 | Rights: None | Last Sal.: $.00M |
| Agent: Supe | Exp: 7-9 years | |
| FA Tier: 1 | Age: 37 | |
| FBPPG: | Inj: No Injury | |
| Desired Salary: Between $1.54M and $28.26M | ||
| Contract Status: UFA - Unclaimed Free Agent | ||
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Andray Blatche is not expected to return to the NBA after signing a record three-year deal with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. David Pick on Twitter The Scoop:Blatche's deal is worth a guaranteed $7.5 million over three seasons, which is a longer-term deal that he could expect if he rehabilitated his career in the NBA next season. Whether we'll see him again state-side is doubtful: Stephon Marbury, for instance, has earned multiple Finals MVP awards in the Chinese Basketball Association since leaving the NBA, rejuvenating a career which might otherwise have ended with a thud. Mar 23 12:00 ET - | ||||||||
| Trans. Apr 17 7:00 ET Philadelphia 76ers: Nick Young "Swaggy P" was known early on as a part of the dysfunctional Washington Wizards teams that included JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche and post-peak Gilbert Arenas. But Young overcame that reputation and established himself as a prolific, if inconsistent, volume scorer for 12 seasons, most notably with the Lakers. The Scoop: None. Apr 17 7:00 ET |
| Trans. Aug 9 3:20 ET Emeka averaged 9.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 2013-14. When it was announced that Emeka Okafor would sit the entire 2013-14 season due to a herniated disc, it was mostly assumed that the former No. 2 overall pick would eventually make his way back to the NBA in time. As it stands, Okafor hasn’t played an NBA game since tossing in four points and collecting two boards in nearly ten minutes of action in Washington’s five point loss to an Andray Blatche-starting Brooklyn Nets team on April 15, 2013. The Scoop: None. Aug 9 3:20 ET |
| Trans. May 4 8:00 ET Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry's struggles are no secret at this point in the NBA Playoffs. Miracle buzzer beater be damned, Lowry has been bad through eight playoff games. Historically bad. As our own Dan Devine noted in his extensive recap of Toronto's 102-96 overtime Game 1 loss to the Miami Heat, the All-Star's 3-for-13 effort on Tuesday night compounds a 30.6 percent playoff shooting performance that marks the worst since San Francisco Warriors forward Wayne Hightower in 1963-64. Even Lowry, casting pride aside, concedes this. “It sucks that I'm playing this bad when all eyes are on me because I know I'm way better than this,” Lowry told reporters in the aftermath . “So I've got to pick this s--- up." [ Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball] He's doing that the only way he knows how, shooting into the wee hours of the morning to find a solution. Kyle Lowry, right now pic.twitter.com/zwRrKcUAb5 — Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 4, 2016 It's 1 a.m. and that's Kyle Lowry. #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/I2iT8TXtLV — Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) May 4, 2016 But as Lowry himself acknowledged, "I shoot the ball well when I'm by myself. It's a big difference when you're by yourself than when you've got 10 guys out there." Bigger still when Hassan Whiteside's Mhuresanian wingspan looms even if Lowry beats willing Heat defenders Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow — all of whom Erik Spoelstra threw at him — off the dribble. Looking back, Lowry's shot selection was a hodgepodge of contested long jumpers, off-balance albeit open 3-point tries, running lobs before he ever got to the paint and forced attempts to beat the clock. It was a mess. A wild long 2 with Dragic nearby and that halfcourt miracle made up two of his three makes. It's been 15 games since his last effective shooting night in a playoff victory — a 36-point effort against the Brooklyn Nets on April 30, 2014 — and his shot selection wasn't all that different. Lowry just made a whole lot of contested long 2's and off-balance 3's in an 11-for-19 performance that included 6-of-9 shooting from 3. The one marked difference was his willingness to attack the basket, which speaks to his confidence opposite a paint protected by Andray Blatche and Mirza Teletovic rather than Whiteside. As simplified as it might sound, we might have to consider that Lowry is a generously listed 6-foot point guard who may not be as effective in the playoffs, when defenses are better, their intensity is higher and game plans are specifically designed to stop the other team's All-Star performers. We now have a 32-game sample size, and he's shooting 34.4 percent in his playoff career. Only Bob Cousy (34.2 percent) was a worse shooter among guards with that much postseason experience. Again, it's been 50 years. The lone time Lowry even entered the paint for an attempt in Game 1 against Miami came midway through the fourth quarter, when he was working off the ball in a lineup that featured fellow guards Cory Joseph and DeMar DeRozan, along with wing DeMarre Carroll and big man Jonas Valanciunas. That's when Lowry beat the rookie Richardson backdoor for a crafty layup. So, is that a way to get him going? Even then, though, Whiteside was on the sidelines, and Udonis Haslem was playing a 1:34 stretch of his five-plus ineffective minutes in the frontcourt. If Lowry can't do damage at the rim, where he shot 56 percent on four attempts and got to the free throw line 6.4 times a game during the regular season (down to two tries at the rim and 4.9 free throws per game in the playoffs), we're left with the simplest of solutions: Kyle Lowry needs to shoot better. That also happens to be the most difficult problem to solve. After all, Lowry is making just 32 percent of his shots in the playoffs when the closest defender is four-plus feet away from him. He shot 42 percent from 3-point range in those scenarios in the regular season. Likewise, he was incredibly effective on catch-and-shoot opportunities during the regular season, converting 46.3 percent of 281 3-point attempts in such scenarios, and lineups featuring Lowry and fellow point guard Cory Joseph outscored opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions over 74 games. That's certainly something Dwane Casey could try, since those lineups are still outscoring the Charlotte Hornets and Heat by 7.1 points per 100 possessions in eight playoff games, despite Lowry shooting just 3-of-23 on catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts this postseason. Just imagine if he ever gets it going. That had to be all Lowry was doing when he was alone with a ball in Air Canada Centre at 1:30 a.m. - - - - - - - Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don't Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach The Scoop: None. May 4 8:00 ET |
| Trans. Feb 18 6:06 ET As the Washington Wizards prepare to welcome a new mercurial power forward into their midst, it feels only right that we check in with a Ghost of Wizmas Past. [ Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball] Andray Blatche, a longtime Wizard who last played in the NBA in 2014 with the Brooklyn Nets, has spent the last two seasons with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, helping lead them to the No. 2 seed in the current CBA playoffs and a matchup with Stephon Marbury's Beijing Ducks in the first round. During the second quarter of Game 2 of their matchup, Blatche appeared to get walloped on the way to the basket, but didn't get the benefit of the whistle from the referee. This displeased the man who brought us Lapdance Tuesday , and he communicated as much through the international language of headband-throwing. That, of course, will get you a technical foul in just about any league in any land, and it earned Blatche one in this instance, too. Blatche, however, would regain his composure and take out his frustrations on the Ducks in the second half. He scored 16 points in the third quarter to lead Xinjiang back and helped propel them to a 104-101 win that gave them a 2-0 lead over the defending CBA champion Ducks. Blatche has dominated Beijing, rolling up 76 points, 29 rebounds, 10 assists and six steals through the first two games of the series, continuing a stellar season and bringing the Flying Tigers within one game of advancing to the second round. One can only hope that if Blatche is able to lead Xinjiang to a title, like Marbury before him, Chinese fans will erect a statue in his honor ... and that that statue depicts Blatche throwing a headband at an official, in an act demonstrating his unbridled passion for fair play and justice. Hat-tip to HoopsHype . More NBA coverage: - - - - - - - Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YourManDevine Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL , "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more. The Scoop: None. Feb 18 6:06 ET |
