Washington Wizards to Bench Andray Blatche Until He’s in Shape

The Andray Blatche nightmare in Washington continues to roll along. Blatche will not put on a Wizards uniform until the team determines that he’s in good enough shape to do so. Per the WaPo: “After watching Andray Blatche labor through the past nine games and struggle to contribute, Wizards Coach Randy Wittman announced on Tuesday that he would shut down the 6-foot-11 forward until he is in better condition. Blatche missed more than a month with a strained left calf but has averaged just 5.1 points on 37.7 percent shooting and 3.3 rebounds in about 16 minutes since he returned. […] ‘We thought we could maybe try to play him into shape once he got back,’ Wittman said. ‘After looking at it, it’s unfair for me to put him in that position. and I think what we’re going to do, we’re going to probably not play him for a while, get him on a program here, where he can really go after it from a conditioning standpoint to get himself back into shape. It’s not fair for me to do that to the kid.’ Blatche is averaging just 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds, the only time in his career that his statistics haven’t improved from the previous season. The Wizards were 3-6 since he came back and tried unsuccessfully to move Blatche at the trade deadline, finding no takers. He still has three years and $23 million remaining on his contract after this season.”