Wallace, Thomas receiving tryouts

Wizards filling summer roster

By Mike Jones (Contact) | Thursday, July 3, 2008

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Georgetown point guard Jonathan Wallace and George Mason forward Will Thomas are among a group of players who will attend a summer league minicamp with the Washington Wizards late next week in an attempt to make the team's summer league roster, according to a team source.

The Wizards' Andray Blatche (a fourth-year forward) and a trio of second-year players - guard Nick Young, forward Dominic McGuire and forward Oleksiy Pecherov - have spots on the team, which will compete in the NBA's Vegas Summer League from July 14 to July 20. The team's 2008 first-round draft pick, JaVale McGee, and 2006 second-round pick Vladimir Veremeenko, who last year played professionally in Russia, also will play on the team.

Wallace, Thomas and another eight to 10 players will train at Verizon Center for three days hoping to make the 12-man roster.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Wallace last season averaged 10.7 points and 2.6 points a game for the Hoyas as a senior. Thomas, a 6-7, 230-pound senior, led George Mason with 16.1 points and 10.4 rebounds last year.

Baltimore native and College of Charleston point guard Dontaye Draper, former Indiana standout A.J. Guyton, former Massachusetts and Virginia swingman Gary Forbes and Fairleigh Dickinson forward Mike Peeples also are expected to try out for the team. Other hopefuls include former Wake Forest forward Vytas Danelius from Lithuania, Winthrop forward Taj McCullough and Drexel center Frank Elegar.

Additional names could be added to the list of prospects. The Wizards will release the final list Monday.

After signing team captain Antawn Jamison to a four-year, $50 million extension Monday and extending a six-year, max deal worth up to $127 million to point guard Gilbert Arenas on Tuesday morning, things were less hectic at Verizon Center on Wednesday.

The team is waiting on Arenas to decide whether he will accept the max or take a lesser number to give the team more flexibility to make an additional move. Arenas told the team he will wait until Tuesday, when the NBA releases the salary cap and luxury tax figures, before making his decision so he can know how much the Wizards have to work with and how much money he will “leave on the table to help the team.”

Arenas is in China for a promotional tour with Adidas and then will make stops in Barcelona and Berlin to promote the NBA and the Wizards' preseason games in each city. Traveling with team strength coach Andrew Cleary, who oversees the guard's knee rehabilitation, Arenas checked in with the team Wednesday and said his international tour had started well.

Teammate Roger Mason Jr., the team's only other unrestricted free agent, flew out Wednesday afternoon to visit one of seven potential suitors. The Wizards, New Jersey Nets and the San Antonio Spurs are three of the teams interested in Mason, but the guard - who last season averaged 9.1 points off the bench and shot a team-high 39.8 percent from 3-point range - referred all questions to his agent, Mark Bartelstein. The agent declined to disclose which team Mason visited Wednesday or what other teams have contacted his client.

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