Dominic McGuire: Showing His Skills for the Wizards

Dominic McGuire, who was granted in the starting lineup by interim head coach Eddie Tapscott, has made great strides toward becoming a solid NBA player.

McGuire, who was drafted 47th overall in the second round of the 2007 NBA draft, has arguably developed the best out of the five young guys on the Washington Wizards roster. Including Nick Young, Oleksiy Pecherov, JaVale McGee, Javaris Crittenton, and Andray Blatche.

The 6'9" forward, averaging 4.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, may not get all the credit he deserves. But he has great rebounding skills, is solid passer, and has good upside to him. McGuire may not get all the sexy statistics and may not hit all the big shots, but he does all the dirty work and works very hard.

With the development of McGuire, people are suggesting ''Well, if McGuire keeps improving, then maybe the Wizards can save some money and trade two-time All Star Caron Butler."

As great as Butler has been to the city and the franchise, he is injury prone and his salary may hurt the Wizards down the road.

Butler contract expires after the 2010-11 season. If Butler thinks to himself ''Hey, I am a great player; I want good money',' then the Wizards will be in a situation where they cannot resign him because they already have paid Gilbert Arenas $111 million and Antwan Jamison $50 million.

With owner Abe Pollin not wanting to pay the luxury tax, it would be likely that they may have to let Butler walk or trade him. So they have to make a important decision when that time comes.

This situation may be similar to what the Detroit Pistons had to go through. They traded away four-time All-Star Chauncey Billups to Denver in exchange for Allen Iverson. The Pistons made the move because they felt like Rodney Stuckey, a guy that has tremendous talent and played fantastic his rookie season, can lead them to the promised land. They believed he would save them some money and be a great point guard in the NBA one day.

If McGuire and Nick Young can start contributing to the Wizards and help win basketball games, then you can maybe trade Butler and get a great player back for him.