Nets reportedly met with Blatche
As the San Antonio Spurs’ 2012 training camp is now less than a month away, the team has yet to add any depth to its thin frontcourt consisting of Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, Matt Bonner, and DeJuan Blair.
Over the past month, the Spurs have been linked to free agent big man Andray Blatche formerly of the Washington Wizards. As of today, Blatche is still on the open market, but a report says that the Brooklyn Nets might be interested in signing Blatche, as former Spur and current Nets head coach Avery Johnson reportedly went to Houston over the weekend to meet the big man.
What’s even more interesting regarding Blatche and the Nets is that before the reports broke that the Nets were interested in Blatche, he himself tweeted something very peculiar.
I'm up and ready for this workout a Lil nervous tho
— andray blatche (@drayblatche) September 1, 2012
If the meeting or workout did indeed happen, it’s unknown if the Nets offered Blatche any sort of deal, but for those Spurs fans wanting the silver and black to take a chance on Blatche, the Nets might have the upper hand right now as they have taken the initial first step in the pursuit of Blatche.
Wherever Andray signs, he will be starting at the PF or C position by the 20th game of the season. Guys who played against him know what a talent he is. Pop seems like the kind of coach who will play whoever he believes will prove to be best...and Dray will be that man.
@TomD1753 I appreciate your positivity, but I guarantee AB would not be starting in SA by game 20. Spurs actually have a system to learn unlike wiz, and pops would make AB earn everything he got.
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As a DC native and ardent Andray Blatche fan, I'm hoping that he decides to sign with the Spurs.
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I'm just not understanding why the Spurs are not aggressively trying to sign Blatche. He would fulfill a need, and we could help resurrect his career. Also, we KNOW that Blatche can play at an NBA level. We have some Summer League invitees that may grow as players, but they are a bigger risk to sign than Blatche. The Spurs don't need anybody to become a great team; we need to add players to help make us champions again.
@jaws3 Reason why wiz paid him 20+ MILLION JUST to go away and why NO ONE claimed him off waivers, and STILL no one has signed him is because....he was involved in a carjacking and shot in his rookie year,he was fined 10k by the wiz for participating with arenas in the finger guns incident after Gilbert was caught with guns in locker room, he famously threw an on court hissyfit when he was 1 rebound shy of a trip double and one of his own teammates rebounded a ball that Blatche wanted..lol, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDzRvZcFn48&feature=player_embedded in 2012 the wiz(at the time one of the worst teams in nba) benched him for being too fat, On August 2, 2007, Blatche was charged with sexual solicitation in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. after allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover police officer, Blatche was arrested on June 4, 2008, in Virginia on charges of reckless driving and driving on a suspended license for the third time. Blatche was linked to far too many clubs during his time in D.C. The most infamous, of course, was the South Florida nightspot that listed him as a host for “Lapdance Tuesday.” Arenas later told local blogger Kyle Weidie that some teammates had cut up Blatche’s suit, and Blatche assumed it was Arenas, so he then threw all Arenas’s clothes in the Jacuzzi, so Arenas retaliated. Coach Saunders once benched him for not playing good defense, Blatche then REFUSED to go back in game even after coaches asked him to THREE times http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5023170 “We had coaches go up to him three different times, they said he didn’t want to play,” Flip Saunders said. “Fifteen years, never seen anything like it.”
Starting the first home game of what would be his final season in Washington, Blatche grabbed the mic and said “This is your captain, Andray Blatche.”
By the end of the night, he was complaining about his role.
“You can’t keep having me pick and pop and shooting jumpshots,” he said then. “Gimme the ball in the paint. That’s where I’m most effective at. I’ve been saying that since training camp.”
This speaks for itself http://www.andrayblatchesucks.com/
My fingers are tired now so I will leave it at that..lol
@jaws3 I hate to do it, but heres some more Blatche lowlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24cWpiIjoc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlgNTaEtMYo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-lhQibVia8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTsy_I64b54
All in good fun
Ever heard of monetary consideratiions? You are correct. The Spurs are being careful where they place their $. Too careful I venture to say so. So "aggressive" is too strong a word for them. They would rather recruit a "never heard of " player like Terry, Carter, Butch or Wilkerson who may come in cheap. I'm sure Mr. "you know who" would not agree. But it's a fact. Despite Mr. "you know who's" denial he himself would like the Spurs to gamble on Blatche. You maybe right, Blatche has the necessary credentials to show that he can play at nba level. Doubtless, they need a guy with his ceiling and bulk. Regardless of what Mr. "you know who" says that Blatche is selfish, lazy, cancerous and bad influence, the Spurs need a guy like him. Here's something, whether or not Mr. "you kow who" believes, Blatche may come in better than Bonner or Blair or even Splitter. They took the risk on Bonner who can't stand in front of whoever he is guarding, they took the risk on Blair who has no ACL I think in his knees, and took a gamble on Splitter who does not know how a perimeter shoot is made. You are right how blind the Spurs are relatve to Blatche. There must be something in him that scares the Spurs. Like you, I wonder why, what!
