Blatche’s mom to bring school aid

SEVILLE – Gilas naturalized player Andray Blatche’s mother Angela Oliver said the other day she’s looking forward to visiting the Philippines and through a Foundation in her son’s name, the Syracuse native plans to deliver aid to Filipino schools.

Oliver, 50, arrived here from Florida with her sister Ingrid Bachelor last Monday. They were accompanied by Bachelor’s husband Byron. She lives in South Carolina with another son Trey who is in college.

“I’m very proud of Dray,” she said. “It’s amazing how he goes out there to play for an entire nation. He puts the Philippines on his back. I heard Filipinos call him Superman. I remember when he was asked to take out citizenship, he wanted to be known as Seymour because he wanted the fans to see more of what he could do as a basketball player.”

Oliver said Blatche’s commitment to Gilas isn’t just a one-shot deal. “This is for the long term,” she said. “Dray feels blessed to be honored with this opportunity. He loves the Philippines and the Filipino people.”

During the FIBA World Cup, Oliver showed up wearing Blatche’s Gilas No. 11 jersey. “Dray’s basically a small forward but he’ll do whatever coach Chot (Reyes) asks him to do,” she said. In Reyes’ unpredictable system, players are given different roles and positions depending on the opponent. “Coaches tell me we’re hell to scout,” said Reyes. “We’ve got to be unconventional, if not unscientific, because we can’t outplay teams at their own game. We can’t out-Greek Greece and out-Croatian Croatia. We can’t play Euroball against European teams. We play our own style and we’ve found it to be effective.”

Oliver said she manages her son’s personal Foundation which three years ago, brought aid to Jamaica. Blatche donated sneakers and basketballs and gave $50,000 to Jamaican schools. She said Blatche would like to do the same to Filipino schools.

Gilas reserve Beau Belga said Blatche has given him at least six pairs of sneakers. “He wears a size 16 and I wear 15,” said Belga. “Once, he found out I was going to a Nike store and told me to drop by his (hotel) room. When I got to his room, I saw all these shoes laid out and he gave me several pairs. Now, I think my luggage is overweight.”

Oliver’s sister Ingrid is a tax accountant who owns a financial consulting company. They run Blatche’s Foundation and inquired about a Philippine NGO with which to course donations to Filipino schools.

Oliver said Blatche got his height from his father who is 6-5. She has only two children and Trey, 21, hopes to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and become a pro basketball player.

Blatche, boyhood buddy Bryan Extra and personal trainer Rory Jones left here yesterday for Atlanta. Oliver and the Bachelors are now in Italy and return to the US tomorrow. There is talk that Blatche may be signed by either the Charlotte Hornets or Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA this coming season. He is still unsigned although he is guaranteed to earn $8.4 Million in the last year of his Washington Wizards contract which went under the amnesty clause before the 2012-13 season.

Jones, who is JaVale McGee’s cousin, contacted Blatche through Extra to find out if he would be willing to be naturalized when McGee got injured. McGee was lined up for naturalization until he went down. “JaVale and Dray play different styles,” said Jones. “JaVale is a shot-blocking center, a natural five while Dray can play different positions, shoot from the outside, drive to the hole. They’re both great at what they do. I can’t take credit for Dray’s conditioning. He does all the work in the gym and I just look after him.”

Blatche will fly to Manila in time for the resumption of Gilas’ practice on Sept. 12 if he is allowed to play at the Asian Games in Incheon. SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said he is hoping the Olympic Council of Asia will give Blatche the green light despite opposition from South Korea and China. FIBA is reportedly issuing a position paper supporting Blatche’s eligibility.

“The eligibility of one of our tennis players (Katharina Lenhert) was also questioned by OCA but when the Asian Tennis Federation backed her up, she was cleared to play at the Asian Games,” said Barrios. “FIBA has allowed Dray to play at the World Cup so there should be no reason why he can’t play at the Asian Games.”