Andray Blatche Sure Gave Us Quite A Distraction Yesterday
by Mike Prada on Dec 28, 2011 10:48 AM EST
in Team Analysis
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PrintThe Washington Wizards' season-opening loss to the New Jersey Nets on Monday was as a result of many factors. John Wall was not himself. JaVale McGee got off to a nice start, but faded in the second half and was so bad defensively and on the glass that he had to be replaced. Jordan Crawford took some bad shots. Rashard Lewis was invisible a lot. The offense as a whole screeched to a halt after the second quarter. The pick and roll defense needs work. These are all issues.
And yet, the topic of conversation yesterday was about Andray Blatche and his itchy finger on Twitter.
This is to be expected, and I'm not defending Blatche. Even if you assume that Blatche had a point about needing the ball more in the paint -- it's debatable, but we're not going there -- the manner in which he raised it was wrong. Criticisms should be kept in-house, not raised to the press when the question asked wasn't even directly about his play and definitely not in cyberspace. This is not a media criticism. When Blatche sounds off like that, it's a story, especially given the Wizards' talk about making him a leader of the team. Put simply: leaders don't do that.
But there are other, bigger issues to solve. The team's pick and roll defense as a whole needs to be fixed (great breakdown here by Truth About It). The players need to move with much more of a purpose offensively, reading the defense instead of merely executing the play. Most importantly, Wall himself has to be so much better at getting the Wizards into their sets, taking care of the ball and not leaving his big men out to dry on the pick and roll.
You could even argue that Wall should be thanking Blatche for his comments. If it weren't for them, there'd be more focus on what Wall couldn't do on Monday and hasn't done even in the preseason. Monday was Wall's third straight game with too many turnovers, missed layups and defensive breakdowns. Throw in all the missed free throws, and he just played badly. But while Blatche's shortcomings are being solved in the open, Wall, who seemed out of answers when talking to the media on Monday, can solve his issues on his own. Thanks to Blatche, the franchise player didn't get the kind of scrutiny franchise players should.
That's why Flip Saunders was smart on Tuesday to not get too caught up in the Blatche hype. Finding a way to get a win requires much more than simply getting Blatche more post touches.
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Yes. Time to move on.
Let’s prepare for the Hawks.
I'd like to see flip give a small ball lineup a try tonight
Obviously this team struggles to score the ball. Crawford and Young are probably our best pure scorers so why not try to get them in the game together but emphasize to take shots within the flow of the offense. Easier said than done I guess with those two. But vs. the hawks who play an undersized 4 in Josh Smith I’d like to see a lineup of:
1- Wall
2- Crawford
3- Young
4- Singleton
5- McGee/Blatche/Turiaff
I agree about Wall thanking Blatche
Wall was the real goat of the game and if Blatche hadn’t made an ass out of himself, there would be a lot more Wall bashing.
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That's what a great captain does...
deflects attention from his teammates’ poor performance! LOL.
Bullets fan stuck in CO.
Agree
I don’t know what to say… they talk about “new traditions” and after watching our last game and blow up a 20+ points lead just felt like the last season! I watched every wizards game last season and i already knew that we were going to lose. I think flip needs to sit and discuss with the coacnhing staff because something needs to be done! otherwise we will be heading to another “losing mentality season”. Move fast Flip!
by rigoleto1 on Dec 28, 2011 11:59 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
You don't have to give up the old traditions to start new ones
Old Tradition Sustained: Sucking.
New Tradition Begun: New uniforms!
Old Tradition Sustained: Losing games that appear to be easy wins (e.g., a terrible opponent decimated by injuries and on a back-to-back), or which seem to be “in the bag” (20+ point leads, double-digit 4th quarter leads) in amazing fashion.
New Tradition Begun: New logo!
Old Tradition Sustained: Low energy and effort in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
New Tradition Begun: Did I mention the new uniforms?
by steadyhand on Dec 28, 2011 12:35 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Is the media too quick to interpret what a player is saying?
I think the Blatche story is completely overhyped and it’s time to move on. However, sometimes the media needs to take a step back and let the player define what he’s talking about. I got a tweet right after the game saying “Blatche said he needs to get the ball in the post.” Before I could form an opinion about what Blatche meant by that statement, I get another tweet saying Blatche is calling out the coaching staff. And that’s how the story played into today.
I finally heard Blatche making those comments and it sounded as it could have been a person having some self realization that to be successful he needs to be in the post. He even said something like “being a pick and pop guy is not working for me anymore.” That could be what he was thinking.
