After today’s practice, Flip Saunders again praised Caron Butler for his work on the court. The Wizards coach did the same after last Thursday’s practice and also after Saturday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

I wrote a brief piece about Caron’s recent efforts for ESPN’s Daily Dime this morning, it’s number eight in the right-hand column. Here’s the beginning:

Prior to practice on New Year’s Eve, and before the Gilbert Arenas media-market saturation, Flip Saunders pulled Caron Butler aside for a conversation.

“We had a talk about how he’s played and how I thought he could play,” Saunders said. “Maybe I’ve given him too much credit, been soft on him. But I said that’s not going to happen anymore.”

Saunders wouldn’t go into details about his issues with Butler, but on the court, Caron has often looked for his own opportunities instead of trusting the offense and has lacked a full commitment to defense. Butler responded with what Saunders called his best practice since the coach was hired last April.

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Prior to Saturday’s 97-86 loss to the San Antonio, Flip Saunders indicated that for the most part, Brendan Haywood would guard Tim Duncan straight up and they would run one-and-a-half men toward the Spurs center “at times.”

Duncan finished with an efficient 23 points (10-16 FGs), seven rebounds, and three assists in 36 minutes.

Flip Saunders

After the game, I asked Coach Saunders asses how the defensive plan against Duncan worked. He said:

“Well we didn’t want to double at all. Every time we doubled, we gave up a three-point shot, which we weren’t supposed to be doing. So, like I said, when you play against a good team and you don’t stay with your game plan, you mess up, you pay the price.

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Before they lost to the Thunder and before Flip Saunders got extremely perturbed, bumping a 40-game evaluation period down to 30 games when it was originally 20 games, I asked various Wizards what was their favorite present that they gave someone else for Christmas/the holidays. Several of them, such as Dominic McGuire, Fabricio Oberto, Mike James, Mike Miller, JaVale McGee, Nick Young, Andray Blatche, Caron Butler, and Gilbert Arenas answered.

It’s just Wizards being Wizards y’all.

At 10-20, with more than a record’s reason to be distraught, i.e., read this piece on Hardwood Paroxysm by Matt Moore, people ask me if it’s hard covering the team. I say …

1) I’ll always love the Wizards.

2) For the reason(s) below, being around this team will continue to be fun. {And we must remember, even though they get paid a lot^4 more money than you and me, they are people too. Not basketball playing robots. That being said, I wish the Wizards would start earning their goddamn salary. (So does Flip Saunders, more from Thursday’s practice to come.)}

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Caron Butler is not all bad and he’s no scapegoat, but he’s also having the worst season of his career (aside from his second year in the league).

Sure, a new system is tough. But Butler sells himself as a pro’s pro, a vet’s vet. And not to say he doesn’t possess those qualities, but he still has a big step to take to be a ‘next-level’ player and not some flash-in-the-pan two time All-Star.

Flip Saunders has implored Gilbert Arenas to push the ball and attack the basket. With that, offense should be created. Caron shifting his role back to number two, where he’s rightly supposed to sit in the team’s pecking order, shouldn’t involve him fading into the background, nor should it involve him forcing it.

This season, Caron’s game has been everywhere on the spectrum except balanced. He needs to adjust his offensive approach to create for the team, and not just for himself. The him-first approach is why he is averaging a career low 1.7 assists/36 minutes and why he has a 41.4 FG% that’s only better than his sophomore slump season in Miami, Dwyane Wade’s rookie year.

Sure Arenas cools down many buildings in which he plays with 40.2% from the field, and sure the Wizards have 99 problems … but Caron Butler is one.

Simply put, the way Butler plays offense is hurting his team. A sample of the good and bad, mostly bad, was on display against Sacramento.

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Today’s concluding media session at Wizards practice, which was held on the main Verizon Center court because it happened to be set up, didn’t have as somber of a mood in the air as I expected.

Then again, the shellacking in San Antonio came way back on Saturday … plenty of time for the players to look forward and put the bad loss behind them, as professional athletes are so apt at doing.

I only got to talk with two players today (not that many talked in the first place; to my knowledge, I only missed comments from Andray Blatche), and had to leave before Flip Saunders finally made himself available. The two players: Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas.

And get this, Arenas actually wanted to talk to the media. The days of him walking by after practice and saying, “They told me I didn’t have to talk to you guys today, only on game nights,” could be a distant memory. Then again, Agent Funeral could also be back at any time.

