http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/4369 Recent articles about Andray Blatche en-us Everyone knows that the Washington Wizards have a lot of room for improvement on defense...but how exactly will that happen? Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:03:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/344327 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/344327 Running down the best of the Washington Wizards on the world wide web. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:19:56 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343547 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343547 What is Flip Saunders doing at training camp? Will the defense really improve? Should we panic, or be fatalistically concerned (as Bullets fans have a penchant to do) that Antawn Jamison is already "tweaking" and "straining" things? What is Gilbert Arenas learning about leadership? Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:52:32 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/341104 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/341104 After all the silliness at the 2008 Washington Wizards Media Day, one very important topic came up: the maturity and potential of Andray Blatche. Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:12:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339667 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339667 The Washington Wizards recently picked up the option on Coach Eddie Jordan's contract, extending him into 2009-2010. With the Wizards unable to make it past the second round of the playoffs under Jordan, was this a good move? Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:58:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/338047 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/338047 GILBERT ARENAS REALITY SHOW On August 19, Gilbert Arenas called into WJFK's 'Big O and Dukes' show and spoke about the possibility of his own reality show: "Ya know, it's funny. I got a — you ever seen the show, 'Rob and Big?' The producers want to do a reality show on me — the first NBA player to Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:18:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/313183 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/313183 LAST SEASON Despite losing Etan Thomas for the entire year, Gilbert Arenas for 69 games, and Caron Butler for 24 games, the Wizards still went 43-39, good enough for the 5th-best record in the East. Unfortunately, they lost to Cleveland in the 1st Round of the Playoffs for the 3rd year in a row (ouch!). OFFSEASON MOVES Key Additions: JaVale McGee Key Losses: Roger Mason Roger Mason played very well for Washington last season, making 1.6 threes per game at a nearly 40% clip. The Spurs recognized his efforts and signed him to replace Brent Barry, hurting the Wizards backcourt depth. In the draft, the Wiz picked 7-foot center JaVale McGee out of Nevada. He blocked an impressive 2.8 shots in just 27.3 minutes per game last season, but he's still quite raw and has "high bust potential" according to DraftExpress (the next Patrick O'Bryant?). ROTATION / PLAYING TIME As you all know, Washington is led by their big three of Arenas (32.6 mpg, but 39.8 the year before), Butler (39.9 mpg), and Antawn Jamison (38.8 mpg). If healthy, you can except all three to receive 38-40 minutes per game. At shooting guard, DeShawn Stevenson played 31.2 mpg, and he should see 30-32 minutes of action once again. Antonio Daniels averaged 30.4 minutes and started 63 games at PG last season, but his PT will likely fall to 20 or less if Arenas is healthy. Nick Young (15.4 mpg) and Dominic McGuire (10.0 mpg) are the backup swingmen, but both are still unproven and may not be ready to contribute big minutes just yet. In the middle, Brendan Haywood played a career-high 27.8 minutes, mainly because his teammate/nemesis Etan Thomas sat out the whole year after undergoing open heart surgery. Thankfully, Thomas is back, which means that Haywood will go back to playing 22-26 mpg. In addition to Thomas (19.2 mpg in '06-07), the Wizards have several other capable big men that they can turn to. Andray Blatche (20.4 mpg) is a talented youngster who averaged 11.5 points, 8.1 boards, 1.2 steals, and 1.9 blocks in 15 starts last season. I'd like to see what he can do with more minutes, but that probably won't happen this season unless Jamison goes down. Darius Songaila (19.4 mpg) is a proven veteran, but his minutes may drop to 16-18 this season. Washington also has the intriguing Oleksiy Pecherov (a 7-footer from Ukraine who likes to shoot threes), which simply means the rookie McGee will likely spend the season in the D-League. DON'T SLEEP ON: Gilbert Arenas Can you really sleep on someone who was a Top 7 pick in nearly every single league last season? If people are drafting based on last year's statistics, then yes. Arenas played the first 8 games of '07-08 before experiencing soreness in his left knee and sitting out most of the season. He tried to come back before the Playoffs, but he clearly wasn't 100% and his team suffered. His individual stats suffered too, as his 19.4 points, 5.1 assists, 1.7 threes, 39.8% FG, and 77.1% FT are very mediocre looking. Yes, his surgically repaired knee is still a major cause for concern, but you can't ignore the stats that Agent Zero put up in the seasons prior. In '06-07, Arenas finished 3rd in points per game, 3rd in threes, 3rd in FT attempts, 7th in steals, 16th in assists, and 24th in FT%. Gilbert was a Top 5 player in both '06-07 and '05-06, but based on last year's numbers, he could very well fall past pick #20 in some leagues. If he does, I highly recommend gambling on him. BE CAREFUL OF: Caron Butler Using per game stats, Butler was a Top 5 fantasy