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Tuff Juice's newest flavor: Jalapeño

Just in case you haven't noticed, Caron Butler is hot.  Like reeeeeeeeeal hot.  Hot enough to get NBA Glue's player of the night award, and hot enough to possibly get another All-Star appearance:

Butler is averaging career highs in points (23.3) and field goal percentage (52.8) while helping the Washington Wizards overcome the absence of three-time all-star Gilbert Arenas. Along with Antawn Jamison, who is also putting up all-star numbers (22.6 points and 9.7 rebounds), the Wizards are a solid 7-7 going into Wednesday's game against the San Antonio Spurs.

In the last four games, Butler is averaging 31.8 points, and he's suddenly added a weapon to his game: a three-point shot. After making 18 long-range shots all of last season, Butler is already 14 of 30 from three-point land this season.

Want some more stats?  Here's a few:

  • Butler has a true shooting percentage of 61.4, better than Kevin Garnett, Carlos Boozer, and Amare Stoudamire.  
  • The only forward with a better free throw percentage is Joe Smith, and that's with 54 less attempts.
  • Caron has the highest points per game average in the league of anyone not in the top 25 of usage rate.  Scarier yet, he's not even in the top 50, sitting pretty at #52.
  • If graphics are more your thing, check out his hot zone chart:

While I'm not ready to say that Butler is the best player on the team, I think it's clear that he's one of the top forwards in the NBA.  I don't know if his play will be enough to get him into the All-Star game, but let's hope it is so he can get there and posterize someone bad enough to evoke a reaction like this...or at least get more features written about him.