With their only pick in the 2005 draft, the Wizards selected the 6-foot-11, 235-pound Blatche out of South Kent (Conn.) Prep. “We had him ranked as a first-round talent,” Grunfeld said. Blatche probably ranked himself as a lottery pick. One week before his first training camp, Blatche was shot in the chest near his home in Alexandria during an attempted carjacking, and the bullet missed his aorta by an inch. “I was real lucky and real blessed,” said Blatche, who made his NBA debut less than two months later. He averaged 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds over seven seasons in Washington, making All-Day Dray — “This is your captain” — the team’s best second-round pick this century. His memorable tenure included a misspelled jersey, throwing a fit over a teammate denying him a triple-double and a, uh, stinky shoe courtesy of Gilbert Arenas.
Games with Washington: 409
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