The death of "7-day Dray"

It's as sad as it was predictable: the quick death of "7-day Dray," the hard-working, team-first alter ego of Andray Blatche, forward-center for the Washington Wizards. During the offseason Andray Blatche told everyone who would listen that he was committing himself to improving his game and becoming a solid and dependable NBA player who would be in important part of the player rotation for Flip Saunders and the Wizards. He even sounded serious about it, though we've heard similar things from him before. To reinforce his newfound seriousness about the game, Blatche even changed his number to 7, emphasizing his 7-day-a-week commitment to self-improvement.

Yeah. So much for all that. Blatche's numbers are actually down slightly from last season [minutes down by about 1 per game, points down by about 2 per game, field goal percentage slightly down] and he thinks the team is ignoring him on offense and using him as a scapegoat for their problems on and off the court. Earlier this week he was sent home when he showed up for practice and suspended for one game for conduct detrimental to the team. [He will not play tonight against the Detroit Pistons.]

On Monday Blatche took to his Facebook page to complain he doesn't get enough shots because the team doesn't run enough plays for him. He didn't take a shot in the team's most recent game, a 115-110 loss to the New Orleans Hornets. Head Coach Flip Saunders is unsympathetic, saying that big men who want more shots should grab more offensive rebounds.

"My biggest thing since coming here, I've been to four straight conference championships, I have never ever on those teams had a player ask about shots. And since I've been here, the main thing, my main focus to change is the number of players to say, 'I've got to get shots.' In Detroit for three years, I never had one player ever ask. Same thing in Minnesota. The only player I think I ever had in 14 years, was maybe Wally Szczerbiak, a few times. And Dray is one of them."

Being compared to Wally World, a shooter with no conscience who can count his career assists on one hand? Ouch. Blatche doesn't sound repentent, saying he drifts outside on offense because he doesn't get enough passes when he's in the paint and "I'm always the guy they want to make an example of" when it comes to team discipline. Apparently, Blatche snapped at the team's trainer, thinking his injuries are routinely ignored by the staff and his attitude during a time out in the Hornets game may also have cost him with his head coach.

Read it all at

http://www.dcprosportsreport.com/articles/washington-wizards/the-death-of-q7-day-drayq.html