No Beal, No Problem

Written by Jeremy Batka @EastCoastAssn

The Wizards managed to break a four game losing streak Monday night at the Verizon center beating the L.A. Clippers 98-90.

The Wizards were without Bradley Beal, Trevor Booker and Cartier Martin but for once their opponent may have been even more shorthanded. The Clippers were without stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin making this a very winnable game for Washington who came up just seven points short playing the Clippers in L.A. a few weeks earlier.

The Wizards have struggled finding someone to replace Beal's production in the starting lineup but tonight Garrett Temple did all he could. Temple scored his season high 15 on 7-12 shooting and also contributed on the defensive end blocking 3 shots and snagging three steals.

Temple wasn't the only one picking up Beal's slack though as Martell Webster had another big night from beyond the arc going 5-6 on his way to leading all Wizards with 21 on Monday night. Webster also seemed as if he wanted to be sure to outplay former Wizard all-star Caron Butler.

Butler scored 15 on a tough shooting night in his return to D.C. By far the most impressive Clipper on the night was Jamal Crawford who led all scorers with 28. Crawford will more than likely win the sixth man of the year award and Wizards fans tonight saw firsthand why.

Emeka Okafor had a tough night offensively but still managed to grab 14 rebounds. Nene had 15 points on the night and 7 rebounds. If you could combine Okafor's rebounding skill with Nene's offensive prowess you would have one great big man as both have weaknesses in their game. So when the two play together they compliment each other well.

Because He's MY Butler!

You had a date? You went out with my butler?! Who said you could go out with my butler?!Well, why do I need your permission?
Because he's MY butler!

The Washington Post 's Michael Lee wrote today about how some other teams are inquiring about a trade for Caron Butler. While he says that Butler is important to Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards, he also says that anything could happen.

That anything can happen situation would be some kind of a big deal. Butler isn't gonna go for scrubs like Mike Miller, Travis Outlaw, or Marvin Williams. He definitely isn't gonna go somewhere packaged with the 5th pick, not even for Amare Stoudemire.

The Wizards are playing this whole situation pretty well. They have a draft pick everyone wants and 2 players in Jamison and Butler that other teams could use as well. Teams are throwing weak trade offers the Wizards way because the Wiz were one of the worst teams last year, but Ernie knows better.

The only deal the Wizards would make using Caron Butler would have to be very lopsided in the Wizards favor. For example, a Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol type deal.

Don't any other teams want other All-Star caliber players like Mike James & Etan Thomas? (hard to denote sarcasm via text isn't it)

Is the draft really only 2 days away!

• Michael Lee: Wizards Rebuffing Inquiries For Butler

Latest Trade Rumor: Caron Butler To Atlanta

Mark Bradley at the Atlanta Journal Constitution believes that the Hawks should make a trade to get Caron Butler from the Wizards. (Found Via Twitter)

Caron Butler & Javaris Crittenton for Marvin Williams & Acie Law

Bradley suggests that this trade could go down because the Wizards are looking to get younger, and dump some of their current salary. These stats listed by Mark show the reason why the Win Now Wizards will never go for this awful trade.

"He averaged 20.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists last season to Marvin’s 13.9, 6.3 and 1.3."

And although i was hoping that Law would fall to the 16th pick and the Wizards in 2007, the Acie Law part of the deal also doesn't make much sense. Law played less last season than in his rookie year, while Crittendon slowly improved.

Other current rumors include the Wizards ending up with Manu Ginobili or Amare Stoudemire, why would they even think about a Marvin Williams. Seriously who the hell is Marvin Williams?

June 8th: Caron Butler Day

I woke up last Monday around 11am to find that I had several missed calls and 2 voicemails. I ignored them, got out of bed, and turned on the TV. Thirty minutes into the Price is Right, my phone rang again. This time I decided to answer it.

"Where are you! Chuck has been looking for you all morning," the voice on the phone shouted. "You are in big trouble!"

It was Sue from work, and she told me how she had been calling me all morning. She was worried that I was dead or deathly ill. She wondered why I didn't bother to call in sick or let anyone know I wouldn't be coming in to work.

"But Sue, it's Caron Butler Day. I thought we had off," I explained.

"CARON BUTLER DAY! What the heck is that? We don't even get Columbus Day off, why would we get Carrie Bunker or whoever day off?" she replied perplexed.

I responded, "Um what did Columbus ever do? This is Caron Butler we are talking about here. Jeez. Fine I'm on my way."

I drove to work and when I got there Chuck was waiting for me. "Step into my office," he said.

Basically what happened in Chuck's office was a lot of arguing and explaining. Blah Blah Blah "tough juice" Blah Blah Blah "straws" Blah Blah Blah "buzzer beater" Blah Blah Blah "Raptors". But in the end Chuck just didn't understand. He wrote me a performance write up and told me not to let it happen again.

I was angry and confused, but I didn't want to lose my job. I decided to start my inter-office campaign to get CB Day 2010 off next year. Then I filled out my vacation requests so I could take off for Gilbert Arenas Day and Oleksiy Pecherov day without penalty...

For more on Caron Butler Day check out Truth About It.

Interview With Caron

The Wizards web site interviewed Caron Butler. I decided I would also interview him from my blog office (parent's basement). I used the same questions as the Wizards site. Also I guess as a side note, he didn't return my calls so I had to make up his answers. Either way the interview was a great experience.

Q: Everyone wants to know how has the injury to your hand recovered?
CB: I made a splint out of straws. It helped me to keep my wrist and hand stationary, giving them time to heal.

Q: What aspects of your game did you look to improve on during this off-season?
CB: I worked on not passing the ball to Brendan Haywood. I practiced this for hours and hours each day. I may have even worked harder than Gilbert in this aspect of my game.

Q: What can Wizards fans expect from the team this season?
CB: No Defence, Easy 3 Pointers for the other team, and a streaky Gilbert.

Q: You have been playing in pickup games with your new teammates Domanic McGuire, Nick Young, and Oleksiy Pecherov. What are your early impressions of them?
CB: That's a tough one. I do have an early impression of Nick Young. Ready. "Hey. I'm Nick Young. I went to USC. la la. I'm Nick Young" What do you think?

Q: What player on the team do you think will surprise people the most this season?
CB: Honestly, it may be Brendan Haywood. He has been working on his pass catching ability. In fact, yesterday I actually saw him almost catch a pass. Watch out for him this year.

Q: You won the NBA Community Assist Award for the month of June. What does that mean to you?
CB: It means that they had a certain amount of people up for the award and a group of people voted and chose me to win the award.

Q: You were in Las Vegas recently and watched the USA men’s basketball team play. What is the difference from last year’s team?
CB: There appear to be some different players and the uniforms look slightly different. But I'm not 100% sure.

Q: You mentioned playing pickup at Barry Farms in Washington, D.C. earlier. What is the atmosphere like when you and some of your teammates play there?
CB: I never mentioned that...read this interview.

Q: Your busy summer included investments in several Burger King Restaurants. How did that come about?
CB: I was sleeping in my bed one morning and when I rolled over I saw that my wife was not in bed. Instead it was the King. He told me that If I invested in his restaurant he wouldn't tell people what we did last night...whoops...can you not print that?