Miller out 7-10 days with shoulder sprain
The media learned the initial diagnosis of Mike Miller’s left shoulder sprain from Wizards head coach Flip Saunders before the rest of the team did after Wednesday night’s loss to Miami, leaving reporters to fill in some of the players in the locker room later.
“How long’s he out?” asked Brendan Haywood. Answer: 7-10 days. “Damn. It’s tough to develop the chemistry until we get everybody out there for long stretches. But injuries are something we’ve had to play through in the past. We’ll continue to play through it, and at some point, we’ll get everybody out there and we’ll see where we’re at.”
Miller is the third Washington starter to be sidelined already this season, with Antawn Jamison still one to three weeks away from returning after dislocating his right shoulder and Caron Butler having missed one and a half games with a kneecap bruise.
For his part, Miller was upbeat despite having his arm in a sling.
“It’s not where I want to be,” Miller said of his range of motion. “But that’s to be expected. Hopefully, I’ll be a quick healer.”
With Miller out, Randy Foye likely will move back into a starting role against Indianapolis (1-3). The Wizards (2-3) also will need more at both ends out of Butler, who was unhappy with himself after making three of his game-high five turnovers against the Heat during the first quarter, in which Miami led by as many as 19 points.
“I wasn’t satisfied with my play, in particular today, and got caught watching the show instead of being part of it a little bit more and deferring too much,” said Butler, who is third on the team in scoring (14.0 points per game) but is shooting under 40 percent. He’s shot better than 45 percent from the field in each of his four seasons in Washington under former head coach Eddie Jordan.
“Caron’s a rhythm player,” said Gilbert Arenas. “In the old system, he had enough time to get into his mojo and shoot those shots. In this system, you have to get a lot of catch and shoots, so the first initial shot he has, he doesn’t usually take it, and then everything just closes up from there. He’s just got to get used to catching and shooting.”
Said Butler: “I know my role. It’s just you adapting to the new situation and having guys back. You just got to stay aggressive and always be aware.”
