Mavs going after Andray Blatche?

[big3bigD]

This would be a decent pickup for Dallas. Young Talented big man that they can develop,

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizar...ue_update.html

Wizards Insider
Stevenson deal done, Wiz SL team drops to 0-3

First, the news of the night: the Wizards and free agent shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson have agreed to a four-year, $15 million contract. Stevenson will hold a player option for the fourth year. The offer has been in place for several days and Stevenson has been mulling his options. By late Friday night, free agent guards like Morris Peterson (New Orleans Hornets) and Steve Blake (Portland) had agreed to deals and the market was pretty much set.

Stevenson had been hoping for more money - perhaps another $3 million - but in the end, the Wiz offer was the best that was going to be out there. From a pure basketball perspective, it's a deal that works out for both sides. Stevenson got a nice bump after playing for less than $1 million last season and he'll have a player option in four years that will allow him the chance to go out get another contract or make another $3.7 million or so with the WIz.

For the Wiz, signing Stevenson means keeping last season's core together - a core that had the best record in the East shortly before the All Star break before injuries hit - with the knowledge that Andray Blatche, Oleksiy Pecherov, a healthy Darius Songaila and rookies Nick Young and Dominic McGuire will add to a potentially strong bench.

The contract terms will also help the salary-cap tight Wiz retain restricted free agent Andray Blatche and still be able to use the by-annual exception for a guy like Calvin Booth.

The summer leaguers dropped to 0-3 with a 74-69 loss to Houston tonight. The good news was that Pecherov busted out with a very strong game. He got off to a nice start, was active on the boards all night and finished with 26 points on 11 of 21 shooting with 14 rebounds. Young added 14 points on five of 14 shooting but the summer Wiz continued their trend of playing well in the first half only to lose steam in the fourth quarter. They led by 17 points in the first half but were outscored 32-14 in the third and couldn't finish at the end.

Wes Unseld Jr. went with a different lineup tonight: Aaron Miles and Brian Chase started in the backcourt, Dominic McGuire and Pecherov opened at forward and Kyle Visser again started at center. For the second straight game, Miles played a solid all-around floor game. He finished with six points and eight assists with no turnovers in just under 32 minutes.

- I had a chance to chat with Coach Eddie Jordan briefly before the game and he said he plans on speaking with Lionel Hollins about the team's open assistant coach position soon. Hollins last coached on the staff with Memphis.

-Nothing really new to report on the Juan Carlos Navarro front but it's almost a certainty that the Wiz won't sign him now that Stevenson is in the fold. The latest is out of Memphis where Navarro's fellow Spainard, Pau Gasol, said that he wants Navarro in a Grizz uniform next season. I did hear one rumor that I haven't been able to confirm. It goes like this: Memphis was (or is) willing to make a deal that would bring Navarro's rights to Elvis-town along with Brendan Haywood. According to the rumor, however, Ernie wanted to package Etan Thomas and his contract in the deal instead of Brendan. It wasn't clear which player the Wiz would take back but I would assume it was Stromile Swift, who has one year remaining on his deal. Again, file that one in the rumor department.

- Tonight, a little birdie told me that Dallas is one team that might jump out with an offer for Blatche. That makes some sense because I read a report out of Dallas a few weeks back stating that Blatche would be a possible target for the Mavs if other options fell through. Stay tuned.

[big3bigD]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071302032.html

By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 14, 2007; Page E01

LAS VEGAS, July 13 --
Blatche Connection?

It's doubtful that Wizards fans could identify Detroit Pistons forward Amir Johnson without a game program but Johnson's decision to sign a four-year, $12 million pact with the Pistons on Thursday could impact Washington's negotiations with it's own third-year forward, Andray Blatche.

Here is why: like the 6-foot-9 Johnson, the 6-foot-11 Blatche was taken in the second-round of the 2005 draft after skipping college. Johnson came out of Westchester high school in Los Angeles while Blatche spent one year at South Kent Prep in Connecticut.

Both players are raw but talented young big men with versatility and limited NBA experience though Blatche has seen far more action than Johnson. Johnson has appeared in 11 games with the Pistons while Blatche has played 85 games with 13 starts.

And like Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, who said keeping Johnson was his focus after re-signing Chauncey Billups, Grunfeld has made it clear that retaining Stevenson and Blatche were his main summer priorities.

According to a league source, the Wizards have made a preliminary offer to Blatche but that offer wasn't close to the one signed by Johnson this week. Because Blatche is a restricted free agent, Grunfeld could simply wait and see what offers come Blatche's way and if Blatche signs, Grunfeld would have seven days to decide whether or not to match.

[big3bigD]

Blatche Discussions With Washington Ongoing
July 16, 2007 - 7:08 pm
Christopher Reina/RealGM -

Eric Fleisher, agent for Andray Blatche, confirmed that he has indeed had conversations with the Dallas Mavericks about his client. Blatche is a restricted free agent and is widely expected to remain with Washington.

Blatche, who was drafted by the Wizards in the second round of the 2005 draft, has seen limited actions during his first two season in the NBA. He averaged 12.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per 40 minutes last season.

Now that DeShawn Stevenson has re-signed with the Wizards, some expect the club to speed up the process with Blatche, though Fleisher disagrees.

"I've had conversations with (the Wizards) straight through," said Fleisher.

As is typically his policy, Fleisher declined to comment on which other teams he has spoken to in regards to Blatche, though he did acknowledge that he has had talks with several other clubs

[AFBlue]

Read on ESPN.com's rumor page about Dallas' interest in Blatche and it stated that they might be willing to go full MLE for this kid!

Dallas loading up on more bigs that prefer to play the perimeter I see....

This kid was billed as a KG type, but I don't know if he's worth MLE dollars, as raw as he is.

[BUMP]

they might be willing to go full MLE for this kid!

i hope you're kidding.

i saw him play in Washington when their team was decimated with injuries and to be honest, i forgot who he was until i read this thread.

we'll see, hopefully the FO knows more than i do

[monosylab1k]

give me AIDS

[Findog]

He's a project, and from what I've been reading, a pretty promising one at the age of 21. Never seen him play. As long as they don't give him their full MLE, I'm fine with bringing him aboard.

[monosylab1k]

He's a project

so is Pops, Mbenga, Barea, Fazekas, Ager, Reyshawn Terry, and to a small extent Diop. We really don't need another one. We need somebody proven who can come in and do something right now.

[dallaskd]

so is Pops, Mbenga, Barea, Fazekas, Ager, Reyshawn Terry, and to a small extent Diop. We really don't need another one. We need somebody proven who can come in and do something right now.

Mbenga will never develop into something. Hes what, 27 now? Get Real.

[dallaskd]

sign Posey

[monosylab1k]

Mbenga will never develop into something. Hes what, 27 now? Get Real.

time for the fake "Mbenga retires from the league cuz he sucks" article.

[Findog]

so is Pops, Mbenga, Barea, Fazekas, Ager, Reyshawn Terry, and to a small extent Diop. We really don't need another one. We need somebody proven who can come in and do something right now.

Barea I think has a job on the roster as the third PG. Diop I don't see as a project at all. At the very least, he's a solid rotation guy. Fazekas I wouldn't be surprised to see spend much of the year in FTW or wherever the our D-League team is located. Ager I would like to see get Stack's minutes in November and December to audition for a more meaningful role in the spring.

Everything I've read about the Blatche guy is that he's got a lot of upside and was set back by getting shot in some after-hours incident. If it's for the LLE, why not? There's not really any open spots on the 12 man roster, I don't mind renouncing the rights to Mbenga to take a shot on this Blatche guy.