player last season. Unfortunately, he missed 24 games in '07-08 and 19 games in '06-07. In fact, in his 6-year career, Caron has NEVER played 80+ games in a season, which means that he'll get a very poor injury rating in my value rankings. But that's just one reason to be careful of him. "Tough Juice" set career-highs in points, assists, steals, threes made, FG%, 3P%, and FT% last season, so it's unreasonable to think that he'll improve on all of those numbers. Don't forget that Arenas missed most of last year, which gave Butler a larger role on offense and especially pumped up his assists (4.9 vs. previous high of 3.7) and 3-point attempts (3.2 vs. previous high of 1.6). Based on last year's numbers, Butler will likely be a late 1st or early 2nd round pick in most drafts this season. I still like the guy, but late 2nd or early 3rd sounds much better to be. ROUND BY ROUND TARGETS (Where you should draft these guys in an 8-cat Roto league with 12 teams and 14 man rosters) Click on the link to find out! Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:19:36 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/311791 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/311791 The 0-2 record doesn't mean much....but Wizards fans can't exactly be pleased with the "veteran" qualities that Nick Young has brought to the table in Vegas this year. We all expect him to show more experience in the summer league. Dominic McGuire had a much better game two, I continue to be impressed by Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee has some TUP. But one cannot help but be a tad concerned about the Wizards guard situation with the aforementioned Young expected to play a bigger role as a result of the departure of Roger Mason, and Dee Brown not yet showing himself worthy of the 3rd PG spot. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:12:32 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292244 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292244 The Rockets' rookie Greene exploded for 40 points in a 100-97 thriller edging the Suns, and Wilson Chandler led the Knicks with 26 points in a 97-93 win over the Cavs. Six games in all with some pretty good performances, debuts and the return of Tractor Traylor. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:11:14 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290807 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290807 The Washington Wizards got their summer league play kicked off yesterday against the Portland Trailblazers. Having what most would consider a veteran summer league team, the Wizards youth of Andray Blatche, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Dee Brown, and JaVale McGee showed glimpses of promise, but also some red flags. But hey, it's only the first summer league game. Read the game blog for thoughts on the performance. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:45:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290628 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290628 Rookies tend to get most of the hoopla during Summer League action, but the reality is that very few of them will make an immediate fantasy impact. So here are a few non-rookies to look out for. Not all of them are worth drafting, but all have the potential to put up nice numbers if they continue to improve and the opportunity presents itself. Some non-rookies who looked great in Summer League 2007 and carried that momentum into the regular season include: Louis Williams, Francisco Garcia, Kelenna Azubuike, and Jason Maxiell (all had solid fantasy value at some point last season). Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:18:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289669 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289669 Rookies tend to get most of the hoopla during Summer League action, but the reality is that very few of them will make an immediate fantasy impact. So here are a few non-rookies to look out for. Not all of them are worth drafting, but all have the potential to put up nice numbers if they continue to improve and the opportunity presents itself. Some non-rookies who looked great in Summer League 2007 and carried that momentum into the regular season include: Louis Williams, Francisco Garcia, Kelenna Azubuike, and Jason Maxiell (all had solid fantasy value at some point last season). Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:18:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289668 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289668 Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche got arrested yesterday for reckless driving and operating a vehicle with a suspended license. There's no good purpose in talking about how ridiculous Blatche's tenure in Washington D.C. has been, so I'd much rather talk about a mostly undetected phenomenon among professional athletes. Suspended licenses. Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:27:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275072 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275072 Still waiting for Andray Blatche? So am I......kids these days. One minute they are getting caught soliciting prostitutes, the next, they are dunking on fools. Will Andray Blatche ever take advantage of his talent? I think there's a good chance. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:54:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/273383 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/273383 What are the chances and possibilities involved with Elton Brand playing for the Washington Wizards? This covers a couple improbable scenarios. Fri, 16 May 2008 06:40:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/267548 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/267548