Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards basketball operations and coaching staff have worked out over three dozen NBA prospects in the past two weeks. Wizards Photos

It’s commonly called a “work-out”, but perhaps “work-in” is more appropriate. The dozens of athletes that put that their games on display under the watchful eye of Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards basketball operations staff in the weeks preceding the June 24th NBA Draft will be trying to do exactly that - work their way in. Into the Draft, into the first round, or into the lottery, for a legion of players from high schools and colleges nationwide, and countries spanning the globe, work-in time is now at MCI Center.

In the age of early-entry and international phenoms, nobody flies under the Draft radar anymore. The increasingly complex world of scouting and drafting sees every available tool used to gauge the potential of a multi-million dollar investment. However, in the way that e-mail may never fully replace the thirty-seven cent stamp, traditional scouting methods will probably never go out of style. And to that end the prospects are invited to DC, to strut their stuff under the most scrutinizing of eyes, no longer in an arena of thousands of adoring fans, but in a gym of no more than 15 people, working as hard as they ever have in order to convince that they are the one.

All of the Wizards' workouts have the same basic elements. Prior to each session each athlete is weighed and measured, first without shoes and then with. After wing span and standing reach measurements are recorded, the all-important vertical jump is conducted to measure both standing and running one hand verticals. With the measurements in the books, strength and conditioning staff and training personnel guide the players through a warm up before basketball drills begin. Serving a dual purpose as a warm up and an agility test, players are well into the workout before a basketball is ever touched.

The next segment of the workout puts the athletes through dribbling drills; a basic set for the post players in attendance and a more rigorous test for the prospective guards. Crossovers, hesitations, inside outs, through the legs and behind the back, if you can do it this is the time to show it, if you can’t, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Shooting drills are next for the professional prospects; 10 shots from five spots (50 total) to test accuracy and range. With a Wizards staffer calling out the success rate after each shot (“one for one”, “one for two”, “two for three”), all eyes turn to watch a shooter in the midst of a particularly impressive or unimpressive performance.

Nearing the midway point of the workout, some form of two-on-two basketball ensues. The format varies, but the concept remains the same. In a drill that encompasses all of the previously touched upon aspects (agility, ball handling, shooting), an interesting dynamic emerges. Consider a recent sharp-shooting guard in attendance: does he continue to feed the post and watch his teammate score at will on their counterparts inside, or is it time to show the onlookers his shooting form and off-the-dribble ability?

It’s important to win, but in the team game of basketball, a strong individual performance is necessary at workouts. Workout groups average four players at a time. Smaller groups play one-on-one rather than two-on-two, and the action becomes even more intense.

"We don’t want to see anybody get hurt," yells Wizards assistant Mike O’Koren. "You have a career ahead of you."

At the conclusion of the half-court games, with weary bodies teetering near exhaustion, a full court lay-up drill tests stamina and a trail of sweat traces a path from end to end. As coaches love to see if a player can perform well when tired, another round of shooting drills follows. Forty seconds at a time, jumper after jumper rains.

With a body language suggesting that “it’s finally over” but the mind wondering “was it enough”, the players retreat to the Wizards locker room. Removing the jersey without a name, it can only be hoped that theirs is not forgotten.

"The evaluations that we do in these workouts is just another tool in the evaluation process that we have been doing throughout the season," said Grunfeld, the team’s President of Basketball Operations, who is one of the 30 men league wide that ultimately hold the fate of the prospective pros. “"For those players that were in college, we’ve been watching their growth and development for two or three years. If they come in and don’t have a good workout for us, that doesn’t mean that we don’t like the player. In workouts you can’t see how they handle themselves in game-type situations. That is why this is a long process. This has been going for a long period of time."

When 59 names are called on draft night, NBA general managers will likely experience the same feelings time and time again. "We got our guy" or "we liked him too" or "we weren’t going to take him anyway", there will be surprise picks but no surprise players. Drafting is a science, and workouts are one of the tools of the trade.

"We’ve done our homework, and we’re very prepared," said Grunfeld. "It’s always good to have them in so that you can meet them and look them in the eye and put them through some of these drills, but that is not going to shoot someone from the fifth spot to the twenty-fifth spot in our rankings. We do a lot of background checks, a lot of character checks, and a psychological test like most teams do. We do a very thorough investigation of all of these players not only on the court, but off the court."

With the homework done, and the tests taken, the only thing remaining is the final grade.