Boo this man?

As many (wicked) pixels about Andray Blatche that I have written and produced, I wasn’t exactly comfortable with hearing him booed Friday night as the Wizards handled the Brooklyn Nets in every way possible on the basketball court. And I was especially uneasy about the “An-dray Sucks!” chants at the end of the game. Just a little. It was all too evident from my position behind the television screen. Imagine if the Verizon Center were more fully attended. (If you can believe team-reported attendance figures—the biggest farce in professional sports—the VC was 96.6 percent full on Friday night.)

But of course, there I was. Happy to see “Baltche” miss dunks, even if the carnage did make me want to avert my eyes. Almost. There I was, content to see Blatche miss free throws (four in a row at one point late in the third quarter). There’s just something about Blatche being Blatche. Still, it’s hard to digest the comfort food via the guy who, almost purposely, never fulfilled his potential doing the same deeds as a Wizard.

The topic of booing Blatche became fodder for Saturday morning conversation with the future wifey. I suddenly found myself on the side of defending the boos.

“It’s sports.” “It comes with the territory of getting paid millions.” “Life—competition—needs villains.”

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“Yea, I got the braces done too … this season, everything is new. Everything is going to be fresh. Everything is going to be more exciting. You know, it will be good this year.”
—Andray Blatche, September 2009

[Don't call us, we won't call you. - photo via Adam McGinnis]

Under Avery Johnson’s coaching, Brooklyn stood at 14-14. Since he was fired in late-December, they are 15-6 under new coach P.J. Carlesimo, but they have lost four of their last seven—two on the road to Memphis and Houston and two at home to Orlando and the L.A. Lakers. Currently tied with the Bulls for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn can’t afford to falter against the Wizards tonight… before facing San Antonio, before going on the road to play the Pacers on Monday, before a hot Denver Nuggets team comes to the BK next Wednesday, and before the league heads into the All-Star break after that.

The Prince of Party has played a slightly diminished role under new leadership, removing the luster from those ready to anoint Blatche as the NBA’s Most Improved Player a quarter into the season. In his 21 games during the Carlesimo era, Blatche is playing 3.4 less minutes, taking 1.9 less shots, pulling down 1.1 less rebounds, and scoring 2.4 less points. All negligible, perhaps.

In consideration of the entire season, Blatche has spent 956 minutes on the court for the Nets over 49 games, and 1,421 minutes off the court. When Blatche rides the bench, Brooklyn shoots the ball 2.7 percent better, tallies 3.1 more assists, turns the ball over 1.5 times less, commits 2.5 less fouls, and scores four points more per 48 minutes.

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Andray Blatche is doing good things in Brooklyn. So good that trolling the Wizards is easy. So good that he knows exactly when he will be ready to talk about a new contract.

We’re all too familiar with the fact that the Washington Wizards used the amnesty provision on Blatche this past summer. That no other NBA team made a full, or even partial, waiver claim on his contract. That Blatche signed with the Brooklyn Nets for a one-year, non-guaranteed deal worth about $850,000. That the Wizards are essentially on the hook for the remainder of Blatche’s amnestied contract, about $23 million over three years. Essentially.

So about the new contract that Blatche might want due to his good play with the Nets? Well, it’s too early to talk about all of it, he says. But, there will be a good time to discuss. We’ll let the New York Daily News take it away:

In an interview with the Daily News, the Nets center said he’d like to re-sign as a free agent next summer but understandably couldn’t commit to anything so early in the season.

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The Washington Wizards suck. No getting around that. They suck so bad that toward the end of Monday night’s loss, as the San Antonio Spurs wound down a 26-point lead, fans yelled for the defending Wizards to foul. Yes, Verizon Center faithful, those who had not yet headed for the hills, wanted the Spurs to shoot free throws. Why? So fans could have a chance to boo those free throws into misses; so they could potentially win free chicken sandwiches if a Spur missed both.

And then there’s Andray Blatche. Ted Leonsis and Ernie Grunfeld once had the idea of constructing a bridge to nowhere when they rewarded Blatche with a contract extension in 2010. Blatche returned the favor with lazy basketball and an unmotivated existence. Then the Wizards amnestied him last July. Of mice and men, of Andray Blatche.

But everyone had moved on. Well-wishers have expressed hope that Blatche would turn the corner. And he has, to an extent. In 12 games with the Brooklyn Nets, Blatche is sporting a career-high PER of 20.6, which is 26th best in the NBA this season amongst those who have played at least 200 minutes. Still, the revitalized Blatche will always carry with him the stigma of the past. Because the Internets say so.

And sure, Blatche is playing well, but it’s not rare that such evaluations of his nights show up on Nets blog, The Brooklyn Game (from Nov. 23rd): Read more »

Dealing with the enigma known as Andray Blatche has been ingrained into the psyche of Wizards fans for the better part of decade. It’s an odd feeling to begin this new season without having to hope it’s the one where Blatche finally reaches his potential. Breaking free from the emotional shackles of Blatche was the main reason why Washington’s decision use the amnesty clause on him was such a popular move throughout the fan base. The toll had become too much for all parties involved and a clean break was needed.

