Wizards Rookie Hopes to Return Soon
By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Wizards rookie Andray Blatche, looking nervous and speaking softly, faced reporters and cameras yesterday for the first time since he was shot early on Sunday morning and said he was uncertain about when he would resume playing basketball.
Blatche, 19, said the experience left him terrified but thankful, though he said he would not discuss specifics of the incident or go into detail about where he was prior to the shooting because the matter is still under investigation.
In what police are investigating as an attempted carjacking, Blatche was shot through his right forearm and left chest near his home in Alexandria and had to taken by medevac helicopter to Inova Fairfax Hospital.
"It happened so quick, I didn't have that many thoughts," said Blatche, who was released from the hospital Tuesday. "When I first heard that I had been shot, I thought I was going to die. Then after awhile, I figured I was all right so everything was pretty cool."
Police are investigating the shooting, which occurred at 6:13 a.m. Sunday, and have yet to make an arrest. The only description of the attackers released by police is that they were two masked men who were driving a light-colored van. Blatche was a passenger in a vehicle and was riding with two friends, who have not been identified because of the ongoing investigation. Neither of Blatche's friends was hurt.
Blatche said he had learned a lesson. "Me being that young, I shouldn't have been out that late to begin with," Blatche said. "I'm just giving myself a curfew now so a lot less will take place. I'm going to stay in places where a lot of people are and I'm going to be a lot more alert. I have my mom with me and my friends, so I feel a lot more comfortable."
The Wizards have not set a timetable for Blatche's return. The team opens training camp Tuesday in Richmond and Blatche said he will be there though he won't participate.
One of the injuries Blatche suffered was to his right (shooting) forearm, and Blatche said he is not able to shoot a basketball. "Shooting, I don't know," he said. "It could be next week or next month, whenever it gets better. It'll be whatever God has planned for me."
Training camp runs through Oct. 9. The Wizards open the preseason Oct. 10 at MCI Center against Cleveland and will have seven preseason games before the regular season begins Nov. 2 at Toronto.
Blatche, who was selected in the second round of the NBA draft in June from South Kent Prep in Connecticut, was the team's lone draft pick and signed a two-year contract. The 6-foot-11 forward impressed the team during summer league play and during informal workouts against Wizards veterans in recent weeks.
Missing training camp and a significant portion of the preseason may hurt Blatche's development but the Wizards will have the option of assigning him to the team's National Basketball Development League affiliate in Roanoke.
An NBA team may assign any first- or second-year player who is on the team's active or inactive lists to play in the Development League. There is no minimum or maximum length of such an assignment and players who are assigned to the league draw their regular NBA salary.
The new relationship with the developmental league was created so that young players such as Blatche and second-year Wizards center Peter John Ramos, who played in only six regular season games last season, can gain playing experience.
The Roanoke Dazzle opens the season Nov. 18 and plays through April 7.
"It's going to be painful missing camp because I was looking forward to it," Blatche said. "I was looking forward to being on the court for the first game, too, so a lot of those opportunities have been backed up. I'll get there though."
Wizards Notes: The Wizards have invited veteran shooting guard Billy Thomas to training camp. Thomas went to camp with the Wizards last fall and was one of the team's final cuts after averaging 4.1 points in seven preseason games. The 6-5 guard has been a study in persistence since coming out of the University of Kansas in 1998. Thomas played in the USBL, the CBA, the IBL and the developmental league before catching on with New Jersey last season, during which he averaged 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 25 regular season games. The Wizards have 16 players on their roster.