Kwame for Caron--lookin' better all the time

I was diggin' through the crates of old Automoplane posts on Les Boulez and came across this one that made me smile: my initial reaction to the Kwame-Caron trade.

It's amusing for two reasons:

• I actually express disappointment that we landed Caron and not Quentin Richardson. I'm just astonished I ever wrote this.
• I go on for about 4,000 words about how Caron can't hold a candle to Larry Hughes.

I mean, wow. When's the last time you heard Larry or (cringe) Q-Rich mentioned as All-Star candidates? I was very wrong and I'm very happy about it.

I can't quite describe the way I and I imagine other Wiz fans feel about Caron Butler. It's a feeling of such unmitigated positivity that you can hardly believe it--like you keep trying to think about a catch but there just isn't one. He's fast, he's strong, he plays hard, he's intense, he's consistent, he's one of the toughest guys in the NBA, he's efficient, he has a really good jump shot, he can get to the hoop, he rebounds like a big man (8 rpg), he's unselfish (3.8 apg even though he doesn't have the ball in his hands too much), he's the team's best free-throw shooter, and he's a great guy.

The only negative thing I could possibly think of to say about him is that he's not really a three-point threat. Other than that, you could basically line him up next to Scottie Pippen and in an exhibit called "this is what you want your small forward to be." Like Scottie, he's just the perfect position player--not a megastar like others at that position have been (Barry, Doc, Bird, King and now Carmelo & LBJ), but a prototype of the position who does his job flawlessly. Bill Simmons sometimes talks about what guys bring to the table vs. what they take off it. Caron, like Scottie, is a guy who brings everything while taking nothing off.

I liked Quentin Richardson more than this guy?!? Really?!? If I were sent back in time and put in charge of the Wizards, I think I would find a way to acquire Richardson and package him with Kwame for Caron if that's what the Lakers were asking (they weren't, thankfully). I could not be happier.