Let’s just do this unfiltered. Andray Blatche was in the locker room prior to tonight’s Wizards game against Indiana. He was asked about working out very late at night, but more importantly, about being shelved by the team and trying to get himself back into shape.
On why he works out so late: “Nobody be here. It’s the best time for me to do something. I be up. I’m a night person. I’m always awake so that’s something that helps get things off my mind, also helps me to rest.”
What was the message from the team on why they aren’t going to play you? “It was actually an understanding between the coach and I and the owners. With all the injuries over the year, me not being able to get back to full shape, that it be best that I stay back and work really, really hard to get to where I want to be. So I’ve been pretty much been in the gym throughout the days, come back at night after I wake up from my nap, come back and get extra work in. I’m just trying to work hard and get myself back where I’ve been.”
Do you hope to return this season? Is there a timetable for doing so? “I would love be back out there with my guys, my teammates. But at the same time, I want to make sure that I’m ready, that my body’s ready, and that I’m in shape so I can avoid injuries or have anything come back. At this time, people don’t understand why I be here so late, but this is something that’s best for me. I just want to work hard and get back on the court, get back to being 7-Day Dray.”
What is the focus of your conditioning program? “It’s everything to me. It’s weight. It’s strength. It’s just being on the court so I don’t have no dead moments when I’m out there gasping for air. I just want to get back to being the player that I was and having fun, out there with my teammates, helping this team and this organization get wins and improving.”
How tough was it to go through the NBA trade deadline this season? “It was tough. I knew there was possibility of me being gone due to the bad year, which I have nobody to blame on my bad year. It was all me. It was due a lot to injuries, me trying to force myself to play through it, coming back not ready, just stuff like that. The coach actually had a talk with me and said, ‘I feel bad for you, I know what I’m putting you through. You should take more time out to get yourself back ready and be the player that this organization know you are, and I think that’s best.’ I said, ‘You know what, I agree 200 percent with that.’ At this point in time, I shouldn’t be fighting through injuries right now, just try to get myself back together, without any injuries at all, be able to play a hundred percent.”
How much of this is about protection against the treatment from home fans? “It was tough the first couple times I’ve been booed but I had a lot of talks with my mom, my family and everybody. My mom told me basically, I put myself in this situation with the way that I’ve been playing, the way I’ve been handling things, and she said, ‘So it’s up to you to dig yourself out of this hole.’ I really take full responsibility on how things have been going for me this season. I can’t go home at night and say, ‘”F” them because they don’t know nothing.’ They do. They the fans. They see it. My mom sees it. This was a bad year for me, one of my worst ever. I let my mom down, my family down, my teammates, the whole organization down this season. So I’m just focusing on this whole rest of this time and the summer, just get myself back to where I need to be.“
