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Caron Butler speaks on All-Star Weekend

Washington Wizards star Caron Butler is an All-Star this year but not participating due to injury. Here’s what he had to say about the weekend:

Q: How are you dealing with being here but not participating in the All-Star Game?

Caron Butler: I’m truly enjoying it; I’m living through Antawn [Jamison] right now. We’re just bonding and I can’t wait to go out there and just see him. I’m the biggest fan and biggest supporter of Antawn right now. Obviously, it was something I really wanted to do, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to, but I did what was best for myself and the team by sitting out and just resting my body and healing and being 100 percent. I’m just going to enjoy the weekend. I have my family out here and will do as much as I can since I’m not playing.

Q: How do you feel about the coming to New Orleans and playing a role in the revitalization of the city?

Caron Butler: It’s just great. You witness everything that the city went through and obviously it was televised and you witnessed from afar but it felt like you were right there. It was real heartfelt. I was watching TNT last night and I saw Charles Barkley with a young lady, and hearing some of the things she was saying … and it was really heartfelt and my mother and I got really teary-eyed and I was just like, “Man, it’s great that the league brought this game here.” And to be a part of the recovery process and enlighten this city … it’s amazing what basketball can do to bring excitement to people’s lives and help with the recovery.

Q: Where you out there with the hammer and nails?

Caron Butler: I mean, they don’t want me doing to much out there like lifting and doing stuff like that, but I’m going to be doing as much as possible. Every little bit helps. I’m going to be out there and do my treatment. Whatever they want me to do, I’m free and open to anything.

No Gilbert Arenas on this summer’s Team USA

The Washington Post (Michael Lee) reports: Gilbert Arenas will not be invited to try out for the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team this summer, national team managing director Jerry Colangelo said on Friday afternoon. Speaking after a ceremony to announce the finalists for Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Colangelo said USA Basketball will invite 18 players to Las Vegas for a short training camp June 27-30 to determine which 12 players will represent the country in Beijing. “He’s not part of the mix,” Colangelo said of Arenas. “Not at this point, because of what transpired the first year and he was out the second year. He’s on the roster, but as of right now, we don’t see him as one of the 18.”

Ray Allen replaces injured Caron Butler in All-Star game

InsideHoops.com NewsWire: Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen has been named by NBA Commissioner David Stern to replace injured East All-Star Caron Butler (left hip flexor strain) of the Washington Wizards for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 17 in New Orleans.

Allen will be making his eighth NBA All-Star appearance.

“I am disappointed that I am going to miss the All-Star game,” said Butler. “I feel it is best for me to get the proper rest in preparation for the second half of the season. I am honored to be selected as an All-Star. I will still enjoy the weekend with my teammate Antawn Jamison and my fellow NBA All-Stars.”

Butler, who is in his sixth NBA season, is currently averaging career highs in points (21.4), steals (2.4), field goal percentage (.476), and free throw percentage (.913).

The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 17, will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio beginning at 8 p.m. EST.

Wizards – Warriors team connections

Gilbert Arenas was drafted 31st overall by Golden State in 2001. And Arenas and Antawn Jamison were teammates in Golden State from 2001-03.

Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson coached Jamison in Dallas in 2003-04.

Jamison averaged 14.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, and was named NBA 6th Man of the Year under Nelson.

Antonio Daniels and Golden State’s Stephen Jackson were teammates in San Antonio in 2001-02.

Golden State’s Chris Webber averaged 20.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in 212 regular season games for Washington from 1994-98.

Wizards notes for upcoming game in Phoenix

This game marks the second and final of two meetings between Washington and Phoenix this season. Phoenix was victorious in the first meeting this season, 122-107, at Verizon Center on December 7. The Wizards and Suns split their season-series in five straight seasons, and in six of the last seven campaigns. Washington swept the Suns in 2001-02, but needs a win tonight to avoid being swept by Phoenix for the first time since the 1999-00 season.

The Wizards won their lone game in Phoenix in both of the two previous seasons. Washington last lost in Arizona on December 18, 2004.

Washington will look to snap a season-high six-game losing streak. With a win against the Suns, the Wizards will avoid their first seven-game losing streak since March 5-16, 2004.

Wizards forward Andray Blatche finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks as a starter in Washington’s last game. In six starts this season, Blatche has averaged 15.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. With the Clippers’ Chris Kaman, Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Houston’s Yao Ming, Blatche is one of only four players in the NBA averaging at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game as a starter this season.

In Washington’s last game (L, 111-100 at DEN, 2/8)…Antawn Jamison had a team-high 21 points in defeat…Andray Blatche grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and scored 14 points to record his fifth double-double of the season…Nick Young connected on 7-of-13 field goal attempts and 5-of-6 free throws en route to scoring a career-high 19 points…Darius Songaila finished with a season-high 15 points…DeShawn Stevenson’s 15 points gave Washington five players in double figures in scoring…Already with Caron Butler, Gilbert Arenas and Etan Thomas sidelined due to injury, Antonio Daniels was limited to less than seven minutes of action with right knee tendinitis.

