This is the guy we have to get with the second pick. Just promised him to take him and maybe he will stop working out for other teams. We may have to do something and move up a couple of spots to get him like maybe giving up that second round pick and consideration.

From today's Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/16/sports/basketball/16jordan.html

Late Bloomer Is Ready to Join N.B.A. Early
By MITCH ABRAMSON

Published: April 16, 2005

Five years ago, Andray Blatche was a laughingstock as a basketball player. Today he is considered a probable first-round draft choice in the National Basketball Association.

Blatche, a 6-foot-11, 235-pound 18-year-old center from Syracuse, is playing in the national game in the Jordan Classic at 8 tonight at Madison Square Garden, something his coaches say would have been hard to imagine early in his high school days.

Blatche did not play organized basketball until he was in high school, and he was on the junior varsity until midway through his sophomore year at Henninger High in Syracuse.

Unlike wunderkinds like LeBron James and Sebastian Telfair, who were labeled prodigies almost from the moment they picked up a ball, Blatche failedmiserably at first.

"He wasn't very good as a ninth grader; I'll be honest," said Tom Atkins, his junior varsity coach. "He didn't take adversity very well. He was pretty emotional, just a tall clumsy kid who didn't know how to play the game yet - very raw."

Sensing Blatche had talent but no direction, Atkins pulled him aside and worked with him after practice. Atkins saw quick results.

By his junior year, Blatche was averaging 20 points, 20 rebounds and 7 blocks a game and was invited to the ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where the best high school players perform in front of college coaches and scouts.

Blatche, still not convinced of his own self-worth, worried he was not good enough.

"He was real nervous on the drive down," said Erik Saroney, his varsity coach. "I was trying to give him advice. I told him: 'You're as good as them. It's just that no one knows it yet.' "

Blatche proved him right, competing evenly with Telfair, Dwight Howard and Shaun Livingston, all of whom jumped to the N.B.A. the next year.

Clark Francis, a recruiting analyst with Hoopscooponline, said at the time that Blatche could have been the third player taken in the 2004 draft, after Howard and Emeka Okafor.

Instead, Blatche completed his four years at Henninger without getting a degree and enrolled at South Kent Prep in Connecticut this year to earn his diploma and work on his game.

As he ran the court last Thursday during a practice for the Jordan Classic, Blatche was a picture of cool confidence. He tossed no-look passes and launched soft jumpers in frontof N.B.A. executives like Isiah Thomas and Danny Ainge. And although he was trying to blend in, it was clear he was one of the crown jewels of the scrimmage.

"You see guys from the N.B.A. watching you, and you know they're checking you out, but you don't try and go out of your way to impress them," he said. "That's when you get into trouble."

Blatche's father, Everett, spent four years in prison on a drug possession charge. When he was released in 2003, the first request he made was to attend one of his sons' basketball practices.

"I shed tears when I saw him," Blatche said. "To see him doing so well, ah, man, you don't know how good it felt."

During senior night at Henninger High, Andray Blatche begged his coach to announce his name last because his father had not arrived from work. When he finally showed, Andray almost ran into the crowd to greet him. "That's something I will never forget," Saroney said. "The look on his face when his dad walked in was special."

Still assuming that his son was emotionally fragile, Everett challenged Andray to a game of one on one. Andray dunked on him, and Everett said he faked a knee injury to keep from getting further humiliated.

Players have until May 14 to declare for the draft and until June 21 to remove their names from contention. Blatche has relied on the advice of his prep school coach, Raphael Chillious, to help guide him through the process. Chillious counseled Dorell Wright, a former player of his who was selected last year by the Miami Heat in the first round, the 19th pick over all. After talking to N.B.A. officials, Chillious said he believed Blatche could be taken earlier than Wright was.

"I feel ready for the N.B.A.," said Blatche, who lives with his mother, Angela Oliver, and younger brother, Tre. "I know I can do what those players can do. It might take me some time to get used to the league, but I know I can play at that level. To me, this isn't a risk. It's an investment in my future."

do the rose trade.
trade next years spurs pick + cash for another one in the 18-25 range.

incorporate 5 players via this draft.

buy out penny.

man, that will change the ENTIRE dynamic of this team.

Posted by fishmike:

told ya... I had mentioned him at 30 a while ago but I doubt he will be there. No way a guy with his size slips. There are no contract issues to scare teams like there were with Lampe (who sucks anyway so far). When these teams that draft in the 20s are looking at the BPA no way he will slip to 30.

This is even more reason to revisit a TT for Jalen and Tor #1 trade however. We could definatly get a guy like this at 14-16.

I've never sen him, but for comparisons sake, the CT papers were saying that he was a poor mans Charlie V. Now I know CV is almost 7 feet and can do a lot of things with the ball. If some things were tweaked with CV, he'd probably be top 5, but realistically hes not. the only other information on the guy is from the mock drafts and people who have seen him saying he is lazy, a tweener, prefers the perimeter, shies from contact against smaller HS kids--thats what someone has to go by. It's very hard to comment or make a prediction about someone you havent seen play. Maybe he is the real deal, sounds like it, sounds like he crossed the barrier to round 1