Mike, you are correct what Blatche said is a story, however, how that story is portrayed makes all the difference.
OK, lets move onto the Hawks.
That's not really media's fault though
And I’m not sure how else you could interpret that other than that he’s criticizing the coach’s game plan.
Maybe I'm looking at the glass half-full
If he was sitting there as most have described still in uniform with his head down sounds more like a guy doing some soul searching and not angry at anyone. Plus he never said “they” need to get me…. He kept using “I need…” meaning he was thinking about what he can do to make the team better. Or I could be just hoping that Blatche wouldn’t call out his teammates like that.
I don't get how I see this so so so differently than the BF editors
I don’t see any degree of calling out anyone at all. I am so confused by this whole thing. He’s saying “we need to play harder,” “we need to make more shots,” “we need to run more.” It’s not calling anyone out; it’s what players are FORCED to say because they’re FORCED to talk to the media. I think this is much more the media’s fault than Andray’s. He was being self-critical and trying to be the “inside big man” everyone always clamors for him to be. Last year, he said he’s finese and got reamed. This year, he said he needs to play inside more and gets reamed. It’s a little absurd. Dray has been labeled a fool and nothing he does at this point can change that. For example: Dray does lapdance tuesday and gets obliterated; Jamison does it and gets…. nothing. Dray has become the easy target. He’s a young kid who skipped college; but instead of understanding, people make huge deals out of everything.
by Kenny Sky Walker on Dec 28, 2011 4:30 PM EST up reply actions
Can we trade him
Is there an veteran NBA team that we can trade Blatche to? He’s just not a good fit here. Do I need to get on the NBA Trade Machine to make this happen
by Bryan1976 on Dec 28, 2011 12:06 PM EST via Android app reply actions
That's probably the only place it's going to happen
Due to stories like this and his general rep in the league, Blatche is more or less seen as toxic. He has more value here than he could bring in a trade (we’d probably have to make sacrifices to unload him).
John Wall
I’m tired of wasting time talking about Blatche. Let me ask a question about my 2nd most frustrating Wizard. I’ve heard a couple of NBA guys say that Wall got taller. Did anyone else notice this?
by Bryan1976 on Dec 28, 2011 12:14 PM EST via Android app reply actions
Before I forget
Blatche issues 2 tweets completely overwhelms KG misses big shot, tries to choke his opponent as a news story. No disciplinary action taken by NBA of course. I’m so sick of KG’s antics and am amazed that he never gets a technical or fined.
by hotplate on Dec 28, 2011 12:31 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
NBA rules are applied on a steeply sliding scale based on popularity
Didn’t you know that already? KG does.
Blatche again selflessly drawing the attention away from other issues
Way to take the hit for everyone Dray. Leadership.
by spotless on Dec 28, 2011 2:32 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Enis Kanter
with 11 rebounds in 21 minutes (8 defensive) in his professional debut. He missed a bunch of layups and short shots close to the basket, going only 1-7, but he threw his body around against Gasol and McRoberts…
Gasol schooled the rookie a couple times, but Kanter more than held his own defensively against McRoberts; blocking one of his shots, and generally out-hustling the energetic McBob….
Point is that he didn’t look overmatched in his first NBA game – and he showed some real aggressiveness inside, grabbing some very tough defensive rebounds.
The one big negative I noticed about him – seemed completely out of character from watching him in Europe. He was very timid around the basket…. making multiple head and ball fakes… and essentially blocking his own shot by putting up soft stuff on the rim… In Europe, he was an animal around the basket – making decisive, hard aggressive moves. Rarely putting up anything soft… but rather everything was based on his strength and length.
He did get a few foul calls deep in the post, but he would have gotten more if he were more aggressive…. I think he’ll get back to his nature and we’ll see Kanter beasting around the basket soon….
I used to have super powers until my psychiatrist took them away.
did you see the block Faried had on him?
seems natural to me he’d be thinking twice right about now, this is the first time in his life he’s not physically bigger and stronger than all the guys around him. I thought he looked pretty good last night but obviously as a rookie has many adjustments to make
He looked pretty unathletic to me.
Didn’t seem to have any explosiveness, he barely got the ball to the rim a couple times. He did seem like a rebound machine though.
by ronoD nagrO on Dec 28, 2011 1:33 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
wall should NOT be thanking blatche
wall would benefit from the criticism, as he’s going to learn from it. instead he has to deal with a key member of the team whining and pouting about touches after the first game of the season. in no way is that better for wall.
by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 28, 2011 1:13 PM EST reply actions
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