The Wizards and Caron Butler got another sign of encouragement today when the All-Star forward felt good enough a day after practicing for the first time in three weeks to take part in this morning's shootaround.

"He's feeling better, and that's a good sign," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said before tonight's game. "He's just not ready to play tonight. We're going to practice tomorrow, see how everyone's feeling and hopefully be ready Thursday."

Jordan was asked how much hope he actually had these days and laughed before replying.

"I'm just trying to give you guys something to hold onto. I keep saying, 'No comment, no comment.' But, he is practicing, so I can talk about him, and it looks like he's making progress."

Rookie Oleksiy Pecherov will not play tonight. He rolled his ankle and was walking around with only a sock on his left foot at the end of yesterday's practice. He is listed as day-to-day.

-- Mike Jones