It looks like the Wizards will be without forward Caron Butler for a third game when the Utah Jazz come to town Friday at 8 p.m.

Butler strained his left hip flexor in Sunday's 105-102 overtime loss in Milwaukee and then watched from the end of the bench in street clothes as his teammates outlasted the Raptors 108-104 in overtime Tuesday night in D.C. Butler didn't make the trip to Toronto for last night's game and he was sorely missed as the Raptors handed the Wizards their worst loss of the season, 122-83.

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said Tuesday night that he planned to evaluate Butler in today's practice, but the team's leading active scorer didn't attend practice because of a bout with the flu. Right now he's supposedly a game-time decision, but someone from the team who spoke with him a few minutes ago said he sounded pretty bad. So, look for Washington to welcome Utah and it's prolific offense (105.2 points per game -- fifth in the league) without Butler and his 21.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals a game.

The Wizards, meanwhile, are hoping for some good news tonight when the NBA announces the reserves for the All-Star team at 8 p.m. on TNT. Both Butler and Antawn Jamison are candidates to make the squad.

- Mike Jones

The Wizards just announced that they will be without forward Caron Butler for tonight's game at Verizon Center against the Toronto Raptors.

Butler suffered a strained left hip flexor in Sunday's 105-102 overtime loss to Milwaukee. Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said Butler will probably miss tomorrow night's game in Toronto and that the team will play it by ear from there.

The Wizards have Thursday off and then play host to the Utah Jazz on Friday.

Butler is enjoying a career year, averaging 21.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals. Jordan said third-year forward/center Andray Blatche will start in place of Butler. Blatche has spent the majority of the season coming off the bench as the Wizards' backup center.

- Mike Jones

An hour before today's game against the Bucks, the Wizards learned that Milwaukee will be without the services of shooting guard Michael Redd. The Bucks leading scorer (23.0 points) was ruled inactive with a left knee strain, which he suffered when landing after a third-quarter dunk against Toronto on Friday. Then 30 minutes later the Bucks announced that backup forward Charlie Villanueva (9.4 points, 4.8 rebounds) would sit with a low back strain.

"It's going to be other guys stepping up," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "I felt good about where we were coming in today, we've been prepared to play this game with Michael and as soon as they said, 'No Michael Redd,' I got more nervous."

Jordan rattled off a list of players he expected to pick up the slack with Redd out, with center Andrew Bogut (13.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg) and point guard Mo Williams (16.5 ppg, 6.7 apg) leading the way.

Homecoming for Butler

Tonight's game seems like a home game in a way for Wizards forward Caron Butler, a Racine, Wisc., native. Butler said he had to come up with almost 50 tickets for family and friends.

"It's always exciting looking to your left seeing your mom, looking to your right seeing your grandmother, aunts and uncles and everybody, so it's always good coming back here," Butler said. "But you still gotta stay dialed in. So I try not to get caught up in the crowd too much. So, I just go out there, try to play hard, look angry and hope nobody in the crowd screams your name and throw you off your game."

-- Mike Jones

The Wizards learned before during pregame warmups that Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol won't start because of a sore back. Gasol is Memphis' second-leading scorer with 19.1 points per game to go with 8.9 rebounds. In his place will start Juan Carlos Navarro, whom the Wizards selected in the second round of the 2002 draft. Navarro, until this past summer, chose to remain with his professional team in Spain. But this offseason he agreed to a buyout with FC Barcelona. The Wizards, however, didn't have a need for another shooting guard and traded his rights to Memphis for a conditional draft pick in next summer's draft.

Butler not sweating his spot

With the release of the All-Star starters yesterday, plenty of speculation looms over who will make the trip next month to New Orleans as reserves. Wizards small forward Caron Butler (21.5 points, 4.3 assists, 2.3 steals -- all career highs) is believed to be a lock. Teammate Antawn Jamison, despite 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds (second in the Eastern Conference) is believed to be more of a fringe player because of a lockjam of standout forwards this season.

But Butler said before tonight's game that the chatter over his status hasn't been a distraction.

"That stuff will take care of itself; just go out and win games," Butler said. "Just play basketball, win games, make the playoffs and win a championship. That's the big picture."

Butler says he doesn't even know who he would pick if he were to draw up his own Eastern Conference squad.

"I haven't been following one particular player or been paying enough attention to know," he said. "There are a lotta guys I like. I love Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter. Obviously, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce. Rashard Lewis has been playing great basketball. So many guys out there have been playing at a high level over the course of this season.

"Joe Johnson, Josh Smith," Butler continued. "You can go to each team and pick two guys that have been playing at a high level. Gerald Wallace, Jason Richardson. Ben Gordon.

Not paying attention to the pre-All-Star jockeying is nothing new for Butler.

"I didn't pay attention last year, either," he said. "They were telling me I had a shot, and I was listening, but not really focusing on it. This year I'd be just as happy and just as shocked if I made it. But I'm not tuned into no TV trying to get a sneak preview. I'm just sitting back, humble as possible and playing basketball. We'll see what happens next week."

The All-Star reserves will be announced Jan. 31.

