The 2011 NBA Draft is creeping closer each day and, not surprisingly, this has led to a rampant uptick in pre-draft workouts all around the NBA world.
One of the more interesting workouts happening today will be located in Waltham, Mass., as the Boston Celtics workout a slew of big men with the ability to stretch the floor. The Celtics will workout VCU's Jamie Skeen, Wisconsin's Jon Leuer, Old Dominion's Frank Hassell, Temple's Lavoy Allen, Richmond's Justin Harper and Oakland's Keith Benson according to the Boston Herald.
Butler's Matt Howard -- who isn't currently projected to be selected later this month according to every 2011 NBA mock draft worth reading -- was also scheduled to be in attendance for the Celtics' first pre-daft workout, but he's apparently decided not to ship up to Boston.
"A lot of times the guys you are interested in don't come in for a workout," Celtics president Danny Ainge told the Herald. "When you pick at (No.) 25, sometimes the guys you like think they are going higher."
Hopefully Ainge wasn't referencing Howard thinking he'll be selected higher than the 25th overall pick as he's probably more in the market for the Celtics second round pick -- 55th overall -- when the draft date of June 23 rolls around.
More workouts after the jump!
The Milwaukee Bucks are hosting their first workout of the year on Wednesday as well, and unlike the Celtics, they were able to lure a couple of first round big men prospects in the form of Kansas's Marcus Morris and Georgia's Trey Thompkins. Along with those two, Gery Woelfel reports the Bucks will also workout Virginia Tech point guard Malcolm Delaney, College of Charleston shooting guard Andrew Goudelock, Nicholls State swingman Anatoly Bose and Marquette University guard Dwight Buycks.
Bose and Buycks could be an interesting match-up if only because they're two of the domestic names no one wants to be drafted for the sake of their spell checkers.
The Indiana Pacers will hold another round of workouts on Wednesday featuring Buycks' former backcourt mate with the Golden Eagles in Jimmy Butler. Along with Butler, the Journal Sentinel reports Ohio State's Jon Diebler, UCLA's Tyler Honeycutt, Duke's Kyle Singler, the D-League's own Jamine Peterson and France's Joffrey Lauvergne will be in attendance.
My next way too long piece on an NBA Draft prospect will probably feature Peterson, by the way, unless anyone has requests involving a player that's not widely known.
The Washington Wizards conclude Wednesday's whirlwind of workouts with a class that's set to include Colorado's Alec Burks, Washington State's Klay Thompson, Texas's Tristan Thompson, France's Andrew Albicy, UTEP's Randy Culpepper and Purdue's JaJuan Johnson according to an e-mail in my inbox.
Since this is a blog typically dedicated to the D-League, Culpepper vs. Albicy is the match-up I'm most interested in, but Burks and the Thompson's are all three in play for the Wizards pick at 18th overall.
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