Last time vs. Phoenix…(L, 107-122 vs. PHX, 12/7)…Seven Wizards scored in double figures; the only time this season in which seven different Wizards scored 10+ points apiece in a game…Andray Blatche scored a team-high 19 points, and with his 10 rebounds recorded a double-double…Roger Mason contributed 15 points…Nick Young finished 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting…Antonio Daniels led the Wizards with seven assists…Phoenix’s Steve Nash established a new Verizon Center-record with 19 assists.

Last season vs. Phoenix…The Wizards and Suns each won a game on the other’s home court…Caron Butler averaged 29.0 points in two games vs. Phoenix…Phoenix’s Steve Nash accounted for 34.5 points and 13.0 assists per game against Washington…The Wizards’ win came via a 144-139 overtime decision in Arizona on December 22; a game in which Washington’s Gilbert Arenas set a new US Airways Center scoring record with 54 points.

Wizards-Suns connections…Caron Butler and Phoenix’s Shaquille O’Neal were part of the Lakers-Heat trade that sent Shaq to Miami and made Butler a Laker…DeShawn Stevenson and Phoenix’s Grant Hill are former Orlando Magic teammates…Antawn Jamison and Steve Nash played together in Dallas…Jamison and Suns Head Coach Mike D’Antoni represented the United States in FIBA World Championship play in 2006…Suns’ rookie DJ Strawberry played collegiately at the University of Maryland.

Wizards-Lakers team connections

Wizards forward Caron Butler was a Laker for one season in 2004-05…Butler averaged 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in 77 games for Los Angeles, but was dealt to Washington with Chucky Atkins for Kwame Brown and Laron Profit prior to the 2005-06 season…Butler and Lamar Odom were teammates in Miami and were dealt together from the Heat to the Lakers in the trade that brought Shaquille O’Neal to Miami…Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson and Lakers guard Trevor Ariza were teammates in Orlando in 2005-06…Antonio Daniels and Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanovic were teammates in Seattle from 2003-05…Lakers forward Luke Walton and Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas were collegiate teammates at the University of Arizona.

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan discusses the team

Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan at practice today:

On tomorrow’s game: “I am looking forward to tomorrow’s game to see how disciplined we will be in the first five or six minutes. We need to have a good tempo, manage the game properly, and try to get good looks. We can make adjustments after that.”

On the Utah Jazz: “We have one of the best executing teams in the league coming in. They are very physical and are one of the best coached teams in the league. They are one of the best teams in the West. They may not have the glamour like some of the others, but they get the job done. They are very good.”

On Dominic McGuire: “He is beginning to do what he does best. He isn’t getting out of the realm of his strengths. He comes off the bench and gives us good energy. He is going to get offensive rebounds, run the floor, get deflections and tip-ins, and defend well. He is a good sized athlete that we like to have on this team. Every good team in the league has this sort of guy. He can probably cover three or four positions.”

On Caron Butler: “We are going to see him in shootaround tomorrow. We’ll go about an hour, run the offense and get into a four or five minute segment of live action. We’ll see how he reacts after that.”

On Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison possibly being named All-Stars tonight: “I hope. I don’t know. I would think Caron (Butler) is a shoe-in and Antawn (Jamison) has a very good chance. Anything can happen though. I am hoping they both make it.”

On the team: “It is a combination of both good front office and good coaching. We are picking and developing the players well. Ernie (Grunfeld) has done an excellent job of acquiring guys such as Antawn (Jamison), Gilbert (Arenas) and Caron (Butler). I think our coaching staff has done a good job putting them in situations where they can be highly successful and develop them at the same time. It is a combination of the entire organization doing a good job. That is what this league is all about.”

Wizards-Raptors team connections

Wizards captain Antawn Jamison was drafted 4th overall by Toronto in 1998, but his draft rights were immediately traded to Golden State for the draft rights to #5 pick Vince Carter.

Raptors guard Juan Dixon was drafted by Washington 17th overall in 2002 and played three seasons with the Wizards.

Wizards assistant Dave Hopla was a basketball development consultant for the Toronto Raptors last season.

Wizards guard Roger Mason Jr. formerly played for the Raptors.

Jamison rockin a 20-10

Antawn Jamison enters play today as one of just two players in the Eastern Conference averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. The other — Orlando’s Dwight Howard — will start for the Eastern Conference in next month’s NBA All-Star game. In the last ten years, only two players have averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for a team with a winning record at the midpoint of the season and not been in the All-Star game; Carlos Boozer (22.2 ppg, 12.0 rpg) for the 27-14 Utah Jazz in 2006-07, and Chris Webber (22.8 ppg, 10.3 rpg) for the 30-11 Sacramento Kings in 2002-03 — both of whom were selected as All-Stars by the coaches, but did not play in the All-Star game due to injury.

Brendan Haywood talks free throws

Washington Wizards center Brendan Haywood on his improved free throw shooting: “For me it has been about getting my elbow up. It’s about locking my elbow in, extending it and getting it so that my follow through has nowhere to go but straight and long. When I do that I am going to miss short and long, not all over the place like when my elbow kicks out. Even when I miss I know how to correct it, whereas in previous years when I was having a bad stretch I was just hoping and wishing.”

Haywood on assistant coach Dave Hopla: “I definitely think he’s helped me out a lot. He met with me in Charlotte and we have continued to work everyday. Even in games he’s always talking about different things as far as balance and getting my elbow up. He will even tell me if I had a bad make because he knows that you need to have consistency when you are working with bad habits like I had before.”