Andray Blatche is out 3-5 weeks with a strained left calf muscle, Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman announced prior to tonight’s game. In the locker room a couple hours before facing the Chicago Bulls, John Wall spoke with the media about life, for the time being, without ‘Dray.

Q: How do you replace Blatche’s points?

WALL: “Look for Jan [Vesely], Book [Trevor Booker], Kevin [Seraphin], and each of those guys to step up in that role and play the four position… Just do the best they can. We’re not telling them to be ‘Dray [Blatche], but just be the player they is and do the right thing to help us out. You’re going to lose a lot of points from ‘Dray, but you can bring out the assets on the defensive end with the other guys. So they can still help us.”

Q: How does the offense change without the skill set Blatche provides as a big man?

WALL: “Just basically try to get them the ball in situations where you know they excel at. Don’t try to put them in the same situations that you put ‘Dray in, and shooting 19, 17-foot jump shots. You try to get them close to the basket where they can penetrate and kind of find guys at the free-throw line area where they feel more comfortable at.”

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I have a confession to make: I have booed Andray Blatche. I’m not proud of it, but it happened.

It was a Friday night, and the Washington Wizards, coming off an improbable 105-102 win over the Kevin Durant and the Thunder, were hosting the Denver Nuggets. Having won just two games all year, the wretched Wizards were good for a cheap punchline or two every few hours. But they weren’t just the butt of jokes; all-knowing pundits smelled blood in the water and gnashed their teeth in response — even those who had previously supported the Wizards.

“So they don’t have that much talent,” said a presumably well-layered Michael Wilbon on the Scott Van Pelt Show; the very same Wilbon who once maintained the Wizards were on the right track to march deep into the playoffs.

“They have less talent than any team in the league by that measure,” Wilbon continued. “And they do the dumbest things night after night. We can’t even go into it. I mean, it is the Wizards, so at some point you have to say OK, you’re talking about the Wizards. People have stories, opposing players have stories, the assistant coaches have stories. I mean, there are stories about the DUMB things they do.”

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This won’t be any easier for you than it is for us.

What you are about to read is a hypothetical conversation between a representative of the player personnel management of the Washington Wizards and of the San Antonio Spurs. Those representatives could be Ernie Grunfeld and R.C. Burford, they could be anyone. Their roles are, however, played by Kyle Weidie of Truth About It.net and Tim Varner of TrueHoop Spurs blog 48 Minutes of Hell. Their conversation is about Andray Blatche.

MONDAY, JANUARY 16

[The Spurs are currently 9-3, having beaten the Phoenix Suns at home by 11 on Sunday; the Wizards are 1-11, having lost to the Philadelphia for the second time in a row on Saturday.]

SAN ANTONIO, 10 AM:

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[Andray Blatche takes a pre-game shot before facing the Celtics. - photo: K. Weidie]

Before today’s game, I asked Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers about what differences he’s seen in this Wizards team now from when they played the Celtics on New Year’s Day in Washington and the next day in Boston:

“The last three games they’ve play with a better spirit, quite honestly. You watch them and sometimes it just jumps off the screen. You can watch teams and their body language is better, they’re playing the right way, they’re running, they’re playing with a spirit, they’re playing with each other. It’s obvious over the last three games, watching them play. They’re moving the ball… They were the King of the Ball Stoppers.

“You know, this is the way Flip has always coached, and you can see it now. They’re actually listening and doing what probably — I know — he’s asked them to do since he’s been here. I don’t know what has prompted it, but they’re doing it.”

Doc was asked about handling the Wizards bigs, and specifically about saying last time in D.C. (for a game on New Year’s Day) that he hoped New Year’s Eve would take care of JaVale McGee:

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Home fans didn’t even let Andray Blatche take the floor, miss a long jumper or two, before they started booing him last night. They let loose on him during pre-game introductions and just about whenever he touched the ball in the early going. Blatche missed a 21-foot jumper 22 seconds into the game,  a 19-foot jumper about two minutes later. Relentless. And after a bumbling travelling violation midway through the first quarter, Blatche saw Trevor Booker waiting to check in and started sulking toward the bench. Problem was, Flip Saunders was sending Booker in for McGee instead. Keep playing 7-Day, was the presumed message.