Exercising a low-risk  financial move, the Brooklyn Nets began their attempt to rescue Blatche’s basketball career by signing him to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract in September. His rehabilitation has been dubbed “Project Zero.” Blatche has also chosen to wear the number zero on his uniform, in part to honor Gilbert Arenas, but mostly because it represents the amount of support Blatche thought he had after parting ways with the Wizards.

(Yes, it’s true. Andray is reportedly in great shape and impressing people with his positive attitude. Nets teammates and coaches have heaped praise on Blatche for his work ethic. Sound familiar?)

In twisted sports fate, Brooklyn will host their first basketball game in their new arena, the Barclays Center, versus the Wizards tonight. Arenas, “Agent Zero,” played his last game with Wizards against the Nets in New Jersey – Gilbert Areans screwed up at the end, of course, and the Wizards lost. Now, “Project Zero” officially begins in Brooklyn against team that will continue to pay him not to play for them. Ain’t that something?

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Truth About It.net will turn a whole five years old at the end of this October.

Hard to believe/interesting. Nonetheless, over the life of the site from the 2007-08 season to 2011-12, we’ve seen/lived/suffered through 131 wins, 263 losses, four coaches, two owners, one GM/team president, one Phil Chenier mustache removal, and 56 total players (amazingly, 48 players over the last three seasons).

You may have heard of ESPN’s #NBArank project, now in year two. Now hear of #WizardsRank, where we rank each of those 56 players during Truth About It.net’s five-year run.

TAI anonymously polled 27 members of the Wizards pixel establishment — from mainstream media to new media, TAI staffers included, to a few pixel consumers (readers of the site) — and got 17 responses.

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“It doesn’t really matter where you start it’s where you finish,” tweeted former Washington Wizard Andray Blatche just before 1 p.m. last Saturday. After workout with the Brooklyn Nets soon thereafter, Blatche has a new team, his second NBA team, via a minimum, one-year non-guaranteed contract.

An employment change can do wonders for some people. New, crisp shirts are purchased. A fresh haircut. Definitely a shave. Whatever else a transitional cleansing involves. When on new ground, the goal is to be extra visible to co-workers. Quickly respond to emails with a “thank you.” Buy people some coffee on a morning mission to the local shop. Don’t mind staying late.

No one necessarily knows if you were just as good at your old job, if you’re a climber, and have aspirations. Or if you hated your last boss—he was a dick. Or if you were severance packaged due to a numbers game or dwindling value. Or if you just felt it was time to move on. Or if you just plain sucked.

Except when your job is in the public eye. Even so, with the dissemination of man and woman unto social media, the lines between public figures and Joe Citizen are fading. Andray Blatche has represented the transition. He is that fading line.

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ShareBullets: things from around the web…

>> We start with a big Kevin Seraphin block versus Tunisia.

>> James Singleton is moving on; Roger Mason, too.

With the Wizards reportedly unwilling to pay anything more than the veteran’s minimum, John Singleton moving on and Roger Mason signing with the New Orleans Hornets represents cost-considered moves for the Washington franchise (see cliche phrase: “It’s a business”). In a sense, this is a disservice: not finding a way to reward the efforts of Singleton and Mason while offering some constancy to a young team. In reality, the Wizards weren’t offering much playing time. Shooting from Mason would have been nice, the same with the grit of Singleton, but with roster capacity now at 13 — and the need to see how all the new feature parts fit together first– the Wizards can afford to hold off on filling the last two available spots, per report of the Washington Post’s Michael Lee. Not retaining Mason and Singleton was not part of an ideal offseason plan for the Wiz, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t come along an inspire the team from the end of the bench just as well.

>> ESPN’s Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat are interested in Andray Blatche. Both are solid organizations and could help turn Blatche into something. Each city also drastically differs in nightlight options, which understandably could have a significant influence on the overall “Party All-Dray” experience. Blatche has for the past couple of offseasons made his home in Miami. So there’s that. San Antonio has the Riverwalk. Also:

“Everyone knows San Antonio is a great city… they do have some big ol’ women down here,” famously said Charles Barkley.

Destination Blatche: To Be Determined. Read more »

After seven seasons, 7-Day ‘Dray is no longer a Washington Wizard, cast away by means of the amnesty provision on July 17. Some are still celebrating, some are still contemplating… the TAI crew of Adam McGinnis, Sean Fagan, Dan Diamond, Rashad Mobley, and Kyle Weidie take you through an FAQ on the official departure of Andray Blatche.

Q: When did Blatche’s time with the Wizards go south? And Why?

A: Adam McGinnis (@AdamMcGinnis)

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[One of the last photos of Andray Blatche in a Wizards uniform? Credit: K. Weidie, TruthAboutIt.net]

Within the next six days, we’ll find out if 7-Day ‘Dray is here to stay. (Well, at least for another few months.)

The NBA’s summer amnesty period began yesterday and runs through July 17. Because the Wizards didn’t elect to amnesty anyone last summer, they’ve got one last chance to decide if they’re going to use it — and as the Washington Post‘s Michael Lee reports, the team is “seriously considering” parting ways with Andray Blatche’s three-year, $23 million contract. But should they?

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