Sportsgroove Workout Watch: Rice Makes Bid with Wizards

Ron Bailey, Publisher

Richmond's Tyrese Rice is certainly a 'Chief' on the court.

June 23, 2009 – In his quest to play professional basketball, senior guard Tyrese Rice worked out for the NBA’s Washington Wizards yesterday. With his position being unfirm for Thursday’s draft, the Richmond native was happy for the audition.

“It would be a great opportunity” said Boston College’s leader in points (16.9), assists (5.3) and minutes (33.4) last year, of playing with Gilbert Arenas and the rest of the Wizards next season. “Learn, and hopefully contribute. It would be great to learn from an NBA All-Star, and maybe one day I could be one too”.

Tyrese Rice (with ball) looked quick and talented during full court drills today.

Where will he likely be chosen? “Right now who knows” he replied. “They say early second round, they say late first…I won’t really believe anything until I see it on the 25th”. Given all that ambiguity, the 6’0”, 190 pound Rice is not planning a draft party. In fact, he noted “I’m thinking about going to the gym and not even watching the draft”.

Formerly truly a scoring point guard, Rice decided to forgo the draft last year, returning to lead Boston College to a 22-12 record and a NCAA Tournament. Of the school generally, he noted “It’s a great school, a great town, a great college town”, while saying of the ACC preparing him for pro ball “It definitely did. I mean, you see how many guys go pro out the ACC, you see how athletic guys are who come into the ACC. It prepares you for the NBA game”.

According to him, returning for his senior year and being a floor leader had less to do with proving himself a point guard, and more about “giving my team a better opportunity to win games. I saw what getting 25 or 30 could do for us my junior year, but having four people in double figures made for like 10 more wins. I’ll take the wins over the numbers any day”.

A capable shooter and penetrator, Rice can also find teammates in half court and open floor situations. He could come in as a back-up point guard, immediately bringing assists to the table – NBA rookies must be able to do one thing well. Defensively Tyrese, based upon his collegiate career can defend, but needs to focus upon strapping, particularly pressuring the ball.

Many franchises think he could help. “Half the teams in both conferences, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Miami, Memphis, Minnesota, I mean like 16 teams” shared Rice of his workout schedule.

If he’s undrafted, what about international ball? “If that’s what I have to do” he said, “then I’m going to have to take care of my business. But first option, I definitely want to be an NBA player”.

Where will this self described Team Richmond (AAU) alum, who also played several tourney’s with the Squire organization land? Stay tuned.

Notes:

Rice shot the ball well, as did the four other workout participants, Nick Calathes (Florida), Ryan Ayers (Notre Dame), Alex Ruoff (WVU) and Sergii Gladyr (Ukraine). Clearly the best ball patter, Tyrese was the only player considered a point guard, with Calathes and Gladyr likely projecting as shooting guards, and Ayers along with Ruoff being small forwards.

Ayres, a senior, whose dad was recently released from the Wizard’s organization as an assistant coach, termed it “kind of ironic” if in fact he was chosen by the organization, but also identified “a sense of comfort” with the team, given his familiarity.

Ryan Ayers ran the floor well during drills.

A former Playaz (AAU) standout, Ryan had nothing but love for that crew, led by Jimmy Salmons. “I grew up playing with Jimmy Salmons. I’m from Philadelphia and they are Jersey guys. It was nice playing for them, and my brother (Cameron Ayers) plays for them now, so it’s kind of like a real big AAU family with them”.

Calathes, a college sophomore, after labeling the session “a good workout” as “everybody went hard”, elaborated on his somewhat interesting draft status: “I signed a deal overseas, with Panathinaikos (a Greek A-Level franchise). I’ll be in the draft this year, but have to go over there for a year, a least…A team can buy me out after my second year”.

Given his contractual involvement, the goal of working out for teams centers around “Just showing people what I can do and compete”.

A holder of both American and Greek citizenship, Nick, who expects to be drafted Thursday, shared he left Florida because “I thought it was a great opportunity to play for one of the best teams over there, to play for one of the best teams in Europe; they won the Euroleague. I think get better, get stronger, and play basketball everyday”.

His departure from the Gators is not a negative reflection of that program, as “Coach Donovan taught me a lot, he’s one of the best coaches in the country”. Calathes indicated he simply thought “I was ready for professional basketball, and to take my game to another level”.