-- Mike Jones

O.K., so that started off with a bang. First Wizards game I cover and they stink up the joint, looking nothing like the team that beat Boston (twice) and Dallas (handily) this month. A coworker suggested that maybe I'm bad luck for the Wizards. I guess we'll see. If they get mauled by the Grizzlies, coach Eddie Jordan might have security ban me from Verizon Center.

But in all seriousness, I expect the Wizards to bounce back in a big way tomorrow night. I guess it's possible they were playing over their heads, at such a high level, and after a blow like the one the Cavs dealt them Wednesday night, they might struggle to get their groove back. But nah, I don't think so. Wednesday night was probably nothing more than a stutter. Cleveland seems to have Washington's number, having bounced them from the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, but the Wizards aren't 36 points worse than the Cavaliers. Look for a better effort when they meet again Feb. 22 in Cleveland.

Boston's weak link ...

So Boston is definitely looking a little less invincible these days having gone 6-4 in their last 10 with losses to Charlotte, Washington and now Toronto. Leading the way in Wednesday's 114-112 Raptors victory was the must underrated point guard in the league, Jose Calderon, who had 24 points -- including 5-for-5 shooting from 3-point range -- and 13 assists. Toronto had three other players surpass the 20-point mark in the defeat. There's a common theme to Boston's seven losses. Opponents with strong point guard play have won. Rajon Rondo just doesn't have it yet for the Celtics. The pickings are slim, but maybe Boston should try to bring in a veteran point guard to join Pierce, Garnett and Allen.

2001 do-over?

Michael Jordan probably wishes that were possible. Because Tyson Chandler is 949,483,948,493 times better than Kwame Brown, the high schooler Jordan and the Wizards took first overall, just ahead of Chandler. Chandler is averaging 12.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks a game and he, along with Chris Paul, is a big reason why the Hornets -- yes, the Hornets -- own the best record (29-12) in the West right now. And how is Kwame doing these days? He had a chance to make some noise with Andrew Bynum hurt in L.A. Instead, he's been straight garbage, mustering 5.4 points and 5.4 rebounds a game while invoking savage boos from the Laker faithful.

Who is Mike Jones?

I was asked yesterday by a reader if I could give more information on my background. I was born and raised in Warrenton, Va., about an hour from D.C. I got my start in journalism as a freelance sportswriter for The Fauquier Times Democrat while I was a junior in high school. Two years later I got a job writing fulltime at The Fauquier Citizen -- which two years ago was purchased by the Times Democrat and folded -- while attending Lord Fairfax Community College. After seven years at The Citizen, the last five as sports editor, I joined The Washington Times as a copy editor. I saw it as a great way to get my foot in the door at a major newspaper, and wrote features on the side as much as I could. The plan worked and 20 months later, I'm covering the Wizards. So there, that's my background in a nutshell.

-- Mike Jones

Alright, so let's get this thing going.

First off, my name's Mike Jones -- yeah, yeah, I know, "Who?" But yes, that's my name, and no, I'm not a rapper. I'm the new Wizards beat writer for The Washington Times, and I'm more than excited to begin this new chapter and glad to have you along.

You may, or may not have, seen my name before. For almost two years now I've been masquerading as a sports copy editor while writing the occasional feature and, most recently, the weekly NBA Report while waiting for my call to the big leagues.

Almost 10 years after I started writing for one of the papers in my hometown of Warrenton, Va., as a junior in high school, aspiring of some day landing a gig like this, here I am.

I take over for veteran NBA writer John Mitchell, whom everyone down at Verizon Center -- Wizards players, coaches and officials, P.R. people and competing reporters -- all describe as a legend. J-Mitch spent 10 seasons covering the Wizards for The Times, so I have a lot of catching up to do. "You've got big shoes to fill," the aforementioned crowd has reminded me repeatedly during the past week I've been shadowing Mitchell. But I'm not going to try to be him. That's impossible. What I will do however, is go all out the best way I know how and try to take you inside the Wizards, beyond the post-game highlights and box scores.

While welcoming me to the beat, fellow reporters have told me, "This is a fun team to cover." And it's taken me no time to see that. Last week it was Gilbert Arenas cracking jokes about Antawn Jamison to interrupt Jamison's interview with the media. This came after Jamison joked that he was going to sing Mitchell the old Boyz II Men song "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" as a farewell gift. A few days later, the veteran Wizards recounted a tale of dumping rookie Nick Young into a tub of ice water for shooting off at the mouth. Then on Tuesday rookie Oleksiy Pecherov interrupted another Jamison interview, screaming in his thick, Ukrainian accent, "MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER!" right after Pecherov had challenged Caron Butler to a shooting contest.

Yes, this will be a fun team to cover. And tonight it starts in full force with a matchup in Cleveland against LeBron James. Let's get it on!

-- Mike Jones

This just in from the Wizards: Antonio Daniels, who missed the last seven games with a right MCL sprain, will start tonight at home against the Detroit Pistons.

The Wizards went 3-4 with Daniels sidelined, but won their last game against the Miami Heat.