Well, it’s the off-season. The Finals are a thing of the increasingly distant past, the NBA Draft is right on its heels, and every major player has pretty much left the free agency boards. Things are more or less set in stone with just a few loose ends needing to tied. So with this series, I’m going to just throw out some names that remain out there in the Free Agency Pool. I don’t truly believe that Sean Marks and the Brooklyn Nets brass are looking at these players, but these are players I wouldn’t mind the organization taking a chance on.
So let me get this player out the way quick, fast, and in a hurry. I would love it if Andray Blatche found his way back to Brooklyn, New York. The native-born New Yorker had his ups and downs throughout his career, but he easily had the best stretch of his career in Brooklyn, which has become somewhat of a place to resurrect your career.
You can ask D’Angelo Russell, who is gone, but not forgotten. During his tenure in Brooklyn, Blatche basically averaged 11 PPG and 5 RPG in the 20 minutes of play he was given a game. Blatche loved Brooklyn and became a fan favorite of sorts. He even wished to be brought back, but management seemed to want to go in a different direction.
What would make Andray Blatche such a key addition? Similar things to why he was a good role-playing piece with the Nets from 2012-2014. Blatche isn’t one of those bigs who can kind of dribble and then get the moniker of being able to handle the rock. He legit looks like he has the ball on a string. Plenty of times he’s used a wide array of crossovers, behind the back moves, step backs, in and out, and whatever else that was in his arsenal to create open space and attack the basket.
He’s a highly skilled big man off the dribble and is a capable passer. His time spent in the NBA wasn’t a great one from beyond the arch, but Blatche is more than capable from mid-range. His handle was good enough to shift bigs out of position and get to the rack while he had the size to still be effective in the post.
Blatche fits one of Brooklyn’s two needs. That being a legitimate power forward. While we have players who can play the 4 (Wilson Chandler, Kurucs, Nic Claxton, and maybe Prince), Blatche brings size to fit both the 4 and 5 without worrying about giving up size, weight, or experience at the position.
Blatche also brings another veteran scoring option off the bench who can be a mentor to the youth, specifically Nic Claxton. Claxton was a point guard until he had a growth spurt and aspired to be like Kevin Durant. So with a similar skill set as Claxton, Blatche can teach the youth how to better utilize his skills along with possibly showing him a few of his own tricks.
And lastly, Blatche is a goofy (and I mean this in the most respectful way possible), fun loving guy. He’s a great energy guy and that is why he was a fan favorite. He’d fit right in with Brooklyn’s fun-loving, energetic, dance-crazed bench. Him, DeAndre Jordan, and Theo Pinson would all bring laughs, smiles, and positive energy to this team.
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That’s one thing I’d love to have, our bench from 2013-14 and 2018-19 together. Nothing, but pure energy. So although Andray Blatche is probably content to finish out his career overseas and the Brooklyn Nets probably don’t have him on the radar, I for one would love to see him back in black.