True to his word, Andray Blatche organized the first in a series of players-only workouts for the Washington Wizards as the lockout continues. For Monday, though, there were only two others in attendance: Chris Singleton and Hamady Ndiaye. Rich Duboff of the AP reports.
"Most of the guys live in LA — they were like 'too long of a flight,' "Blatche said. "A lot of the guys backed out at the last minute."
Many of those guys -- six, to be exact -- are instead playing in the Impact Basketball league in Las Vegas. (On that front: the Wizards' team plays at 6:30 today, and there's no stream unfortunately). Blatche said he's hopeful that John Wall and Rashard Lewis, who evidently are both joining the Impact team only for the second week, will show up tomorrow.
This, of course, raises a number of questions about the players who aren't there. Trevor Booker is in Israel, so his absence makes sense. Kevin Seraphin is at Eurobasket, of course. Mo Evans is kind of busy with lockout stuff. I'm not sure where JaVale McGee is, but I know he was in Los Angeles most of the summer, so he might also be going to Las Vegas.
Really, I'm talking about Jan Vesely. This informal setting seems like a really good way for him to bond with teammates, and I worry a bit that he's not there. There could be a very valid explanation of course, but he's the missing person that stands out.