I might be exploring this topic further before the season, but nobody is more important to the current and future success of this franchise than Andray Blatche. John Wall is obviously the catalyst and the face of the franchise, but we know he's going to be awesome at some point in the near future. Gilbert Arenas is the biggest question mark in the eyes of many, but at 28, Arenas doesn't fit this team's future timeline. No, it's Blatche that both simultaneously determines the success of this season and the path of the future.
Luckily, Blatche can answer both those questions at once with a strong season. His preseason has not been a good sign, mostly because he continues to work his way back from a foot injury. Blatche looked out of rhythm and, if we're honest, out of shape, the latter of which he sort of confirmed at different points. He must learn how to apply whatever he did to break out late last season to this mix of players, which is very different than the mix that surrounded him last season. If he can figure out how to do that, Blatche suddenly becomes the team's best scorer in the present and one of its major building blocks in the future. If he cannot? Good question.
Will he make that jump this year? As always, predict as much or as little as you'd like.
- Games played
- Points per game
- Rebounds per game
- Assists per game
- Free-throw attempts per game
- Field goal percentage
- Three-point percentage
- Free-throw percentage
- True shooting percentage
- Turnover ratio
- Usage rate
- PER