NBA Rumors: Andray Blatche To Meet With Toronto Raptors
Andray Blatche may have been booed in Canada the last time he was there with the Brooklyn Nets during the playoffs, but the Toronto Raptors may feel very differently about him depending what happens tomorrow.
According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, the Raptors will meet with Blatche Wednesday in Las Vegas. Last season with the Nets, Blatche averaged 11.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 22.2 minutes per game. Brooklyn hasn’t shown much initiative in re-signing this valuable unrestricted free agent, maybe because they’re about a bazillion dollars above the luxury tax line.
At 6’11”, Blatche is a talented and versatile big who also has nine years of experience under his belt. In his best season in the league, he averaged 16.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game for the Washington Wizards.
The Raptors were awfully focused on their team chemistry last season, but Blatche is a pretty good glue guy and would provide helpful minutes off the bench. Then again, Toronto already has Amir Johnson, Patrick Patterson and Tyler Hansbrough at the power forward position and Jonas Valanciunas and Lucas Nogueira at center, so the frontcourt could be getting a little crowded.
Have seen Blatche report. Haven't had it confirmed, but hard to believe Raps would risk much on him after bowing at alter of chemistry.
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) July 8, 2014
All that’s known at this point in time is that Blatche and the Raptors have scheduled a meeting, but it’d be interesting to see how much he’d command on the open market after a very good year with the Nets. Toronto is a young team on the rise that recently made a big move for Canadian basketball by re-signing Kyle Lowry, and Blatche could provide some veteran leadership at the very least.