Of course, welcoming the Wizards means a hello to Caron Butler, who has enjoyed some good times in Washington this year.  "We knew that he was going to be a real good player in this league.  At that time he hadn't established whether he was going to be a two or three," Jackson said, "but we knew his speed, his mobility, and his athleticism... We tried in every way possible to avoid trading him in the situation that brought us Kwame Brown." Download phil_jackson_12.17 on Caron Butler.mp3

Interesting response here regarding the Kwame/Butler deal.  PJ was asked if it worked out well for everyone, and never quite said yes emphatically, but didn't pan it, either.  "It gave us support we needed at that major role of a center," Jackson said.  "It's irreplaceable in this game to have big people that can play."  Download phil_jackson_12.17 on filling LO void, Kwame trade.mp3

As for Kwame's free throws, you get the impression from Jackson that it's a problem upstairs.  Brown just isn't comfortable at the line, and rushes to get out of that spotlight.   Or at least you hope he's uncomfortable, since he's shooting around 40%.  If everything was groovy, that would be bad.  Interesting stuff in here about how the offense runs without Kobe. (The first question deals with whether or not Jackson expects Kobe's shot total to continue rising in L.O.'s absence.)
Download phil_jackson_12.17 on offense, Kwame's FTs.mp3

BK

Both locker rooms were buzzing a bit about last night's Madison Square Garden brouhaha.  A few writers were talking about the "little man getting in your face" chip on the shoulder of Knicks point guard/resident midget Nate Robinson.  Assistant Coach Jim Cleamons reminisced about a teammate from his days playing with the Cavs back in the 70's.  The dude's name was Foots Walker- That  Cleamons had a teammate named "Foots" is fantastic in and of itself- stood about 5'11", and fancied himself the team enforcer, which is apparently how "the Dachshund" (How Mom once described Nate Robinson in terms of cuteness) sees himself as well.  "Get behind me" was the standing order from  'Ol Foots if anything ever jumped off.  They always say it's the little guy in a brawl situation that you gotta be scared of. In the case of Foots and "the Dachshund," that seems to be the case.

There's a new article out about Mo Evans, but he probably won't end up reading it.  Not that he's indifferent to what the media thinks of him, but it's a piece written by Elie Seckbach for Shalom L.A., and entirely in Hebrew.  Evans has absolutely no idea what the article says, but figures it must be complimentary, since he's all smiles in the accompanying photo.  "A picture's worth a 1000 words," laughed Evans in presenting a "how negative could it be logic?"  Ronny Turiaf grabbed the article and skimmed through it, facetiously claiming he had a gist on what was being said about Mo.  Then we reminded Ronny that Hebrew is read from right to left.

AK