Caron Butler: I'm confident about playing again this year

If the Mavericks make it to the next round of the playoffs, it will start in approximately two weeks. What are you thinking? Will you be back?

Man, I’m hoping and praying. That would put at somewhere between 18 weeks or so; it’s a four to six month process and I’m approaching the fourth month, so we’ll see what happens. But, I’m definitely confident about playing again this year.

When you’re out there testing your knee, how does it feel? Do you notice anything different compared to a few weeks ago?

I’m starting to get more and more confident in it. Your gait has changed when you have an injury so…and what I mean by my gait is my running stride. My strength and my confidence…I have to regain all that back and it’s like starting from ‘A’ and working yourself back to ‘Z’ but I definitely have people helping me get to that point. We’re working around the clock at it.