When asked if Blatche earned the “moans and groans” of the crowd, Saunders said, “I’m sure he did, but I give him credit because he played through it.” Sometimes to success, sometimes not. Midway through the second quarter after a steal, Blatche found himself all alone on the break. No off-the-backboard dunking like JaVale McGee, but rather, simply a barely made layup.

“If ‘Dray would have missed that layup…” jokingly chimed in Nick Young several times while Blatche, with an uncontrolled sheepish grin himself, was giving his post game interview with the media, the ability to be laid back about the whole scene thanks to a 105-102 Wizards win.

Blatche didn’t make his first jumper until the third quarter, one that brought the Wizards within six points at 59-53. Fans barely knew how to react… pre-packaged cheers were muted by surprised golf claps. But 7-Day Dray got an ‘atta boy’ from his coach in the way he battled against bruising Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins. No one knows if the boos motivated Blatche to 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four turnovers, two steals, and one block in 34 tough minutes back in the starting lineup. Or maybe it was a Marine.

“We had a General come in… a Sergeant Major came in and talked to our team yesterday for about 40 minutes,” said Saunders in his post-game presser. “Just about team and what it was being in the Marines and those type of things, and having to trust your other teammates,” the coach continued. ”One of the things they brought up is when you get somebody that’s slumping, it’s your responsibility as leaders of the team — that’s everybody in the group — to help lift that guy up. Because if you don’t lift him up, he’ll destroy the team.”

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An unusual post-game locker room indeed, after a big 105-102 Washington Wizards win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night at the Verizon Center. It was a release of coping amongst players relieved to exhale their goofiness, or at least some smiles in front of media pixel vultures. There was talk of swagger, trust, playing with no fear, and giving people the ball when they’re open. Nick Young enjoyed the sounds of ‘swish’ as much as lauding in the fact that Kevin Durant put up an airball against his defense.

It was doing the little things, the young Wizards realized. But John Wall, without hesitation, pointed out that they were still 2-12. And the much-maligned Andray Blatche? His message was simple: “I’m still here,” (why? stay tuned for part two) as he jokingly patted himself on the shoulder/back for hitting a 30-foot three-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to bring the Wizards within four points going into the final stanza.

The Wizards said WHAT? This is what they said… Pt. 1 featuring Flip Saunders, John Wall, Nick Young, Andray Blatche, Jordan Crawford, JaVale McGee and Roger Mason…

{Andray Goaltends a Free-Throw, of course.}

Andray Blatche is a human centipede of wicked pixels.

Sure, he does things like goaltend free-throws… a plumb stupid mistake. However, his continued laziness is hard to ignore. It’s also hard to ignore the stated goals of toughness that Ted Leonsis keeps touting during the Wizards’ rebuilding process, and how Blatche is the antithesis of those goals. With a presence so counterintuitive to Leonsis’ vision, Blatche has rendered meaningless previous pixels of support from the franchise owner.

When it comes to Blatche, everyone from team management to coaches is all talk, no action, much like Blatche himself. Until otherwise, they are all peas in a pod, reflected in the murky waters of Blatche’s vastly inconsistent play. But wicked pixels that form words from the typing fingers of someone in the web world only goes so far. Video solidifies these points, so let’s watch some video.

Not sure how long the Wizards will allow John Wall to tolerate someone like Blatche running with him on the break… Or maybe it’s just that Orlando’s Ryan Anderson is a very intimidating guy. Either way, no guy Blatche’s size, no NBA power forward, no man who claims to want the ball more in the paint should ever pull up softly on the break like in the video below. Do you need me to say that this is not tough? Well, it isn’t. This happens in the first minute of last night’s contest.

John Wall gets blocked by Dwight Howard on the break. You know who is there to clean up the mess with a tiny feather? Why, it’s Andray Blatche with a scoop shot around guard Jason Richardson that misses. I’M NBA POWER FORWARD WHO WANT BALL IN PAINT! This happens in the second minute of last night’s contest.

