By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan is preparing to play without injured center Etan Thomas and injured forward Michael Ruffin for "at least another week." Thomas has not played since spraining his left ankle in a loss to Houston on Dec. 9 and Ruffin has not played since re-injuring a sprained right foot in a loss at Dallas on Nov. 21.

The injuries to Thomas and Ruffin combined with the absence of forward-center Darius Songaila, who is still recovering from lower back surgery and isn't expected to play until after the all-star break, has left Jordan with a rotation that primarily consists of seven players.

The problem is that starters Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, DeShawn Stevenson and Brendan Haywood and top reserves Antonio Daniels and Jarvis Hayes are playing heavy minutes, and an injury to any one of those players could be disastrous, particularly during a stretch like this week's, when the Wizards play four games in five nights.

"Right now, in December, it's okay as long as we don't sustain any injuries, or any more injuries I should say," Jordan said. "Something we've talked about as a training staff and a coaching staff is: How long can this go on?"

Jordan isn't comfortable using reserves Roger Mason Jr., Donell Taylor, Calvin Booth, James Lang and Andray Blatche, all of whom average less than seven minutes per game, and said he will continue to ride his top seven as long as he can.

"Right now, the spot duty guys aren't showing me enough to give them quality minutes," Jordan said.