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Yet another Wizards player is dealing with a nagging injury at training camp, so ... yay? Trevor Ariza joined Otto Porter and Trevor Booker on the sidelines yesterday with a sore calf, though not the same one he injured last year.
The good news is that Ariza's injury doesn't seem like a big deal. Via Michael Lee:
"He was pretty good today," Wittman said of Ariza. "It was an encouraging sign, coming after last night. It was a little bit of soreness, a little, so we kept him out. With him having the problem that he had last year, with straining it, and missing the time he did, we erred on the side of caution with him."
That's all well and good, but it's odd how the Wizards seem to have the most nagging injuries during camp. Porter and Booker haven't played at all at George Mason -- Porter because of an injured hip and Booker with a sore knee -- and the Wizards already don't have Emeka Okafor and Chris Singleton. Even the perpetually banged-up Minnesota Timberwolves escaped their first training-camp practice without nagging injuries (note: not including Chase Budinger needing another surgery on his injured knee).
It's also a little weird to hear about the Wizards being cautious with injuries and then read a Wittman quote like this, from Lee's blog post:
"I talked to this team as a group, where we have to grow and teams that do make it into the playoffs, teams that do win in the league, you know everybody in this league plays hard. You play hard when everything is comfortable, but are we going to be a team that plays hard when things become uncomfortable? Are we going to be a team that perseveres through tough times. That's what today is. ‘My body is sore.' Are you going to fight through it? Are we going to use the day and make sure we get together? And that's the step we need to make as a group. Days like this, you've got to pick each other up and pull guys through that. We'll see. Tomorrow will be another one of those. They haven't done anything as strenuous as this in any workout that they've had all summer. You get back here, it's a whole ‘nother level. Your body is going to be sore and I want to see from a mental standpoint fight through those situations."
Little odd to talk about pushing through soreness while simultaneously letting three players sit with ... soreness ... isn't it?
To be clear: caution is always a good strategy. Just worried that these nagging injuries will impair the Wizards' preparation.