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The Night After The Wizards 2011-12 Season Opener:

The Day After The Night:

Andray Blatche just can’t help himself, literally, figuratively, and ways in between.

After the Wizards grabbing the mic to announce to a much-less-than-capacity Verizon Center crowd over the P.A. system:

“How y’all doing? This is your captain, Andray Blatche. On behalf of myself, my teammates, the whole Washington Wizards organization, we want to say we strongly appreciate y’all sticking around all summer. It’s been a long summer, and it’s a shortened season, but it’s going to be tough. And we’re going to need you guys, the best fans in the NBA, to be our sixth man. So in other words, let’s get this season started.”

Fairly good intentions (“best fans in the NBA” jokes aside; Blatche gets booed a lot by the paltry home crowds). Look, no one can question that Blatche is trying. He just doesn’t know how to try. So he continues to fall on his face while the franchise constantly running to defend him keeps looking silly in the process. After all, Ted Leonsis has only doled out one multi-year free agent contract in his brief tenure as team owner, to Blatche. This, of course, amongst other positive pixel puffery.

After the game, Blatche was equally putting on a show. He implored, to the media, mind you, that he wanted the ball more in the post.

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The Wizards season-to-be just got a bit morbid.

“I told my teammates: I’m willing to give y’all 100-percent out of me every game. I’m willing to die for this,” said Andray Blatche at Wizards Media Day on Thursday.

So it’s here we sit: 7-Day Dray, heading into his seventh NBA season, and caught somewhere between 50-Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ movie from 2005 (that’s almost always guaranteed to be on basic cable during random late-nights), and, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” of The Princess Bride fame.

Exciting, isn’t it? Or wait, is it ominous?

Because right now, although he’s contracted for just under $30 million over the next four seasons, Blatche’s career teeters between life support and resurrection.

But all is not dire if you ask team owner Ted Leonsis, at least when it comes to his expectations surrounding this 66-game season.

“I’m more concerned with process right now than output,” said Leonsis. “Although, we’re here to win,” the owner concluded.

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Andray Blatche pounded his chest as he strutted off the practice court at training camp Wednesday evening, mean mugging and dripping with sweat.

“That’s one, that’s one, Dray,” shouted assistant coach Gene Banks from under one of the main baskets. “You’ve got one more!”

Banks was overseeing a heavyweight battle between Blatche and second-year bruiser Kevin Seraphin, and tried to persuade him to run it back for a best-of-three series. Blatche, unconvinced, waved a flippant hand in the direction of his coach before proclaiming, “I won. I just won. Gosh!”

It was surprising to see from a player who has reportedly stepped into a leadership role. To be fair to Blatche, however, he definitely got the better of Seraphin, and the scene described above was probably nothing more than an unflattering training camp snapshot. Surely, it can’t be indicative of his approach to the 2011-12 season; not when trainers, players and coaches are all singing the same tune — the big guy is poised to have a breakout season. And yet I wonder: are we still watching the Blatche of Christmas past?

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Talk is cheap, and perhaps so is reading. And in retrospect, all the electronic pixels and printed typeface in the world can be just as meaningless as spoken words, as they pertain to future promises and the game of basketball.

Thus, people will readily point out that this is at least the fourth consecutive year of corner-turning expectations for Andray Blatche. Some have given up on him. Some continue to have hope. What’s evident is that he might finally break through toward a specific destination of achievement, or he won’t.

In his post lockout press conference, Washington Wizards coach Flip Saunders mentioned that he and team VP of basketball administration Tommy Sheppard gave Blatche a book on leadership this summer, before the lockout. When asked about that book at training camp this past weekend, Blatche could neither remember the book’s title, nor much of the leadership advice it offered.

“I only read like half of it, because after a while, it was like, ‘OK, alright, I got the message,’” Blatche said with a sheepish grin on his face. He went on to talk about the standards of leading by example and making those around him better. This piggy-backed words from Blatche reflecting that he now has become tired of not being a leader, tired of being on a team more known for goofiness, and tired of playing losing basketball.

