Pretty much every member who will have any influence regarding the Lakers’ draft choices sat along the team’s practice court, watching intently on every prospect that went through drills.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak sat by the scorer’s table along with coach Byron Scott. Lakers scouts Ryan West and Jesse Buss were nearby. Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss was in attendance as well.
But there was one significant person missing. Kobe Bryant was not at the Lakers’ practice facility on Monday during NBA draft workouts after making an impromptu visit last week. The players noticed.
“If he was in here right now, I’d probably be nervous as a wreck,” Nebraska junior shooting guard Terran Petteway said. “I’m glad he wasn’t at my workout. I’d be nervous. That would be crazy having him watch us work out. That would be big time.”
Petteway already reported feeling giddy about working out with the Lakers, marking his 11th training session in front of NBA teams.
“I’ve been a Lakers fan sine I was five or four,” said Petteway, though he grew up in Galveston, Texas. “I’ve been talking about this workout ever since I was coming here. It was exciting to come here and see all the banners hanging up and see all the little stars on the court. So it was big time for me.”
But Bryant’s presence would have loomed large, though Petteway insisted he has not felt overwhelmed about proving he is worthy of a late first-round selection in the NBA Draft on June 25 after making All Big-10 First Team honors.
“It’s not pressure,” said Petteway, who led the Big 10 in scoring his sophomore season at 18.1 points per game. “You’ve been playing ball all your life.”
Petteway will continue doing that in workouts this week in San Antonio and Detroit. He wants to show he can become an impactful player regardless of minutes with outside shooting and defensive intensity. But after already working out with 11 NBA teams, Petteway said nothing compared to his Lakers’ training experience.
“It was very competitive,” Petteway said. “These are the ones I like. I don’t like all the shooting. That’s cool. But I like to get after it with 1-on-1’s and 3-on-3’s. So it was fun.”
But perhaps not as fun for Petteway if Bryant stood on the sidelines watching.
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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com