There was a lot of speculation and conspiracy theories among fans regarding why Amir Johnson didn't get into Wednesday's game against the Jazz, but A. Sherrod Blakely cleared the air today:
And maybe most important to Joe Dumars, [Theo Ratliff] won't take minutes away from Jason Maxiell or Amir Johnson, who had a serious head cold the other night before the Utah game when I talked with him. He should be good to go on Saturday against the Clippers.
I'm a little surprised it took so long for the explanation to come out, but then again, it's possible none of the beat writers thought it was that odd to begin with. Even when Maxiell was being worked into the rotation last year, he'd often have a random DNP-CD tossed in there for no known reason. And while Johnson has played well of late (A.S.B. penned a longer article about his emergence yesterday), he's hardly a permanent fixture just yet.