“Playing around haven’t gotten us no where,” Blatche said. “All the games is out. I’m 25-years old now, this is my seventh year in the league. This is my time for me to step up and try to have guys follow me on the path I want to go. And the path I want to go is winning… just the total opposite of last season.”

For what it’s worth, Saunders couldn’t remember the title of the book either.

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This is just an Andray Blatche workout. Well, part of one, which took place on December 2, 2011 (as seen after Flip Saunders’ press conference). Nothing much to infer here. It is, just a glimpse…

I will say, as I wrote on Twitter, after seeing Andray for the first time in person from the top of the stairs looking down upon the Wizards practice court, where he and a gang of guys went through a contest of “Can you score?” (in two dribbles or less)… that I thought his physique looked more proportional, which is a good thing.

Saunders was asked on Friday about the likelihood of players around the league not being in shape when they show up to camp. “You’re never in the shape you need to be in,” said Saunders. “No matter how good of shape you are in, when the coach get here, you’re going to say ‘I’m about half in shape that I thought I was going to be in.’ That’s just always how it is.”

Can I say Blatche is more ready than he’s ever been? Not with complete confidence, as my historical perspective on the state of ‘pre-season’ Blatche is limited. Can I say that I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in real games against real competition? That answer would be certainly. Good thing for Wizards and NBA fans alike, the season will be here before we know it.

The truth of the matter is that no one really knows when or where the NBA Playoffs or “Play Offs” starts. Hell, it might even, oddly enough, begin with the league’s official Twitter account, @NBA, announcing the ‘symbolic’ cancellation of 43 preseason games IN ALL CAPS today.

It’s just so hard to tell.

Rumor has it that a locked-out Washington Wizard, Andray Blatche, recently discovered the commencement of playoff aspiration at a small, obscure gym in Clarksville, Maryland. However, Truth About It.net has learned, according to unnamed sources which do not exist, that the path to the post-season actually started long ago. Once again, we turn to technology to tell the story of how the Washington Wizards are preparing to “play off.”

Off of what? Well, that’s still a mystery.

First of all … who says the playoffs has to start in Clarksville, Maryland? Why not where Andray Blatche has been training all summer, South Beach Miami? Remember in Rocky IV when Ivan Drago trained with scientists while Rocky chopped wood in Siberia? Well this could be the exact opposite of that. Read more »

Links, commentary, fodder, beef…

Andray Blatche had himself a chat on ESPN.com Wednesday. Normally, would that even happen? Doubt it. The assumption is that this is more the doing of him deciding to re-acquire an agent this summer. Now that power-agent Andy Miller is on the scene — clients of his include: Trevor Booker, Kevin Garnett, Jared Jeffries, Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups, Brendan Haywood, Roger Mason Jr., Andre Miller, Michael Ruffin, Sebastian Telfair, Antonio McDyess, etc., etc. — Blatche is hitting the circuit of pumped positivity. And thus here we are.

Anyhow, nothing provocative or ground-breaking in his chat; it totally fits within the norms of prosaic NBA player media & PR fare. The highlights include: when asked about how his roll [sic in a very Ledell Eackles kind of way] has changed over his years with the team, he chats about, “listening to guys like Antawn, Brandon, Caron” … which actually got me very close to seeing if a “Brandon” ever played for the Wizards on Basketball-Reference.com before realizing that he was talking about Brendan Haywood.

Quick flashback: in January, Blatche said this:

“When I do lift, I’m the type of person, I don’t see results at all. I mean, I tried everything, man. I got a chef so I could start getting as healthy as I could eat. I don’t know what it is, man. I’m trying.”

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Commentary, links, a picture, a photoshop, etc…

[This was one of my favorite pictures that I took at Capital Punishment back in August;
James Harden drawing a late-game shooting foul against DeMarcus Cousins.]

> Of course…

Andray Blatche has a coloring and activity book, of course, images of which via Bullets Forever‘s Mike Prada — It’s for the kids and all. At the DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has noticed that Blatche is très muscular in the renderings. Here’s an example:

> Using technology, DNA samples, sheep-cloning etiquette, and vodka, we were able to bring a page from Andray Blatche’s coloring book to real life…

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