Washington Wizards: What the Wizards Should Do with Andray Blatche
With the amnesty clause deadline approaching on July 17, the Wizards must make up their minds in regards to Andray Blatche. Blatche is the last remaining player from the negative culture the Wizards experienced the last few years.
Washington has a few options on what to do with Blatche. They could amnesty him, where they essentially would pay Blatche not to play on the team, but the payment would not count against the salary cap.
They could pay him his contract and force him to stay away from the team or they could pay his salary and hope that he returns to form in the next year.
The last option is a trade and, according to David Aldridge on NBA.com, there are some options out there, but the question is whether the Wizards would want to receive any of these players.
""The Pistons and Bobcats have expressed some interest. But the Wizards are not at the moment interested in taking back big contracts like Tyrus Thomas (from Charlotte) or Charlie Villanueva (from Detroit) in exchange for Blatche."
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Many fans are looking to get Blatche out of the locker room, as he was a distraction to the team last season. Blatche played in only 25 games in 2011-12 and was removed from the lineup on March 18. In the next few days Blatche learned that he would not return to the lineup even when healthy because of his poor conditioning.
At the point, amnestying Blatche seems to be the most logical move for the Wizards. Keeping him would only add an extra distraction to the locker room that the Wizards are trying to move past.
Trading him would get rid of his contract, but anyone they receive in return for Blatche would have their own set of problems. Tyrus Thomas and Charlie Villanueva both have large contracts of their own and while Villanueva could add scoring from the small forward position, the risk may not be worth it.
Keeping him is out of the question at this point, so I would rather see him amnestied or traded. If no other trade options present themselves I would like to see Blatche amnestied by Washington.
