldnt put much blame on him because the roster is spread thin. Even still, Mike Miller was at times a number 1 option with Memphis and Minny, though they still lost, number one is number one. He should step up and take some of the scoring load off of Blatche. It looks like he’s pressing or forcing it because his teammates are incapable of making (or in Miller’s case most nights, TAKING!!!) a shot. Those who have played organized ball know how it is when you have no faith in your teammates
+1
I haven’t been watching that many games lately and to see Miller jacking up those shots was surprising.
by purpleonblack86 on Mar 31, 2010 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Blatche
I mean let’s be real here….you guys say he blew the game, well isn’t that the point right now?! I mean we want to pass Golden State for 3rd worst record and you are complaining because we didn’t win last night’s game?! Honestly, shouldn’t we be praising for Blatche missing those two shots down the stretch and you guys say he takes bad shots…if you have watched he has proven that he has the ability to make the shots he’s taking(especially when his feet are set his jump shot is wet)..i think our main worries right now are deciding who to keep for next year’s roster and another thing, if we are going to complain about awful shots let’s blame BOYKINS and MCGEE for horrible shots…these two are the worst shot takers(sometimes boykins makes some good plays but overall he makes more bad plays than good plays and mcgee, all he can do is dunk and block shots, his shot selection may be the worst I have ever seen in a long time and he plays no defense at all) and last of all for Blatche, he SHOULD be taking 25 shots a game with the players on this team, he has proved he can be a scorer…
If we lose out
then we will tie the NBA record for the longest losing streak which is 24 and held by our beloved Traveliers. I am surprised that this isn’t getting more press I mean if this isn’t tanking then what is?
i know wall is going to be good and all
but there’s no Duncan, James or even Durant in this draft (at least not one who is obvious at this point). so tanking to such an extreme cannot be intentional. the collateral damage to fans, players and team is too high. they just suck.
"how ironic - you came here with a mouse in a bottle, now YOU are the mouse in the bottle" - B.M. Smith
by little stevie colter on Mar 31, 2010 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions
There's a difference
between the team losing games and “improving” its chances in the draft lottery, and an individual player not showing the type of improvement needed to help the team in the future. I guess it’s okay for the Wizards to keep losing games, but Blatche needs to show better shot selection for when the team needs him to help them win games.
Ridiculous Upside, where developing talent and winning are not mutually exclusive.
yeah
i agree Andray played a bit selfishly down the stretch yesterday
but Earl the Squirrel Boykins was a lot worse.
These writers are stupid
You can’t complain about his overall performance if he made 13 of 23. You just can’t. Its impossible to say he took bad shots when he shot such a high percentage
So, Truth
Where was your “selfish” criticism of Blatche last game when he had 7 assists……
Since he’s become a starter, Blatche has averaged over 21 points, 8.5 rebounds, almost 2.5 assists, and about 1 block per game. It think those stats compares favorably to the last Power Forward we had on the team; EXCEPT for the assists – which are higher than the last black hole we had here….
Now, in addition to the Offensive production, Blatche also brings at least a little defensive ability to the court – again, in stark contrast to the previous team captain and professed “leader” of this losing squad.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
I said yes
But really it was only at the end of the game that he tried to do too much. Honestly, not a big deal. He’s still young and learning how to play in the clutch is new for him — he’s been on the bench most of his career. Put some guys around him who can ball and get him some experience and I think he’ll be fine.
Getting buckets since 2003.
by Icantfeelmyface on Mar 31, 2010 10:34 PM EDT reply actions
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