HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Caron Butler

Hi people,

I want to start off by saying we are not going to give up. I know things are not going the way we expected them to go, but I’m still optimistic we will turn this thing around. We have to remain positive and believe we’re capable of winning games. If you take a close look at our season so far, you’ll see we’ve lost five or six games by four points of less. We’re not that far away from being a good team. We have good enough personnel. I truly believe that. If you don’t believe it, it’s over with. You always have to stay positive in the NBA.

With all the losses, there’s always typical stuff that will come up. The criticism, the rumors… I really don’t care much about that. When you’ve been in the NBA for a few years, you know rumors are just part of the show. Your name is going to be thrown out there. Some people will make it look like you’re not happy with your team. I don’t pay attention to that. It’s business as usual for me.

Even though my numbers are a little down this season, I know I can be an effective player for the Wizards and do whatever I’m asked for. I still can give you 20 points, 7 rebounds and some assists while guarding some of the best players in the league. I know I can do that. I’m not concerned about the trade rumors.

I’ve been traded a couple of times before in my career. That did nothing but give me extra motivation. Look at my track record… Every time I was dealt, I had better years with my new team than I had with the old one. You don’t want to get traded, but you can turn it into a positive. I know I did.

FAMILY CHRISTMAS, FINALLY

This year I will finally be able to spend Christmas with my family. It wasn’t that way the last two seasons. You try to have fun with your teammates in those situations, but it’s always hard not to have your loved ones around you those days. At the same time, you’re providing for them. So you feel good about that.

Maybe it’s a little bit of old news at this point… But since I haven’t blogged for a while here, I would like to talk a little bit about late Wizards owner Abe Pollin. That man truly was one of the best people I’ve ever known in my life. Ever since he traded for me, he cared about me. And he told me he cared about me. He was just an unbelievable person. He helped me a lot off the court. And you just have to look at what he did in the community to know he was a special person. You will be missed, Abe.

Not much more to say. Enjoy Christmas!

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First off, to the fans who are a little down about the two straigh losses I have to say… Look at it this way: This season is going better than the last one. Yeah, that might not be saying much considering we’re coming off a 19-win year, but I’m feeling good about our prospects.

I’m not down about the losses or the injuries. My teammate Brendan Haywood was wondering the other day about our team possibly being cursed, looking at all the things we’ve had to go through. I have to disagree with Brendan. There’s no curse here. Stuff just happens. Especially when you’re a team that competes hard and plays with great effort, you’re going to have situations with guys going down to injuries. We’ve had a bad run health-wise, that’s true. But that can’t last forever. We’re going to have Antawn Jamison back soon and with the way Gilbert Arenas is playing, we’ll be good.

Gil said earlier this week that I needed to be more of a catch-and-shoot player in this system with Flip Saunders now in town. You know what? I’m going to adapt to any situation. If it’s about coming off screens, catching and shooting now, I’ll do that.

NAPS AND TATS

The last few years, I’ve been among the league leaders in minutes played. I’m probably among the league leaders in minutes slept too. I’m a guy that’s big on naps. On game day, I routinely get naps of two and a half or three hours before heading to the gym. It helps you out a lot as far as getting your mind fresh and being energized for the game.

Like many other guys in the NBA, I’m big on tattoos too. I may not be a league leader there, though, because I have just four of them. The tat that means the most to me is the one on my left arm. It says “Rest in Peace, Kailo”. That’s my cousin who died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. I grew up with her and although she’s no longer here, I keep her with me.

The most tattooed player on the team has to be DeShawn Stevenson. He had that much talked-about Abraham Lincoln tattoo on the neck this summer. That’s crazy to a lot of people, but not to me. I respect him if he wants to do that. It’s a way for him to celebrate what Lincoln did with the slaves. Myself, if I had to get a tattoo of a president, that would probably be Barack Obama. I’m a big supporter, but you probably know that already.

THE AI SITUATION

I feel bad about the Allen Iverson situation in Memphis. I just wish him the best. To me, he’s one of the best ever to play the game. Besides, he’s a really good dude. I’ve been in the NBA for a while and that gives you the chance to know a lot of guys. And he’s one of the guys that I really respect. I looked at him growing up because of the way he handled adversity, which in a way helped me handle my own. I saw what happened to him – getting incarcerated and then blossoming to become what he is today. I went through a lot of the things he had to go through, so he was an inspiration. I truly have a great deal of respect for him.

I’ll be back bloggin soon. Bye!

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Hi everybody,

Since Gilbert Arenas no longer wants to blog, I guess it’s my turn now. You can read me here throughout the season with my thoughts on the Wizards, the NBA and more. So here were go. Hope you like it.

You know this has been kind of a different preseason for us in Washington. We had a coaching change and that obviously affects the whole thing. Besides, I see a more focused team this time around. I mean, this locker room is still unlike any other I’ve been in the NBA in that guys are real fun, we have a good time and root for each other. But it’s a little different from years past. I definitely think we’re a championship contender now and my teammates do too, so there’s a more serious approach to things that maybe wasn’t there before. Not as many jokes and laughs as in previous seasons.

The key thing for us is that we have all our guys healthy. Gilbert is showing more and more flashes of his old self. You have already seen that in our preseason games. Some days he’s been more of a facilitator, but against Detroit he was more aggressive. Can’t tell you which version of him I like the most. To me he’s a star and mostly and fourth-quarter guy. He can both create for others and then kill it in the last minutes. Either way, it’s great to have him back.

With Gilbert, myself, Jamison, DeShawn, Haywood, Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Oberto (nice pickup) and the rest of the guys, I think we have more than enough to compete with the big dogs in the East. Now we just have to get it done. Boston and Orlando would be great to beat, but you know I have a special place in my heart for Cleveland for putting us out all those years in the playoffs.

It’s a good rivalry we have with them, but there’s no actual hate. I wasn’t raised to hate nobody. I respect LeBron James and the rest of them. In fact, I speak with LBJ often. That said, I tell you right now that Mike Miller, whom I love, has to take those LeBron shoes off. That’s just not acceptable around here. You heard that, Mike!

I followed the offseason moves of other teams with interest. Everybody tried to get better. Atlanta with Jamal Crawford, Boston with Rasheed Wallace, obviously the Cavs with Shaq… And the Lakers getting Artest. He’s going to give them defense and rebounding and not just that because he’s a two-way player. It’s going to look good for L.A. if you put him together with Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and the best player in the last decade in Kobe Bryant, who’s one of my closest friends in the league.

Anyway, I’m not scared of anybody. Look out for the Wizards. This is a big year. Guys came in the best shape of their lives and we’re really motivated to go out there and prove doubters wrong.

Talk to you soon. Bye!

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