Mar 16, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Washington Wizards power forward Andray Blatche (7) drives to the basket against Atlanta Hawks power forward Josh Smith (5), small forward Tracy McGrady (1) and forward Ivan Johnson (44) during the first half at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Paul Abell-US PRESSWIRE

According to Howard Beck, the Nets are very interested in ex-Wizard power forward Andray Blatche and Coach Avery Johnson is set to meet with Blatche sometime this weekend. It is not clear what the exact purpose of the meeting is.

The Wizards amnestied Blatche this summer after Blatche had a laughable season, being horribly inefficient and a poor team player. He has a reputation for being a very immature person on and off the basketball court. Blatche is 6’11” and 27 years old. If he joined the Nets, he would be the second tallest player on the team. Wherever he signs this offseason, he will probably receive a veteran’s minimum contract.

Last season, Blatche averaged 8.5 PTS, 5.8 REB, 1.1 AST, and just a 38% FG percentage, the lowest percentage of his career. He played much better two seasons ago, averaging 16.8 PTS and 8.2 REB on 44.5% FG. He is generally regarded as the most talented player still available on the free agent market. However, he has often been pathetically lazy on defense and he has a tendency to take annoying, bad jump shots.

I think the Nets could actually use Blatche off the bench. Blatche is talented and a change of scenery could probably do him a lot of good. The Nets could offer him a veteran’s minimum salary and have him at little risk. Blatche has a nice skillset: he is a better offensive power forward than Kris Humphries and a better rebounder than Mirza Teletovic. The Nets have recently been linked to so many players, such as Eddy Curry and Hilton Armstrong, who would struggle to stay in Coach Avery’s rotation. Unlike these players, I bet Blatche would actually be useful in Avery Johnson’s rotation.

Barclays Center. Picture from Merritt & Harris Report.

The Nets’ Barclays Center has been under constant attack since minority owner Bruce Ratner first formulated plans to move his team from New Jersey to Brooklyn. Two NY Times articles that focused on Barclays Center criticisms were featured this week: one article about the Nets’ request for a liquor license and the other on the arena’s unique weathering steel facade.

First, some key sentences about the liquor license, from the New York Times:

The State Liquor Authority on Wednesday ruled to allow the [Barclays] Center to sell alcohol at its premium bars for an hour after events finish, or a cutoff of 1 a.m…During games, alcohol will be cut off in the arena after the third quarter…The liquor board’s ruling came amid strong opposition from residents, who argued that serving drinks after events would keep a steady flow of noisy and drunken fans emptying into the surrounding neighborhoods — jeopardizing safety and serenity.

The Nets were hoping to be able to serve alcohol in their premium bars (Jay Z’s 40/40 Club, the Armand de Brignac Champagne Bar, etc.) until 2 a.m. Brooklyn community leaders fought the Nets over their request. At one point, they suggested that drunk fans might pee on Brooklyn streets. Ultimately, The State Liquor Authority somewhat acknowledged Brooklyn resident concerns by only allowing alcohol to be served until 1 a.m. Satisfied, the Nets decided to honor this decision and not make any further alcohol requests for now.

I think Brooklyn residents have a legitimate concern here: rowdy fans could disrupt the local neighborhoods surrounding the Barclays Center. On the other hand, community leaders might be overreacting to the thought of rich people consuming alcohol late at night at the Barclays Center’s clubs.

The weathered steel facade has also drawn concerns – less so by Brooklyn community leaders, though. Some key sentences from the NY Times:

For the facade of the Barclays Center, more traditional materials were rejected in favor of 12,000 separate pieces of what is called “weathering steel,” and an intended layer of rust… Michael Devonshire said, “when the material gets wet, there is a rusty wash that goes down onto adjacent areas of concrete. It can get really funky looking.” … Robert Sanna said, “you won’t have to worry that [the rust] will stain your sweater as you walk by.”

The weathering steel that the Nets are using has spent many months going through wet/dry cycles, which should keep rusting to a minimum. Still, it seems that there might be some rusting that sometimes stains the sidewalks surrounding the Nets’ arena.

To me, this seems to be a non-issue. Based on what I’ve read over the past few months, I do not think that steel rusting will be significant. However, Jonah wrote about the steel facade here after he visited the arena’s construction site and he commented that the steel facade doesn’t look that awesome.