The Washington Wizards have split up their front office as they take a look at several key prospects in preparation for the 2011 NBA Draft. General manager Ernie Grunfeld remains in Washington D.C. for the time being to watch a series of workouts at the Verizon Center, with Thursday's six-man group being headlined by Kansas forward Markieff Morris. Assistant GM Tommy Sheppard, however, is overseas taking a look at several international prospects in the Adidas Eurocamp in Italy over the weekend.
Prior to that camp, top international big man prospect Bismack Biyombo has been holding a few individual workouts in Spain. Every team picking in the 3-18 range has been invited, and according to ESPN's Chad Ford, pretty much every team has stopped by or is stopping by Thursday. That is, every team except the Wizards.
Interesting workouts today: Jazz, Raptors, Pistons, Warriors in Vitoria Spain to watch Bismack Biyombo workout ... Biyombo workout is not run by teams but by his personal trainer Pepe Laso. Afterward, each team gets 1 hour to interview him ... A number of other teams have already been to Spain to see same thing. Basically everyone drafting from 3 to 18 with exception of Wizards ... Not sure why Wizards skipped. They were invited. May catch him in Treviso on Saturday. Same workout.
The Wizards have been scouting this week -- according to Draft Express, Sheppard was on hand to watch Jan Vesely in the Serbian League Finals -- so it is odd that they reportedly passed on an invitation to see Biyombo in a private workout. They will see him with everyone else on Saturday.
Biyombo is projected to be a top-10 pick after dominating this year's Nike Hoops Summit.