Life Lessons Come at a Price to High

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It was getting late last Sunday night, and Andray Blatche, the Washington Wizards' rookie forward, was getting sleepy. He couldn't call it a night, though, until he picked up the phone in his Memphis hotel room and spoke to his mother, Angela Oliver.

"Ma, you forgot to call," Blatche said. "I just wanted you to know that I'm going to bed."

Oliver could only smile at the other end of the phone because it was the first time since Sept. 25 -- the night Blatche was shot in an attempted carjacking -- that she hadn't called her son to say, "Good night." Every morning, Oliver said, she calls Blatche to make sure he eats his breakfast and is ready for practice. And every night, she makes sure her baby is safe.

"People tell me I'm being overprotective, but they haven't been in my shoes," Oliver said in a phone interview from her home in Greenville, S.C. "I almost lost him. I guess I'll be an overprotective mother, then."

None of the eight high school players selected in last summer's NBA draft had a more turbulent start to his career than Blatche, whose hoop dreams -- and life -- were almost halted. After a night spent partying at the nightclub H20 in Southwest Washington with a few friends, including teammate Peter John Ramos, Blatche nearly became a homicide victim when he was shot during the wee hours of the night after two masked men reportedly followed him in a van, approached his car near his home in Alexandria and shot him. The case remains unsolved and the two men are believed to still be at large.

"It was a crazy experience. It was an experience I will never forget. It was a wake-up call, I mean, for my life," he said. "That just shows God has a plan for everybody. I'm still on the earth for a reason. I still have things to do, a life to live. God gave me a second chance and I'm really going to try to use it to the fullest."

'I'm Just More Cautious'

Blatche has already learned some valuable lessons about whom to trust, when to leave a precarious situation and how to police himself. In addition to staying in constant contact with his mother, Blatche adheres to a self-imposed curfew (around midnight) and limits his hangouts to his condo in Alexandria, a movie theater and a nearby bowling alley.

"I haven't changed. I'm just more cautious," he said. "I think before I go somewhere or do something. If I feel it's an unsecured place, I don't go. If I'm at a spot that in 20 or 30 minutes something bad is going to happen, I leave once I think something is going to happen."

He admits that he couldn't get into most clubs even if he tried. "After the shooting, most clubs know my age. They won't let me in," the 19-year-old said, smiling. "If I could change anything, I wouldn't have been at that club. I would've stayed in the house if I knew things had gone down like that. I was just at a bad place at the wrong time."

He knows that shiny jewelry combined with his gangly, 6-foot-11 frame made him an easy target. The $50,000 diamond-encrusted platinum chain Blatche wore around his neck that night remains hidden in his closet, out of sight. He said the only jewelry he might wear are his diamond earrings and the diamond-encrusted watch he has worn a couple of times since the incident. Other than that, "I have no use for them," Blatche said.

"I know I messed up coming into a different city, it was a real big city. I was out there going to clubs looking flashy. That was my mistake. But I learned from that," said Blatche, who had already survived some of the roughest neighborhoods in Syracuse, N.Y. "I was targeted ever since I was in high school. Syracuse is not that big and I was the hottest thing in the streets. I always tried not to put myself in that predicament to get caught. I never went out because I was too young. I went to the movies or went to the house. I was always in a safe environment."

Oliver said she tried to prepare her son for Washington. "He was ready for D.C. but D.C. was a little too much for him," she said. "He loves it now." Oliver considered moving to Washington herself. "But I can't take [the] traffic. It's awful," Oliver said, laughing.

She moved to South Carolina in July. "I wanted him to have a place that he can come in the offseasons and know it's home," she said. "He can get peace of mind, have a place to go and that's mama's house."

Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said NBA players have to be careful when they are out in public. "Let's be honest, this is a day and age when there are a lot of people who don't have it, and a lot of people are going to do anything possible to get it the quick way," said Jamison, who admits to being robbed twice. "I can't go down the street wearing jewelry. You have to watch your back when you're in the streets because people know you have money."

Gilbert Arenas was the first teammate to visit Blatche at the hospital shortly after the shooting. Arenas shared with Blatche a similar story about how he noticed a strange car following him one night but sped off before anything happened.

When Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan, a native of Washington, first heard about the shooting, he said: "A lot of thoughts came up in my head. I lived these streets. I was brought up in these streets, and I'll leave that at that, but I was just hoping he would come out okay."

Blatche has no problem rolling up his sleeve and lifting his sweat shirt to reveal the four dime-size, eggplant-colored scars that remain on his body after he was shot. He explains how the bullet passed through his right forearm, through the inside of his wrist, through his left pectoral -- just an inch from his heart -- and finally out of the left side of his ribcage. And how, to this day, he still cannot remember feeling the bullet enter his chest.