As the scrum surrounded Jamison, Gilbert stopped for a minute to listen on his way to the locker room (Antawn immediately threw a wadded up paper cup at him in jest).

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{The Quick Run Down}

• In steps Earl Boykins, out goes Paul Davis … height history has been made in Washington, DC.
• Brendan Haywood has curiously been left off the All-Star game ballot.
• Fans in Minnesota are still discovering the wonders of Oleksiy Pecherov.
• Mr. Irrelevant brings you the ultimate DC sports Twitter list.
• And finally, congrats to Mike Prada of Bullets Forever for his very cool profile in Washingtonian Magazine.

{Back To Miami}

There was a minor Twitter flurry just before the Wizards game in Miami on Tuesday night. In a flash, reports of Gilbert Arenas’ demise (at least for that evening) spread throughout the web; hyped by yours truly. A sore left calf was the case that they gave him. Bury it with the ghosts of injury past and present, I thought … currently Mike James’ finger, Javaris Crittenton’s foot, the left shoulder of Mike Miller, and the right shoulder of Antawn Jamison … and as we would later find out, Randy Foye’s ankle.

Thoughts of distraught that I won’t repeat conjured in my mind as I rode the late bus home … to make a drink (or two) and watch a DVR delay of the Wizards-Heat game in hopes of catching up by the end. But knowing that without Arenas and the aforementioned others, the Wizards wouldn’t stand a chance.

I arrived home to bond with my television and discover the pleasant surprise of Arenas at the starting gate. Screw whatever was plaguing the team, the Wizards were ready to play.

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{flickr/Keith Allison}

One thing I didn’t to mention in my post-game write-up … and I’m not sure if it had a proper place there anyway … was the “mood” of Gilbert Arenas after the Suns game.

I’ve only been around the new, media unfriendly Arenas at media day, practices, and home games. And he’s only talked once after a practice (to my knowledge), the first one after he got fined. I also haven’t been to every practice, but his routine usually has been to say, “They said I don’t have to talk to you guys today … only on game nights.”

Most are still getting acclimated to the melancholy, aloof Gilbert Arenas … the one who has become so jaded by the media that he started putting on a rendition of himself that’s a far cry from the entertaining Arenas of old. A seemingly 180-degree turn, but still 100% quirky.

If you ask his teammates, he’s still the same Gilbert. Maybe he’s not pulling the pranks he has in the past, but he’s certainly not putting on a terse facade with them. The media has witnessed Arenas joking around with others, only to see his alter ego take effect when “official” media time commences. I’ve found myself wondering if Arenas’ “act” causes him internal strife, in the sense that it takes energy to suppress part of his being. Or, is the whole charade something he enjoys?

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Caron will have his work cut out for him in trying to guard Danny Granger tonight. And the best way to combat a guy averaging 23 points per game (tied for 16th in the NBA)? Attack, attack, and attack him on offense.

Granger has been mad lately. He evidently stormed off without talking to the media after the Pacers lost to the Nuggets on Tuesday. The next night, he came back and scored 21 points on 7-18 from the field in win against the Knicks.

But things still aren’t all that great for last year’s Most Improved Player. He’s been struggling with an injury to his right heel (bone bruise), and some say he hasn’t been able to get good lift on his jumper … this is evident by his 40.3% from the field and a True Shooting Percentage (TS%) of .534 in four games this season.

Caron Butler, as we know, isn’t faring much better on offense. He’s shooting 39.6% from the field (.473 TS%). He missed the Wizards’ home opener against the Nets (and most of the previous game in Atlanta) because of a bruised knee-cap, but his struggles aren’t believed to be of a physical derivation.

So what’s the deal with Tuff Juice? Why has he been getting caught “watching the show,” as he says?

It’s hard to put a finger on it. When Butler is trying to be aggressive on offense, he tends to pound the ball into the floor, stagnating ball movement and not creating for his teammates as they watch. Other times, Caron simply hasn’t inserted himself into the offensive rhythm, electing to observe while Gilbert Arenas tries to do his thing.

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After Monday’s practice, before setting off for hostile territory in Ohio, Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Randy Foye and DeShawn Stevenson are prodded to talk about the rivarly/history between the Wizards and the Cavaliers.

Other practice coverage links:

• New look Wiz get ready for Cleveland rivalry [DC Sports Bog]
• Butler expeced to play vs. Cleveland [Wizards Outlet]
• Foye is fine about not getting an extension [Wizards Insider]

Flip Saunders on preparing for the last game of the preseason, the ‘Swine Flu’ back-court he will start against the Bulls on Friday, and getting Andray Blatche into his role of coming off the bench.

