NBA Draft: Stanley Johnson called training with Kobe Bryant the “hardest workouts of my life”

CHICAGO — His eyes lit up as he recalled the experience, Arizona forward Stanley Johnson fondly remembering exactly what it felt like to train last summer with Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

“The hardest workouts of my life,” Johnson said here during the NBA pre-draft combine.

So even if the Lakers were not among the initial teams to interview Johnson, the former Mater Dei standout still has an early glimpse on what it be like to team with its star player.

“He’s going to be hard on me for sure,” Johnson said of Bryant. “He didn’t give me no excuses because I’m a rookie. He’s going to expect a lot out of me as a rookie. I get to compete with him the days he practices. I know I’m going to get a great leader out of him and he’s going to expect me to do well because he wants to win since it’s his last year. He wants to win and so do I.”

Johnson also has worked with another person connected to the Lakers, though it hardly matches the fanfare that Bryant attracts. Johnson met former Lakers coach Mike Brown, whose son, Elijah, also starred at Santa Ana Mater Dei. Then, Johnson received informal advice from Brown, who coached the Lakers in the 2011-12 season before getting fired after five games the following year.

“Mike has been good to me. He never asked me for a dime. I asked him for help from everything. I’m an honest guy and he is a straight shooter,” Johnson said. “The first time I met him, he told me, ‘I’m going to help you out with your game. But if you want me to come to you and be sweet with you and not to tell you the truth, I’m not the right guy for you.’ That’s the kind of guy I want around me. Anytime I have a question for him or he’ll hit me up or hit him up and he’ll be honest with me.”

Whether Johnson’s connections to the Lakers involves wearing an actual uniform appears unpredictable for too many reasons to count.

The most pressing: the Lakers are not even assured of retaining their top pick. If the Lakers land out of the top five in next week’s draft lottery in New York, they will owe the pick to Philadelphia as part of the Steve Nash deal. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said he has four interviews scheduled with prospects on Friday, though it is unclear if Johnson is one of them.

“My family is a Lakers family. I always have wanted to play for the Lakers one day,” Johnson said. “As a little kid, that’s a dream. But right now it’s about business and what’s right for me. I want to play for an organization that likes me the best. Even though the Lakers are the hometown for me, it is what it is. It’s a business and I respect them. They respect me. If our paths cross one day, that would be awesome. If they don’t, we’ll move on that way.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers finished with a 21-61 record, the NBA’s fourth-worst record and worst in the franchise’s 67-year-old history. That marks a stark contrast to what has happened to Johnson, who guided the Wildcats to the Elite 8 of this year’s tournament and won four CIF California Division I basketball championships with Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Yet, Johnson stressed that he would feel just as enthusiastic helping a rebuilding projects, such as the Lakers.

“It’s about winning the day and honoring the process,” Johnson said. “Every time you get into a situation, you want to win the day. Even if you don’t do as well as you thought you were, you have to get better the next day. As long as I’m getting better and becoming a better player, winning and losing happens. As long as you’re doing the right things every day, you’re going to be fine.”

After winning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors by averaging 13.8 points on 44.6 percent shooting and 4.4 rebounds, Johnson currently feels he needs to improve his shooting both from the perimeter and mid-range. But Johnson called himself “the best player in the draft. At 6-foot-7 weighing 245 pounds, Johnson also said he feels comfortable playing at shooting guard, small forward and power forward, while also assuming ball handling duties.

Johnson also remained upset about Arizona losing to Wisconsin in the Elite 8.

“I wasn’t happy about it,” Johnson said. “I’m still not happy about it. I won’t ever be happy about it.”

Sounds like something Bryant would both appreciate and believe himself.

RELATED:

NBA Draft: NBA TV’s Stu Jackson chooses Anthony-Towns over Okafor

NBA Draft: NBA TV/TNT analyst Grant Hill assesses Lakers’ draft needs

Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com