As expected (hoped for?), today the Wizards released Andray Blatche via the Amnesty provision in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. It brings a close to seven years of (mostly) unfulfilled promise and is another step in the right direction for the franchise. For what it's worth, below are my top 10 Andray Blatche memories, on and off the court, in chronological order.
September 26, 2005: Less than three months after being selected as the Wizards' sole pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Andray is shot in a bungled carjacking attempt while returning home from a club in Alexandria. In the car with Dray is Peter John (or Party John, if you prefer) Ramos, the Wizards second round pick from the prior year's Draft. Apparently the two got set up by two women they met at the club. This would not be the last time Andray got into trouble because of a woman.
February 20, 2007: The Wizards beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-110 at Verizon Center. Andray dominates Kevin Garnett despite KG going for 26 points and 13 boards. Yes, I said dominate; check KG's other stats that night: two travels, a palming violation and a defensive three second violation. And this was not the 36 year old Garnett we just saw in the 2012 playoffs; this was Garnett in his prime. Dray got into KG's head that night and played some awesome D. When Garnett was asked about Andray's performance after the game, he replied simply "next question." Dominated! Finally we found our power forward of the future, right? Umm...maybe not. Keep reading.
Friday, August 2, 2007: Andray is arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a female officer in the prostitution enforcement unit of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department. While Andray claims he was actually arrested for driving with a suspended license and it was his friend who was arrested for solicitation of prostitution, he is sentenced to a day long seminar for men who solicit prostitutes anyway. Dray is a restricted free agent at the time. His contract value suffers considerably as other teams stay away.
August 3, 2007: In the wake of Andray's arrest the previous day, Ivan Carter of the Washington Post relates the following story:
I'm reminded of an episode from last season. We were in Miami. Pregame. [Antawn] Jamison walks into the lockeroom fresh from a round of lifting weights and getting up extra shots. He spots Andray sitting in front of his locker stall munching down a plate of nachos and generally sporting the look of a guy getting ready to watch a game rather than play in one.
Antawn, looking down at Andray: "You have a $16 million contract already or did I miss something?"
Andray offers a blank expression but knows where this is going.
Antawn: "You came over on the second bus right? I've never come over on the second bus. I'm a vet but I always come over on the first bus, don't I?" (Translation: Teams typically roll from the team hotel to the arena in two groups. The first group usually consists of guys who want to get settled early, take extra shots when the court isn't so full and lift weights. Jamison is always on the first bus)
Andray: "I got extra shots up at shootaround."
Antawn just shook his head and started getting ready for the game.
Three years later, I talked dietary habits with some of the Wizards scouts in a bar in Las Vegas. All they had to say about Dray was that he likes to eat. No kidding.
May 5, 2008: My friend Mike and I talk Wizards over beers at 51st State in northwest DC with Ivan Carter, who was then the Washington Post Wizards beat writer. Ivan offers up the following quote about Dray: "All Andray Blatche wants to do is party and f*ck whores." Enough said.
July 14, 2009: Andray wears number 7, rather than his number 32, for the first time as a Washington Wizard in a summer league game. Dray explains "I'm wearing 7, and that means 7 days [a week] of hard work, 7 days of being focused." So before the switch, he was not focused seven days a week? You're a professional athlete, for God's sake!!!! You are supposed to be about hard work every day. You're being paid millions of dollars and season ticket holders like me are counting on you working hard. I know he's a kid, but come on!
March 11, 2010: Dan Steinberg indirectly calls me a psycho for owning an Andray Blatche jersey (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2010/03/the_end_of_agent_zero.html). Thanks, Dan! As if I didn't feel bad enough about my decision already. Although he's probably correct; I don't know what I was thinking. Note Dan also calls my friend Mike, owner of a JaVale McGee jersey, a psycho.
March 23, 2010: Andray gets into an argument with head coach Flip Saunders on the bench during a game and refuses to participate when Saunders calls for him to go back into the game. Seriously, Dray? After the game, Saunders calls out Blatche for bailing on his teammates but in a move indicative of the enabling atmosphere on the team at the time, Dray is not suspended the next game. Seriously, Flip?
May 3, 2011: Andray hosts "Lapdance Tuesday" at the Cameo nightclub in Miami. I just don't have any explanation or elaboration for this one. Just shaking my head at this point.
Obviously, there are not a lot of positive memories. And I even left out Andray being suspended for fighting with teammate JaVale McGee during the 2010-2011 season and him criticizing the play calling after the first game of the 2011-2012 season when he announced he was a team captain to the Verizon Center crowd before the game (he wasn't). I hope for his sake Dray has saved some money from his time with the Wizards. Let's move on.
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