Thank You, Juan Dixon

A bit of sad news from Wizards Insider in the wake of last night's loss to Miami.

The Wizards' injury-plagued season got worse on Saturday, when Juan Dixon returned after missing the previous five games with soreness in his right Achilles. Dixon had five points and three assists in 20 minutes but headed toward the locker room after Dominic McGuire subbed for him with 7:18 left in the game.

"I really appreciated his effort," Tapscott said. "He probably shouldn't have played. I don't think I'm think I'm going to be able to use him for the rest of the year because he strained it."

Ed Tapscott certainly wasn't the only one that appreciated his effort, both in yesterday's game and this season as a whole.  Juan Dixon's effort has remained constant all season, even though his minutes have fluctuated.  Whenever he was called on to take some minutes at guard (such as last night when it seemed like just about every guard on the roster got injured, including Juan) you knew that he'd be ready to come in and do what was needed.  Granted, he couldn't always come in and do what was needed in an effective and efficient manner, but he'd always bust his tail trying to help the team whatever way he could.

It's a shame that his season is going to come to an end in this manner, and it's an even bigger shame that it's likely the way that his NBA career will come to an end, since his one-year, veteran's minimum contract runs out at the end of the season.  There's always an outside chance he could land a gig somewhere next season, but I just don't think that there's that many open roster spots for 30 year old players who struggle for minutes on a team that's 18-60.  That's just the way it is.

Knowing that it was probably going to he his last game in the D.C. area, I was going to suggest that Juan Dixon start next Monday's home finale as a chance for Wizards and Terrapins fans alike to show their appreciation for his career.  Since it doesn't look that will happen, and with today being a day to honor some of the unsung players in the NBA, I think this would be an excellent time to give Juan a long, standing ovation, in a sharing-of-memories-on-a-blog kind of way.