I think Blatche is a good gamble for a year contract or two. The team that gets him is getting a player that wants to prove himself. He is a big dude that can put up big numbers when he wants to. In an environment that is caustic he didn't survive, but I think he can do well with a good team. And as far as his schenannigans, if you were a young kid that suddenly became a millionaire wouldn't you do some crazy stuff too? I know I would...
Of course, the Nets may have the upperhand. Ask our friend "you know who" who seems to know all. He says the Spurs should gamble on Blatche despite what he says to be a selfish, lazy, cancerous and bad influence guy.Full of contradictions nd even him can't understand himself. KUNCKLEHEAD! Well, as I said, Blatche was (maybe) a square peg in a round hole playing with wizards. He may fit in another team like the Spurs who have a credible coaching staff. But, with in the workout with the Nets, he might be taken in and the Spurs may have lost a valuable asset.
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@rtesoro440 LOL wow Im really in your empty head aren't I rt.. AGAIN, I said if he took a non guaranteed deal at the minimum, I would give him a try. If he sucked or proved to STILL be a bonehead, Spurs could cut him right then..no loss.NOTHING contradictory here junior..YES, I said those things about Blatche, because I, unlike you, KNEW about most of his transgressions that gave him his TERRIBLE rep, and if you read my comment above that clearly PROVES I was right, maybe you would FINALLY get why he's still unsigned by ANYONE. As I said before, I think Spurs are his best shot at redeeming himself because we have superior coaching, CLASS vet players, a city that doesnt have many distractions, and media is less daunting here than many cities. You can keep spouting off your Spurs dont spend money conspiracy theories all you want, but as I said before, if it was JUST $ considerations, wouldn't some team that YOU think DOES spend lots of money have taken him by now? And AGAIN, WIZ ARE ALREADY PAYING HIM MILLIONS JUST TO GO AWAY, SO HE DOESNT EVEN NEED TO ASK FOR BIG $ TO PLAY THIS YEAR!! And, HE WOULDNT GET BIG $ ANYWHERE ANYWAY!! Even NJ has already said if they offer him a deal its NON GUARANTEED. AND Blatche himself has already said he would even go to D League! Any idea what D Leaguers make? lol
Long story short, if Spurs choose NOT to give him a shot its for ONE reason..actually its about 40 reasons, and they all make Blatche look BAD and the exact OPPOSITE of what the Spurs want in their players.
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@Spursfan66 @rtesoro440 I'm in agreement with you that Blatche should be given a shot by the Spurs. We could help each other. I distinctly remember the Spurs twice trying to acquire JR Smith, whose mental make-up has always been a hindrance to his talent translating into all-star caliber.
It's amazing to me how so many "bad" players happen belong to teams with pathetic FO management and/or weak coaching. The Wizards fit the pathetic category. What are they grooming John Wall to be? How come JaVale McGhee never took off there? A quality player like Rashard Lewis went there and became worse.
I think that Blatche is likely to perform better at his next NBA stop. I'd only skip on him if he either had a repeat offense this off-season or reported to workouts out of shape, which would tell me that he was not serious about staying in the NBA.
@spursfan80 @jaws3 @rtesoro440 lol you and me both..that might be fun (and may be depressing lol) Im with you on a likely move coming. I just think its more likely to happen either from camp to opener or farther into season near deadline. I have a feeling now that Spurs actually want to see if DJB made some improvement and stays slimmer into the season. But as I said before, I expect little to no improvement and his trade before deadline.
I still see Spurs as a lock for at least 2nd round in POs as we are right now. But I think we do need an athletic big even if hes only a defender to get to wcf/finals..and Im not sold on LA being an instant juggernaut.
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@Spursfan66 @jaws3 @rtesoro440 How I'd like to be a fly on the wall during the Spurs FO meetings.As fans of our team, we always look for ways on how we would improve it. We all think we need another big to round out our roster. It looks like that Patterson trade was just a rumor/dead, or still possibly in negotiations. I still think that a trade may still happen before everything is said and done. If not we still have one of the best teams in the league. Honestly, our guys health is more of a concern to me than picking up another big. Can everyone (except Manu) make it two seasons in a row without any injuries more serious than being old.
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@jaws3 @rtesoro440 Ya, wall will probably leave as soon as he can too. Its going to take a while for wiz to recover from the arenas/blatche debacle.
It wouldnt take much for Blatche to do better than he did last year. lol He REALLY needs a stable team/locker room and respected and tough coach like pops. This will be his 8 th year already I think, so he's running out of time imo. I kind of suspected that Spurs might be waiting to hear from J Lucas on how Blatche was doing this summer before they approached him (IF they are considering him at all) We just need to temper expectations though, because all of us Sours fans that know anything, know Spurs don't generally even look at players with that kind of history. They learned a lesson from the Rodman ordeal, and have seemed to avoid players like that since. We shall see.
