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f22egl · 02-20-2008, 10:15 AM

The Washington Wizards

PG - Antonio Daniels
SG - DeShawn Stevenson
SF - Antawn Jamison
PF - Andray Blatche
C - Brendan Haywood

The Cleavland Cavaliers

PG - Larry Hughes
SG - Ira Newble
SF - LeBron James
PF - Drew Gooden
C - Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Quote:

Butler, Thomas both have setbacks for injury-plagued Wizards
By JOSEPH WHITE, AP Sports Writer
February 19, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bad news from the medical front keeps piling on for the Washington Wizards, who reported setbacks for both All-Star forward Caron Butler and center Etan Thomas on Tuesday.

Butler missed his sixth consecutive game Tuesday night after another flare-up of his strained left hip flexor during the morning shootaround.

Butler missed eight of 10 games before the All-Star break -- as well as the All-Star game -- with the injury, and the Wizards had hoped he would be able to play after the long weekend of rest.

"He went pretty long in practice yesterday," coach Eddie Jordan said before Tuesday's game against the New York Knicks. "He went further along in practice than he had in the past.

"And yet we started shootaround, and that was enough. So there is some progress. There's going to be some setbacks here and there, and it was a setback."

The Wizards are 2-7 without Butler this season and had lost eight straight before a last-second win over the Los Angeles Clippers just before the break.

Jordan said he hopes Butler can return by the end of the week.

Thomas was cleared to have contact in practice Monday for the first time since his open-heart surgery in October. While Thomas' heart is fine, the workout showed that his sternum has yet to fully heal after being broken during the 4 1/2 -hour operation.

"He's going to have to get used to the contact, and that's going to be hard to do," Jordan said. "We went through some contact, and he felt he took a shot and he didn't really like the experience of that pain, so we might not see him for a while in some contact drills. We're going to give him some more time."

Also, point guard Antonio Daniels said he was going to have to live with his ankle injury for the rest of the season and that it might require surgery over the summer. Daniels missed two of three games before the All-Star break.

"It's about getting through this for me right now, just pushing the pain aside a little and being who I am," Daniels said, "trying to do a lot of strength work to get my acceleration back and my explosiveness back."

The Wizards need Daniels to play because Gilbert Arenas continues to recover from knee surgery. Arenas participated in light, non-contact drills Monday and hopes to return in March.

Daniels said he might have to take it easy in practice at times to get through the rest of the season.

"That's something that me and Coach Jordan have to talk about and discuss," Daniels said. "The most important thing for me right now is being here with my team."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

byrondarnell66 · 02-20-2008, 11:55 AM

Not looking forward to this game, it could get ugly real fast. I'm just not going to waste a Friday evening looking at this lousy mess we call a Wizards team coached my an Idiot named Eddie Jordan.

byrondarnell66 · 02-21-2008, 07:18 PM

Cleveland, Chicago and Seattle Trade

Quote:

CLEVELAND -- At 2:59 p.m., one minute before the deadline expired, Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry called NBA officials in New York to say he was making a major trade. Two, actually.

They must have been surprised.

Ferry was dismantling his team.

In a complex, 11-player swap involving Cleveland, Chicago and Seattle, Ferry dealt half his active roster to acquire center Ben Wallace and forward Joe Smith from the Bulls, and forward Wally Szczerbiak and guard Delonte West from the SuperSonics.

LeBron James wanted help to win an NBA title. Ferry got it for him.

"I didn't think we were good enough to win the championship," Ferry said, explaining his motives for the move. "I thought we had a very good team. But I do believe if we have a chance to make ourselves better we should try.

"Was it a risk in doing so? Yes, it was a risk. But we're going to have to make some decisions that have some risk in them if we want to continue to build and grow."

Unable to finalize major deals in the past, Ferry pulled off a colossal one at the 3 p.m. buzzer. He sent guard Larry Hughes, forwards Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons, and guard Shannon Brown to Chicago for Wallace, one of the game's top inside enforcers, and Smith, a versatile veteran.

Who's Going Where?
Cavaliers get:
Bulls F/C Ben Wallace
Bulls F Joe Smith
Bulls 2009 2nd-round pick
Sonics F Wally Szczerbiak
Sonics G Delonte West
Bulls get:
Cavaliers F Drew Gooden
Cavaliers G Larry Hughes
Cavaliers F Cedric Simmons
Cavaliers G Shannon Brown
Sonics get:
Cavaliers F Ira Newble
Cavaliers F Donyell Marshall
Bulls F Adrian Griffin

Cleveland also acquired the sharpshooting Szczerbiak and West from Seattle for forwards Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall, two expendable parts. In addition, the Cavs will get Chicago's second-round pick in 2009. The Sonics will receive guard Adrian Griffin from the Bulls.

**afireinside** · 02-22-2008, 02:58 PM

I was reading the WashingtonWizards.com game blog and the blogger is reporting that the new acquired players for Cleveland won't be playing tonight. That means they are down to 8 players. Not sure if that's with the two d-leaguers they just signed (one of them is Billy Thomas, former Wizard for short span).

This might be the only game in awhile that we aren't out-manned in.

**Brandname** · 02-22-2008, 06:23 PM

Yes, we have 6 of our normal players playing in this game + two D-League players we signed today.

Big Mike · 02-22-2008, 07:44 PM

WTF was that Stevenson.

.Another great play drawn up by E.J. to finish the game.

f22egl · 02-22-2008, 08:17 PM

The Wizards simply have no closers on the team without Arenas and Butler. By closer I mean someone who can create his own shot, someone who gets respect from the referees, and someone you can draw an iso play down the stretch.

On the last play, Stevenson made his move to the basket too late. If EJ told him to make his move later rather than as soon possible, then he is the one to blame.

Jamison did not play smart either. He took too many jumpers and was unable to take advantage of Cleavland playing small.

EJ also did not take advantage of having a deeper bench as he barely played Young, McGuire, and Pecherov.

Big Mike · 02-22-2008, 08:28 PM

Jamison is the so called "LEADER" of the team he should yelling at E.J. to get those guys to give him the ball late in the game even if hes having a bad shooting night. I don't trust Stevenson or Daniels late in games they try to do too much with little success. It was just a bad, bad, call by EJ. Dumping it down to Haywood, Jamison or even Songaila would've better options. Jamison had a bad game but hes your best option get him the ball.

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