Andray Blatche (Getty Images/Fernando Medina)Last week, Wizards big man Andray Blatche grabbed headlines for calling out his coaches and teammates on Twitter for not getting him the ball in the paint. It was a questionable move for a guy whom the franchise hopes can become a team leader. However, if you wanted to take a more optimistic look at the situation, then Blatche was simply holding the Wizards accountable for their actions. That makes sense, right?
As of this writing, the Wizards have lost all six of their games this season. To help deal with their many problems, veteran forward and vest enthusiast Maurice Evans called a players-only meeting. Blatche, of course, had some words about accountability, as well. From Frank Hanrahan at CSNWashington.com (via PBT):
"We needed to address ourselves and identify what were some of the problems that the players can fix," Evans said. "A lot of people are focusing on the coaching staff and management, but the players have to take some onus as well, and we have to look internally and find out who our leaders are."
Wizards forward Andray Blatche said the players had a good talk for about 15 to 20 minutes, airing grievances.
"We are just trying to be more accountable," Blatche said. "Everything that was said in there needed to be said and needed to be done."
Ah, I can't imagine a better way for Blatche to lead this team than by airing grievances. He hasn't done that in more than a week, so his teammates probably needed to hear everything all over again.
What's most telling here, though, is that Blatche spoke to Hanrahan and his colleagues as a leader. What's bizarre about that approach isn't so much that he wants to play that role, but that he seems to consider the role in terms of its trappings rather than the day-to-day duties of leading a team. It's easy to talk to the media about players-only meetings and greet fans at the home opener, but leadership requires more basic actions like not calling out teammates in public or getting along with everyone on the team fine. Being a leader actually consists of very boring tasks, for the most part.
Blatche is a very talented player capable of great things. But until he realizes that leadership roles require full attitude adjustments, he's going to be the subject of posts like this one.
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