These days, it always comes back to Cleveland.
With the Wizards ravaged by injuries, on Wednesday one Cleveland native, Washington coach Flip Saunders, called upon another Cleveland native, 33-year-old Earl Boykins, to help stabilize the backcourt one week before playing — you guessed it — the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But Boykins isn’t focused on that game yet. First, he took time to soak in his ninth different NBA team after spending last season with Virtus Bologna in Italy. Boykins said his former Golden State teammate, Gilbert Arenas, welcomed him with, “You’re back.”
“That’s sort of how I felt,” said Boykins, who was unaffiliated and had been working out in Denver. “After a year away from the NBA, now I’m back where I belong.”
Saunders has been watching Boykins — at 5-foot-5, and 133 pounds, he’ll reclaim the smallest player in the league honors from 5-9 New York guard Nate Robinson — defy the odds since he was a teenager. The two also faced off when Saunders was in Minnesota and Boykins played for the Nuggets. He’ll be pressed into his first action for Washington on Saturday against Detroit.
“He goes up and you think, he’s going to get [his shot] blocked, and all of a sudden he just shoots it a little bit higher,” said Saunders. “It’s that theory that you can always shoot it higher than they can jump.”
Perhaps more crucial for Boykins (career averages of 9.4 points and 3.4 assists per game) is relieving Gilbert Arenas, who had a career-high 12 turnovers in Tuesday’s loss at Miami.
“I think Gilbert, at times, presses,” said Boykins. “When Gilbert relaxes and he plays and enjoys the game, he definitely plays much better. I’m here to make that job easier for him, get him back to just having fun on the basketball court.”
