Andray Blatche’s Poorly Attended Wizards Team Workouts


Andray Blatche is trying to do the right thing in his efforts to become more of a team leader, but he could only manage to convince a few of his teammates to get in the same gym to work out together during the lockout. From the WaPo: “[Head coach Flip Saunders] handed Blatche a book on leadership that helped him understand that the role doesn’t come from scoring more points or making the most money, he said, ‘but a team leader is someone who holds the team together and makes it as one.’ A few weeks later, Blatche was on the phone with his teammates, trying to organize team workouts since there was a possibility that the season wouldn’t start on time. He originally tried to get players to connect in August, but settled on September, since most start trickling into town around Labor Day. Blatche, who will enter his seventh season this fall, said he got commitments from more than half of the players on the team, but when the workouts finally began this week at Columbia Gym in Clarksville, only Hamady Ndiaye and first-round pick Chris Singleton were able to join him. Blatche didn’t get the turnout he had hoped for, since some players decided to participate in trainer Joe Abunassar’s Impact Basketball Competitive Training Series in Las Vegas this week, and others elected to work out on their own. ‘The only thing that held us back was we had half the team booked, but when the Vegas thing came up, that changed a lot of guys’ minds,’ said Blatche, who was pleased to have an opportunity to work out and bond with Ndiaye and Singleton over the past three days.”