Blatche even chuckles because his teammates playfully call him "50 Cent," referring to the rapper who was reportedly shot nine times, and jokes that he may give 50 a call one day to record a hip-hop album.

But this was not how Blatche wanted to be remembered when he decided to become one of the last teenagers to skip college to pursue his dreams in the NBA. "That really bothers me," Blatche said recently. "When I go in the store and they won't know me as the Washington Wizards rookie. They probably say, 'That's the rookie that got shot.' That's what most people know me by."

'It's Been Real Hard'

The attempted thieves didn't take his life or walk away with his car or jewelry, but Blatche said he thinks they did take away what could have been a promising rookie campaign.

He missed almost six weeks of action, including training camp, when roster spots are often determined. When he finally arrived for practice, Blatche wasn't in playing shape and has yet to fully gain the endurance and conditioning needed to handle the rigors of a full season. To aid him, the Wizards sent Blatche down to the NBA Development League, a place Blatche wouldn't wish upon anyone. He averaged 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in six games for the Roanoke Dazzle, but playing on a team with players on their own individual agendas "added aggravation on top of aggravation," Blatche said.

Oliver said she is impressed with the way Blatche has handled sitting on the bench for the veteran-laden Wizards, but Blatche said the shooting has forced him to be more mature and more patient. "It's been real hard. I try not to let it show," he said.

His mother said it was difficult to watch the NBA Rookie Challenge game on television with her son when Blatche came to visit her during the all-star break. "You have a lot of anger because you say, 'My son was supposed to be there,' " Oliver said. "It's just really sad that you have these type of people who can just shatter somebody's dream and life in a second for something immaterial, that if they have a dream, they can go out and get themselves."

Blatche is the second player the Wizards have drafted out of high school, but as the 49th pick out of South Kent (Conn.) Prep, he didn't come with nearly the same expectations as Kwame Brown, who was selected by then-team president Michael Jordan in 2001. "I don't even think you can even compare the two," Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld said. "One obviously was the number one pick, with the most tremendous amount of pressure that anyone would have to go through. But [Blatche] puts pressure on himself because he's a very competitive person and he has a lot of pride and he wants to be as good as he can be. If he continues to work at that level he's working at and continues to have patience, the rewards will be there for him."

Blatche has learned to rely on his teammates more for assistance. Veteran guard Antonio Daniels has invited Blatche to the weight room before games and makes sure that the rookie stays away from fast food restaurants and doesn't raid the cookies and candy bars on the team's private plane. "I don't let him have snacks. None of that," Daniels said. "I try to look out for him."

Jamison, who believes Blatche has the potential to be an all-star, has tried to keep Blatche's spirits up about not playing much with encouraging words. "This guy has the tools to be something special. The difference is, is he going to work on it?" Jamison said. "I told him, 'The next two or three years, they should be talking about getting rid of my [butt] and giving it to you.' That's just being honest. He has the talent. It's up to him to make something special out of himself."

Blatche said he will try. "God gave me a chance to turn my life around," he said. "That incident helped me out. It kept me out of the night life and helped me focus on my job."can't take [the] traffic. It's awful," Oliver said, laughing.</div>

This kid, along with Ronny Turiaf, is becoming one of my favorite players--fast. He has a new found love for his life, and it's great to see his teammates supporting him.

When the Wizards drafted him, I knew he was going to be something special. He is so versatile and can effect the game so many different ways, but then he was shot. It's amazing the bullet missed his heart by only inches.

I also like the fact that Arenas was the first to visit him in the hospital, that shows that Arenas is maturing and living up to his newfound role of team captain.

And then there is the quotes by Jamison, a proven player in this league and an all-star. If he thinks Blatche has the ability to be an all-star, you know this kid is going to be one.

Hopefully Blatche can get over this incident, which he will because he is very strong minded, and prove to everyone in this league that he is going to be an amazing player. I hope he also proves to Washington fans that he isn't a Kwame Brown, he has work ethic.

Looking at the future with Arenas, Blatche, and Butler is a very, very exciting thing for us Washington fans. That could turn into one very deadly trio with Arenas running the show, scoring, dishing, and being the clutch kid that he is. Butler being a strong slasher and finisher, and Blatche being an overall versatile stud.

Blatche, along with Ronny Turiaf, have both had horrible rookie campaigns because of the harsh realities of life, and both are looking to be impact players for their team.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6022801833.html

 

I suggest you guys read this article, it's an amazing story.