The Butler Factor

Phew. For a second there, I though the Wizards were orchestrating one of the all-time great collapses. They were comfortably the 5th seed a week ago and downshifting before the playoff surge. The downshift, however, fizzled into a stall out. A hurt Caron Butler, a scrappy Bucks team, and an unconscious Ben Gordon left the Wizards in a five-game funk and leaving us fans with flashbacks to Rod Strickland the Wizards of the 90's.

But these are not our Wizards of the 90's. Not only did they clinch a playoff birth yesterday by handily beating LeBron and Cavs, they show me that they are going to be something to be reckoned with in the playoffs. And not just because of Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison. There's a new face in town: Caron Butler. The Bully. The Brat. The Byron Mouton. He's what the Wizards need to combat the powers of the East. He's got the toughness and swagger that Larry Hughes couldn't exhibit if he worked for the Smithsonian. It was a painfully obvious sign that the 5-game losing streak directly coincided with Butler's 5-game injury absence. And remember who we gave up for him? Kwame, the last of the Michael Jordan project. Don't worry, Lakers. I made the same mistake 7 years ago when, in my first fantasy basketball season ever, I inexplicably was talked into trading Kevin Garnett for Doug Christie, Shawn Bradley, and Tom Gugliotta. You can be talked into anything, if you don't know what you're doing.

So, I expect the Wizards to beat the Bucks at home on Tuesday, as do the Wizards. Then, they'll go on to Detroit and beat their backups to lock up the 5th seed. Then on to Cleveland, where I see a more experienced, deeper team to come out victorious. That team will be the Wizards, spoiling LeBrons inaugural playoff appearance. And then come a team we've already beat twice this year, the Pistons. Thank God it won't be Miami.