Tonight's game thread is below this post. Scroll down to participate. -MP
WASHINGTON - A giddy Javaris Crittenton was in the middle of a sentence when Antawn Jamison wondered why he was so excited.
"Why you talkin' like that?" Jamison said, while imitating Crittenton's 'Definitely, definitely!'
"Man, that's how I talk," Crittenton responded, with a smile on his face.
That might actually be how Crittenton normally talks, but he had reason to be excited. He participated in shootaround today and said he should be practicing normally within the next couple weeks.
"I don't really have a timetable, because they don't want to tell me something and then I can't step out in that time. They don't want to get me too excited," Crittenton said, smiling. "But I'm anxious to get back out on the court, so I would say, with how I'm feeling, [I should be practicing] in no more than two weeks."
Crittenton initially injured his left foot over the summer in an Atlanta Pro-Am league. He then came back to participate in training camp, but sat out after four days. He then had surgery on the foot October 23 (he remembered the exact date), and was in a boot and a cast until two weeks ago.
You might recall how Crittenton expressed some frustration that he wasn't able to get the surgery sooner than he did. He admitted tonight that he was just really frustrated about being injured at the time and also admitted that he rushed back early in training camp in order to try to make an impression on new coach Flip Saunders.
"That's definitely the reason I came back early [in training camp]," he said. "I still felt like I could play, I wasn't completely hurt like that, I didn't feel completely hurt. But I was like 'Man, I still can move, and as long as I can move, I'm going to come out here.' I wasn't about to miss out on the opportunity when I could still run around and jump."
Crittenton is returning to a backcourt that has become even more crowded with the emergence of Earl Boykins. He said he hopes to bring a defensive presence to the court, picking up guys full court, and said that this time period essentially his training camp.
"I didn't really get a chance to showcase [myself] in training camp. I played four days," he said. "Now, it's almost like training camp for me again. I'm trying to earn my time."