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Pouring Some Tuff Juice Out for Caron, One of the Five Best Wizards Since 1985
By Jamie Mottram | February 16, 2010
Caron Butler played four-plus seasons for the Wiz before going to Dallas, averaging 19 points per game and making three playoff appearances and two All-Star rosters. He was a good player with a great nickname and even better back story, and Ernie Grunfeld got him for a song named Kwame Brown.
It’s enough to make him one of the five best Wiz/Bullets of my life as a fan, which, dates back to ‘85 or so. “Best” is a highly subjective term though, so I’m defining it based on five criteria: quality of play, quality of team, longevity, likability and interest/intrigue. Here’s the list:
1. Gilbert Arenas
2. Chris Webber
3. Antawn Jamison
4. Caron Butler
5. Jeff Malone
Honorable mentions: Juwan Howard, Rod Strickland, Bernard King, Moses Malone and Larry Hughes
That’s my list at least. The sad part? It’s so thin that new Maverick Brendan Haywood almost gets a mention. Sadder still? No. 3 will probably, hopefully be sent packing by Thursday’s trade deadline.
They’ll be missed, but it’s time now. They did good, relatively speaking.
(Stop by the Mothering Hut to pick up a Tuff Juice tee for old time’s sake.)
Topics: Caron Butler, Infinite Sadness, Wizards | 13 Comments »
February 16th, 2010 at 11:42 AM
No love for Never Nervous Pervis? ;)
It is an amazingly thin list, surprisingly so.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:46 AM
There is nothing honorable about Rod Strickland. For shame.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:51 AM
Ha, Pervis just missed the list, as did Gheorge.
And c’mon, UM, Rod was pretty good (again, relatively speaking).
February 16th, 2010 at 11:55 AM
This is beyond depressing.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Manute Bol and Bernard King still hold special places in my Bullets heart.
I would love to see the bottom 5 of the list. Ruffin makes mine simply for that loss against Toronto. “NO..not possible!” is still in my nightmares.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:32 PM
You just reminded me that I’ve spent the past 25 years rooting for a sub par to mediocre franchise.
That being said, I was a big Terry Catledge, Frank Johnson and John Williams fan in the late 80s.
Only change I would make to the list is I’d have Bernard King and Moses ahead of Caron and Jeff.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:57 PM
I love me some Bernard and Moses too but the former was filling it up for bad teams and the latter was only a Bullet for two seasons while Caron and Malone were repeat All-Stars for perennial playoff teams.
February 16th, 2010 at 5:28 PM
T-Catledge is getting SHORT-SHRIFT here. :(
No Hot Plate love, either?
February 16th, 2010 at 9:44 PM
No love for Googs?!?!
February 17th, 2010 at 12:10 AM
Could the season possibly get worse aside from a few less W’s? Which will be hard to come by with the roster we’ll be left with by week’s end.
February 17th, 2010 at 8:59 AM
Caron was a very good player for us who, in addition to ridding us of Kwame, was sacrificed from what eventually became a championship Lakers team.
I echo the Googs comment, even though he hit is stride elsewhere. Hot Plate was a true heart-breaker. Could have been great if he could have dropped the chalupas. As for Rod Strickland, he’s still the best point to never make an All-Star team. It had nothing to do with his play — a legit 20 ppg/10 apg in his prime — but his attitude. He’s done nice work shaping Derrick Rose and now John Wall, though.
February 17th, 2010 at 4:52 PM
Googs, Bernard King & Gheorge EACH had more heart & desire than Webber, Juwan & Rod COMBINED.
What about Rip? MJ @ 40 was as good as Larry Hughes….
Only thing to note here – if we’re including the other 1/2 of the game (i.e., defense), you may have to leave Antawn off the list. Hands down the worst clutch defender in the league, also a black hole on offense (as was Jeff Malone). Great guy, love him and all that, but…
February 17th, 2010 at 8:47 PM
That’s a good point about defense, which I didn’t put too much stock in (hence Gil’s No. 1 status).
Still, I don’t know that ‘Tawn and J. Malone’s deficiencies there knock them out of the top five.
Also, any mention of Googs, Hot Plate, T-Cat and/or Gheorge gets a +1. Thanks for the feedback, guys.