Wizards’ Blatche is among those who are working out The doors to Verizon Center opened to NBA players Thursday for the first time since the lockout began July 1. Only one actual Wizards player, Andray Blatche, got to see the rebranded practice court that matches the team’s new uniforms, which he still hasn’t tried on since their unveiling last spring.
“I think I’m going to try to sneak into the equipment room and take one. They look nice, though,” said Blatche, who was joined for a workout by fellow NBA players Roy Hibbert (Indiana), Brendan Haywood (Dallas), Roger Mason Jr. (free agent), rookie Josh Selby (Memphis) and Wizards teammate Hamady Ndiaye, who is technically a restricted free agent.
Entering his seventh year, Blatche also believes a condensed and shortened 66-game season will benefit the Wizards, who have just one player under contract over the age of 26: Rashard Lewis, who is 31.
“I think this should be an easy season for us for the fact that we have a lot of young guys and it’s a shortened season,” Blatche said. “It’s going to be situations where it’s a back-to-back, back-to-back, back-to-back, so that gives us higher leverage with young players, so we can come out and run all of the older guys.”
Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld expects Lewis to remain with the team. That means he doesn’t plan on using the amnesty provision in the tentative collective bargaining agreement to remove Lewis’ contract from the team’s salary cap.
“We’re going to study the whole thing, but in all likelihood we won’t amnesty anybody this year,” Grunfeld said. “It’s not a great free agent market, and you don’t want to tie up too much money now, and we like the balance that we have right now.”
Grunfeld spent Wednesday reaching out to representatives for free agents Nick Young, Maurice Evans and Josh Howard to begin to gauge what it might take to bring them back to Washington, as well as others. Mason said the Wizards had shown interest.
Haywood, a former Wizards player like Mason, was in Washington for the first time since capturing the NBA title with the Mavericks in June.
“It was a crazy feeling. It was just a lot of excitement, happiness,” Haywood said. “Being an NBA champion is something you dream of. Do go out there and do it, especially with this team. We went thought the 19-win season, so for us to go from 19 wins to champions was big time.”
“Me too,” said Blatche, now the longest-tenured member of the Wizards, referring to Washington’s 2008-09 season.
“You just didn’t get no ring for your effort,” Haywood joked.
Despite Blatche’s belief that the Wizards can make the playoffs this season, Grunfeld didn’t mention the postseason when he was asked about his realistic expectations.
“I expect us to improve as the season goes along,” Grunfeld said. “We want to see our young players get better. We want to see a fighting spirit on a nightly basis and then let the chips fall where they may.”
The Wizards will play two preseason games, both against Philadelphia, at home Dec. 16 and on the road Dec. 20.
