NBA Draft: Emmanuel Mudiay calls the NBA “a point guard’s league”

Their storied championship history suggests the Lakers should use their No. 2 draft pick on a big man. But the Lakers are currently wrestling with that idea, aware that the NBA has become something that Emmanuel Mudiay pointed out.

“If you look at every team, they have a pretty good point guard,” Mudiay said on Thursday after working out at an athletic club in Reseda. “I feel like it’s a point guard’s league.”

Mudiay admitted he would “love to get drafted high.” But Mudiay, who played professionally last season in China, stressed he is not arguing he should be selected ahead of Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns or Duke center Jahlil Okafor. It is expected Minnesota will select Towns with its No. 1 pick, while the Lakers will pick Okafor, who worked out with the team on Tuesday.

“It’s not my decision. It’s the team’s decision. Whatever they want to go with, that’s on them on if they want a guard or if they want a big. Wherever I go, that’s where I’ll go,” Mudiay said. “There’s nothing I can say about that. I’m not going to go to a GM’s office. Whatever the team wants to go with, they’ll go with where they are most comfortable.”

Mudiay believed he has made a few teams comfortable.

He worked out last week for the Lakers and this past Tuesday with the New York Knicks. Mudiay will also work out in Philadelphia (June 16) and Minnesota (June 20). But Mudiay still held a private workout on Thursday viewed only by members of his agency, Rival Sports Group, and a handful of reporters.

There, Mudiay completed plenty of full-court and half-court drills that showed off his ball handling, strong finishing and athleticism.

“I definitely feel like I’m good in that area,” Mudiay said. “I can be better in that, too. But it’s not something you can show as much. They really want to see how you fit in the system and your shooting.”

Mudiay showed off his shooting, taking many three-point shots, mid-range jumpers and free throws. But he appeared pretty streaky. Mudiay often went in spurts where he made a handful of shots before seeing most of them rim out. He also shot only 37.4 percent from 3-point range and 57.4 percent from the foul line last year with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association. That somewhat soiled the rest of Mudiay’s production that entailed averaging 17.7 points on 54.5-percent shooting, 6.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists.

“My shooting, that’s been the biggest knock in me. But I’ve always been confident in shooting,” said Mudiay, who said he has increased his reps and altered his shooting stroke. “That’s one thing I’ve had to fix. Getting more reps up makes you more comfortable. When I get a rhythm, I’m really really comfortable with my shot.”

In general terms, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak downplayed any concerns regarding the shooting accuracy with Okafor, Ohio State guard D’Angelo Russell and Mudiay.

“I don’t think that’s a concern. I really don’t,” Kupchak said. “I’ve seen many broken shots in the league where if they are at a certain age, you cannot correct it. I don’t see that with any of the three players that we brought in to date. I know there are some that shoot better than others and there are some rumors that maybe one or two of them don’t shoot as well as the others. But I don’t have a concern that three or four years down the road they won’t be excellent shooters.”

With all that work, Mudiay hopes he can eventually shoot as well as Golden State guard Stephen Curry, who won the NBA’s 2014-15 regular-season MVP award after leading the league in 3-pointers made (84). But Mudiay believes his strong playmaking and athleticism will already make a significant difference after modeling his game after former Lakers point guard Magic Johnson, who won five NBA Championships in the Showtime Era.

“Everybody loved playing with him because he made everybody better,” Mudiay said. “As a point guard, that’s your goal to elevate everybody’s game. You never saw anybody complaining when they were with Magic.”

Mudiay admitted he still has plenty to learn on running an offense.

When he met with Knicks coach and former Lakers guard Derek Fisher for dinner, some of the conversation centered on the triangle offense.

“It’s challenging. But the more you get into it, the more you understand it,” Mudiay said. “I feel like I can adjust and adapt to any system or any style of play. I can play in a half court system.”

Mudiay also believed he could thrive under the Prineton-based offense that Lakers coach Byron Scott runs. Both systems put less emphasis on pick-and-rolls and more emphasis on dribble handoffs, spacing and shared ball handling duties.

“If I were to go there,” Mudiay said of the Lakers, “I would be in the film room with him and whoever it is to teach me how the run their stuff.”

It sounded like he already received a head start with both teams.

Mudiay gushed about having dinner with Scott and his assistants after his Lakers workout last Saturday. There, Scott shared the similarities and differences among the star point guards he coached in Jason Kidd (New Jersey), Chris Paul (New Orleans) and Kyrie Irving (Cleveland).

“Coach Scott helped me with a lot of things on the court and off the court,” said Mudiay, who respectfully declined to share specifics. “He gave me some good advice for my career, whether it’s with him or not.”

Mudiay spent plenty of his dinner peppering Fisher with questions on how he thrived in the triangle offense as a key role player for the Lakers that won five NBA championships.

“He’s a real good person. Him just coming out of the NBA, I feel like he will teach me a lot whether I go to that team or not. It’s just him as a person. He always likes to help other people,” Mudiay said. “Why wouldn’t you want to learn? He’s a winner. He’s a proven winner.”

Mudiay believes he will soon prove himself a winner, too. Hence, why he believes any NBA lottery team should select him.

“I love to win,” he said. “If any team wants to win, I’m a competitor. Regardless of who I’m playing, if I’m playing a five year old or a grown man, I always want to win.”

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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