Andray Blatche, Wizards need to go their separate ways

For almost six years, the Washington Wizards have patiently waited for power forward Andray Blatche to grow up.

They have continued to support Blatche despite his actions that have embarrassed the franchise, rewarded him with two contract extensions and attributed many of his missteps to youthful inexperience.

Now, the Wizards should do something else for Blatche: Trade him. It’s time for President Ernie Grunfeld to accept that Blatche should fade into Washington’s past because he doesn’t fit into the future that owner Ted Leonsis envisions.

The Wizards should move on without Blatche for their benefit while moving him elsewhere for his, because he clearly needs a fresh start away from the District.

“’Dray is a work in progress, just like the rest of our team is right now,” Grunfeld said recently. “He’s trying and working on it. This is really the first season where he’s gotten significant minutes for the whole season.”

Wizards officials encourage you to speak with Blatche, saying he’s a good person.

Sure enough, Blatche comes across more as a misguided kid rather than a bad guy. But in discussing his Wizards career, Blatche seems unwilling to examine what he sees in the mirror.

“I’m a great human being,” Blatche said recently. “[If] somebody thinks a certain way about me, then that’s their business. It takes a lot more energy to hate somebody than to like somebody, so they’re just taking the easy way out.”

Blatche was evasive when I asked about the Twitter incident and his issues with McGee, focusing instead on the “media stuff, like that with the papers and the Internet” reports. He believes the media have created an inaccurate perception of him because “those people are not there when the incidents occur. They’re just going off of what somebody else has said.”

Accepting responsibility for your actions is a big part of displaying maturity, and it seems Blatche still has a ways to go on that front.

The likelihood is the Wizards will continue waiting on Blatche for at least a little while longer.