2014 NBA Draft Diary: Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson

Hello,

I’m Lamar Patterson from the University of Pittsburgh.  It’s May 24th and I’m reporting in from my 8:50am flight from Las Vegas, NV en route to Philadelphia, PA to work out for the 76ers. My travel kit consists of basketball sneakers, my toothbrush, iPad/iPhone and my Beats headphones.

To catch everyone up with how the pre-draft process has been for me, I’ve been working out at Impact in Las Vegas. No, there aren’t 60 players there. We have a good group. I’ve pretty much been there since my season finished. Since I was already a graduate, I packed my bags and got there as soon as possible. Last week I had the opportunity to attend the NBA Combine in Chicago. It was a great experience and I’m grateful for the opportunity. At the combine I met with eight different NBA teams. It was awesome because I was able to let the different scouts, coaches, and GMs know who I am as a person. I believe those sit downs work in my favor since I’m an easy guy to converse with and also easy for people to fall in love with. I spent five days in Chicago at the combine. After doing the on court workouts, the team interviews, medical testing, and NBAPA meetings I feel well aware of the different NBA guidelines.

After the combine was over I hopped on a bus and headed over to the Bulls training facility, which is about 40 minutes from downtown Chicago. I worked out for them that Monday. The workout went pretty well because my shot was falling and it’s always a good day when your shot is falling. After the workout I had a quick sit down with the head coach, GM and assistant GMs before I hopped on my flight to LA. In LA I participated in the Clippers big group workout. We actually had the chance to play 5-on-5. The feedback from teams was better than I expected. I feel like that was an All-star game, which isn’t my specialty, but hey, the teams liked me so that’s all that matters. I met with four more teams in LA. Then hopped on a flight to Vegas spend 2 days there and now I’m in Philadelphia, PA.

Looking at my schedule, I have plenty more adventures and opportunities coming and I will continue to update the world on my pre-draft experience. Always remember that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard and I am definitely working extremely hard all day every day during this process.

Sincerely,
Your Next Favorite NBA Player (hopefully) Lamar Patterson

Follow Lamar on Twitter: @LP21_
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