<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">July 28, 2007 - 10:44 am Washington Times - According to two league sources, the Washington Wizards last night offered restricted free agent forward Andray Blatche a three-year deal worth about $11 million. Blatche was said to be mulling over the offer last night, one source said. The offer is substantially smaller than the one Blatche and his agent, Eric Fleisher, are said to be looking for. Blatche, who turns 21 next month, has had his name mentioned as a player who might possibly receive the mid-level exception, which has a starting salary of $5.35 million in the first season.</div> http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/473...l_from_wizards/ Wizards should keep this offer on the table for some time and wait to see what other the Cavs, Nets, and Mavericks offer for him. They likely won't offer a much bigger contract because many teams still consider him a project. No need to overpay Blatche until we see him recieve a bigger offer. However, it seems as though all three of those teams are pursuing different options. The Nets drafted Sean Williams then signed Jamaal Magloire but still could use an offensive big man, the Mavericks are looking at Chris Webber right now, and the Cavs I'm not sure how interested they are.
The Wizards are playing this perfect. They are letting other teams dictate Blatche's value instead of jumping the gun and overpaying for him. Most teams have already exhausted their cap space and the few remaining teams interested in Blatche won't be able to sign him on the cheap, because the Wizards will match. I'm not sure if the Mavs are interested in Webber, he's interested in them, but the Mavs haven't made any comments about signing him. The Cavs still have their own free agent to sign, Anderson Varejao, and are using the same technique to let the market dictate his vaule. The Nets are probably out of the equation after singing Magloire.
I think he'll return to washington, tbh as much as I like Blatche as he has great size and different sets of skills as a big man usually brings I don't think he should be expecting too much
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Mavs officials said they continue to pursue Chris Webber, and Webber confirmed to Slam Magazine on Thursday that he still has the Mavs on his mind. At Webber's Bada Bling charity event, the magazine asked him if he planned to re-sign with Detroit. "I don't know," Webber told the magazine. "I would love to. Right now, I'm thinking about Detroit and Dallas, so you never know." Other free agents on the Mavs' list include James Posey (Miami), P.J. Brown (Chicago), Eddie Jones (Miami), Matt Barnes (Golden State) and restricted free agent Sasha Pavlovic (Cleveland).</div> Source: Star Telegram James Posey would be a nice pickup for the Mavs.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Source: Star Telegram James Posey would be a nice pickup for the Mavs.</div> Glad to see Blatche out of the Mavericks picture, he's already started his developement in DC and Eddie will give him playing time. Blatche could really turn out to be a gem, I agree with you that the Wizards are playing this situation perfectly. Also, I love the Mavs list. They're adding nice role-player swing men who will be able to score in the offense.
<div class="quote_poster">GArenas Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Glad to see Blatche out of the Mavericks picture, he's already started his developement in DC and Eddie will give him playing time. Blatche could really turn out to be a gem, I agree with you that the Wizards are playing this situation perfectly. Also, I love the Mavs list. They're adding nice role-player swing men who will be able to score in the offense.</div> Blatche should also look a couple years down the line and realize the opportunity in Washington to become an everyday starter is more feasable than some other teams considering him. Antawn Jamison has only one year left and isn't getting any younger. Blatche would be the logical replacement for Jamison as the starting PF. The Wizards other core players, Gil and Butler are both young and play an uptempo pace Blatche can excel under. This trio could potentially emmulate the success the Nets trio had with Kidd-Jefferson-KMart when they made it in back to back Finals. I agree, Dallas list of targets is the right direction to take. The less reliance on Devean George the better. LOL.
That was a good move by Ernie Grunfeld to scare off some potential teams by saying he would match any offer. Now we have him for the right amount of money and should be able to lock him up for the next 3 years. I agree with what you said about Jamison, Shape. With Blatche's potential here on this team and Jamison aging, I wouldn't be surprised to see to see Blatche starting as soon as Jamison leaves.
The Wizards have a good amount of potential guys, if Blatche can get to his potential, Nick Young be capable of being a starter, and Opec also continues to improve, we could see a team like this 2-3 years down the road: PG: Gilbert Arenas / Antonio Daniels SG: NickYoung / Deshawn Stevenson SF: Caron Butler / Dominic McGuirre PF: Andray Blatche / Opec C: Brendan Haywood / Blatche / Opec If EJ isn't around anymore, any other coach would start Haywood and play him. I like the idea of that roster, a lot of athleticism, two nice shot blockers inside, good rebounding, and of course there's scoring. Obviously this is assuming the team can't get Jamison back for a not too big contract, and Etan Thomas is shipped away. I could even see Dominic showing himself to be better than Young and being the starting SG. With Opec, the great thing about him is that he rebounds. I think of Bargnani on the Raptors, and while he's more athletic than Opec (though Opec is fine there), and can create better, Opec is just as good a shooter, and a much superior rebounder. Add some bulk to him, and in 2-3 years he can be like an Okur without the post up ability. Him and Blatche could even be the starting big men. Anyways, out of dream land, good offer by the Wizards, I think he'll end up taking it, I don't really see anyone else going to offer much more.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">July 29, 2007 - 3:39 pm Washington Post - Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld continues to negotiate with the agent representing restricted free agent forward Andray Blatche. A team source refuted a published report that said Grunfeld has offered Blatche a three-year contract worth $11 million. Blatche, who appeared in 85 games during his first two seasons, could be looking for a deal similar to the three-year, $11 million contract recently signed by Detroit Pistons forward Amir Johnson. Both players were taken in the second round of the 2005 draft.</div> http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/473...s_with_blatche/ I'm very happy to see us nearing a contract resolution with Andray Blatche. He is a freak athlete with a ton of potential and we saw that when Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler went down at different times in the year. It's neccesaray for us to appease Blatche in every way possible.
Wizards re-sign Blatche for $15M <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Washington Wizards finished off their offseason priorities by re-signing Andray Blatche yesterday to a five-year, $15 million deal, according to a source close to the negotiations. The Wizards addressed their other offseason priority earlier this summer, when they re-signed guard DeShawn Stevenson. "Andray is a very versatile young player with a lot of upside," Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. "I see him being a rotation player and maybe down the road a starter."</div> Link No suprise here, Blatche was going to be signed sooner or later. There were no other teams willing to top the Wizards' offer.
