Andray Blatche on Why He’s Been ‘Terrible’

Flip Saunders didn’t mince words when it came to his big fella’s play last night, so Blatche called into a radio station to defend himself, and tried to explain what’s wrong with the Wizards (some of it, according to Andray, is the lack of true fan support.) SB Nation has the quotes:  “Always I give 100 percent effort.  I’m the person that nobody ever says ‘Well, this is what’s bothering Dray today.’ Nobody knows that I’m sick. Nobody knows that my shoulder is really messed up. Nobody knows that my knee really is bothering me. Nobody is paying attention to what’s wrong with me. Everybody just cares about, well, ‘Why is he playing so bad?’ There’s a reason why people play bad.’ … He did start to get annoyed when presented with the fans’ criticism of his effort. In fact, that caused him to share a conversation he had with Gilbert Arenas, in which the mercurial, divisive outgoing star told him ‘You’re next.’ ‘We had a discussion, and this is what he said to me. ‘Just as fast as they turned on me, it’s going to happen to you.’ I took it as a joke, but I actually see what he’s talking about. Everybody is looking for someone to blame, and I feel like I’m turning into that person just like Gil.’ … which then led him to defend his effort again. ‘If you come to any of the home games or road games, you can see. I don’t know what you watch on TV, but I give it my all. I try to give it my all. I don’t go out there and play lackadaisical.’ … which led to the natural crescendo: Blatche extolling his philosophy on how fans of a team should conduct themselves. He expressed frustration with fans who were happy about his performance last season, but have changed their minds this season. ‘If you’re a Wizards fan, that means you cheer for everybody. That doesn’t mean you’ll come to a game and you shout ‘Trade him!’ If you’re part of a Wizards organization fan group, that means you cheer for the team.'”