The Wizards have suffered their second significant injury of the season, with Andray Blatche expected to miss the next 3-5 weeks with a strained left calf, according to coach Randy Wittman.
Blatche missed Monday morning’s shootaround to see the doctor, and Wittman ruled him out prior to facing the Chicago Bulls on Monday evening.
“He tweaked it pretty good in Charlotte,” Wittman said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of bleeding in there that leads to the inflammation in his calf so we’ve got to get that out of there first, and then you have a better idea of what you’re looking at. Early on here, that’s kind of what the doctors have said.”
The Wizards are also still without Ronny Turiaf, who broke his left hand on New Year’s Day, and is supposed to be out 5-6 weeks. To help fill the void created by Blatche’s absence, Hamady Ndiaye was recalled from the Iowa Energy of the D-League.
Roger Mason Jr. said he witnessed the injury, that it occurred when Blatche tried to take a charge.
“I saw the play, but I didn’t know how bad it was,” Mason said. “It’s too bad for him. I know that he was trying to turn the corner. He was being a better teammate. Any time you lose a guy that’s a big part of your team, it’s tough.”
The season has been a wild rollercoaster ride for Blatche, whose production on the court (10.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg) has been overshadowed by his own behavior – telling the media he was “ready to die for this” on media day, then complaining about his role in former coach Flip Saunders’ offense after the first game of the season – and the behavior of fans at Verizon Center, who have booed him relentlessly.
Blatche had accepted his mistakes and had been fighting through the adversity and a nagging shoulder injury, and he didn’t blink when Wittman moved him back to the bench two games ago, replacing him in the starting with rookie Jan Vesely.
With Blatche on the bench against the Bobcats, Trevor Booker had a season-high 16 points. Ndiaye and Kevin Seraphin are also likely to help fill in the gaps going forward, but none of those players possess Blatche’s offensive skill set, despite his troubles.
“You just look for Jan, Book, Kevin and H, those guys will step in that role, play the four positions, and just do the best they can,” Wizards point guard John Wall said. “I’m not telling them to be Dray, but just be the player they is and do the right thing to help us out. You’re going to lose a lot of points from Dray, but you can bring other assets on the defensive end with the other guys so it can still help us… Now you don’t have somebody that’s popping for jump shots. You have somebody that can roll and you can find right there with a pocket pass. It can be tougher, sometimes it can be easier.”
Wittman said the Wizards had been lucky up to this point in the season. Injuries have taken their toll throughout the NBA – the visiting Bulls will play without Luol Deng (left wrist) and Richard Hamilton (sore right thigh), and C.J. Watson (sore right wrist) is also a game-time decision.
Mason tried to find the silver lining for Blatche but may have echoed advice that has been said a few times before during Blatche’s career.
“This will be good for him,” Mason said. “For him to get himself healthy. Really attack the weight room. Really attack his body and get back 100 percent to finish the season strong. I’m going to tell him when I speak to him, when negatives happen, you’ve got to turn it into a positive. These are the cards he’s been dealt. He’s got to make the most of it.”