Brendan Haywood on getting Gilbert Arenas and Mike Miller back from the flu and the Wizards’ ‘Window of Opportunity’.

Caron Butler on his defensive progression

“So far so good. You know, still gambling a little bit after looking at some film. But, it’s still preseason … just trying to focus in on the rotation for the most part, getting to spots, talking and communicating as much as possible. And … so far so good.”

Narrowing down the rotation & JaVale McGee stealing jerseys

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Lost amongst the mucky sounds and words regarding last night’s stinker versus the Hawks was this sweet ‘JaVale McGee block, Mike James recovery, pass to Nick Young who tips, gathers, and throws the ball off the glass for a McGee dunk’ combo [via Bethlehem Shoals at The Baseline].

Just watch …

Also, Comcast SportsNet has been doing a ‘My Life 365‘ series on Caron Butler.

Here’s a preview …

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Some recent links (with commentary) and forgotten notes from last Friday’s preseason game against the Mavericks at the Verizon Center in D.C. …

Caron Butler and a very tall clown {via WashingtonWizards.com}

Evidently on Sunday morning, Caron Butler was slated to co-chair the ‘Sister to Sister’s Bike For The Heart’ event with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty at the Verizon Center in Washington. But the Wizards also had a preseason game in Toronto, Canada at 3 pm that afternoon. Event host Irene Pollin, Wizards co-owner, told Butler that he could attended that morning and just catch up with the team at their next stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The team’s other ‘co-owner’, Irene’s husband Abe, said “nope,” indicating he wanted Butler in Toronto, supporting his teammates. So Abe called up his private jet and whisked Butler, along with team president Ernie Grunfeld, to T-Dot after the event and in time for Butler to get in a workout before the Raptors game.

Wizards Preview

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Last Monday’s Washington Wizards media day seems like such a long time ago.

In addition to me being there, blogging about DeShawn Stevenson’s new tats, the musings of Gilbert Arenas, and the ‘consistent’ goals of Andray Blatche, there was a ton of great coverage from Hoops Addict, Wizards Insider, Wizards Outlet, and Bullets Forever.

Now, after transcribing all of my interview recordings, I wanted to share some of the quotes/pictures that have been relatively unheard/unseen.

{Note: I will be in Richmond for training camp on Saturday and Sunday. There’s limited media access, but I’ll be updating some of the goings-ons via Twitter}

Upon discovering that he played against Yao Ming’s father during his visit to China 30 years ago, Wes Unseld pleaded with the Chinese to get busy in the bedroom and start making more Yao Mings to send to the NBA, preferably in the Wizards’ direction.

Chinese officials promptly snickered and told big Wes not to worry. They then pointed to a “friendly” mascot being held by Caron Butler, which is really a non-lethal DNA collection robot that will be sent back to the U.S. to gather samples from various Wizards (sorry DeShawn, you aren’t needed for this) so they can be combined with that of Ming to create a monster the league has never seen. His name will be Car’Twan-yao Gilwood Ming-Arenas.

via CRIEnglish.com

The robot then expanded after drinking some Tuff Juice and challenged Caron to a game of 1-on-1. The bot, named Haibao, was winning 8-6 until Butler gave it the ‘Crocodile Dundee Gender Test’, confusing Butler and embarrassing the robot. The cruelty of being non-gendered, and having short arms, was too much for Haibao to overcome. It lost 11-9.

via sports.qq.com

Ok, none of this really happened … but Unseld did say: Read more »

[Ed. Note: this is the first post by newcomer docfunk, who was introduced in the previous post]

During each Wizards game I hope for 3 things:

1. Gilbert Arenas escapes unscathed.
2. DeShawn Stevenson does his face-wave much to the chagrin of former-Bullet turned broadcaster, Phil Chenier.
3. Caron Butler takes 20 shots or more.

The Wizards are often dismissed as a cavalry of role-players marching to the syncopated beat of Gilbert Arenas. For the past 2 seasons, we have witnessed the Wizards attempt to play Rockband sans-drummer. What resulted was a throw-the-controller inducing 19-win season which we blamed (unfairly) on Eddie Jordan’s playlist.

Though no NBA team enjoys a 19-win season, there was a silver lining. A lining which we intend to melt down and sell for liquor money. We Wizards fans are a pessimistic bunch, you see.

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