If you ask most San Antonio Spurs fans, they’ll still tell you they wish there was another big on the roster to shore up the frontcourt.
According to the Washington Post, there is one forward/center looking for a new NBA home and his team is doing all they can to get him moved off the team.
At the start of the season, Wizards big man Andray Blatche had just come off a career season, averaging bests in points and rebounds. Blatche was even named team captain prior to the season opener, a title that was yanked away very quickly.
Blatche wanted to assume more of a leadership role this season, and the Wizards named him team captain for the opener — only to strip him of the title after he blasted Flip Saunders, the coaching staff and his teammates for failing to get him the ball in the low block after the season-opening loss to New Jersey. His play has continued to frustrate and fans have been merciless at Verizon Center, booing him every time he touches the ball or misses a fallaway jumper. The jeers have made Blatche second-guess himself at home games and pass up scoring opportunities to avoid the reaction.
The Wizards have aggressively tried to deal Blatche in advance of the March 15 trade deadline, according to multiple league sources, but struggled to find any takers. Blatche is certainly open to a change of scenery, according to a person close to him.
While the Spurs could certainly use another big body, especially one that is a year removed from averaging 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, from where I’m sitting it doesn’t seem as though Blatche is worth the risk.
While playing under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and alongside soon-to-be hall-of-famer Tim Duncan could be good for Blatche, I’ve watched him closely enough over the last few seasons to see that while Blatche has shown growth on the hardwood, he lacks even more in maturity, from his hijinx with Gilbert Arenas to blasting players and coaches.
Aside from that, Blatche also has three more years and about $24 million left on his contract after this season. While a Richard Jefferson for Blatche and Kevin Seraphin trade would work, I don’t see it happening.
I doubt Blatche would even get consideration from the Spurs front office, and gladly so. The last thing the Spurs would need late in the season or in the playoffs is a blowup by a player or chemistry issues arising.
As Blatche has taken two steps back this season, and turned 16.8 points per game to 10.3 points per game and a terrible per ranking (64th among power forwards), I am not among those that would want to see what he would do to a 24-10 team that is currently second in the Western Conference.
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