"You have to do it if you want to do your best in the draft," Mbah a Moute said. "Whatever happens, I'll have learned something."
Abunassar's is not the only training center that caters to basketball players. Another UCLA player, Russell Westbrook, is training in Santa Monica with Rob McClanahan, who is associated with agent Arn Tellem. Former Chicago Bulls trainer Tim Grover, who has famously worked out Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, has a similar business in Chicago where USC guard O.J. Mayo has been training. It is a brand new facility called A.T.T.A.C.K. Athletics Center and features plasma televisions and four NBA-sized courts.
Impact Basketball is headquartered in Las Vegas, but Abunassar often works out players on basketball courts placed inside the Home Depot Center's velodrome.
Last week Love, Mbah a Moute and Budinger were shooting while cyclists clattered around the wooden track above the courts. Love said the first question UCLA fans have when they see his slimmer, more muscled body is, "Why now and not last April?"
"It's an easy answer," Love said. "Now I'm working on basketball eight hours a day."
Abunassar said the first thing he does with a new client is get NBA feedback.
"No one questions Kevin's basketball knowledge or his passing and shooting skills," Abunassar said. "With Kevin, it is about playing angles, holding defenders off, defending guys bigger and quicker, and can he get in shape. NBA guys are asking, is he quick enough to guard this guy, that guy? Is his endurance good enough for an 82-game season?
"In Luc's case, his body is phenomenal, no one questions his body, his long arms and that he can defend. Luc needs to go to Orlando and knock down open shots. It's dribbling; shooting; shooting it consistently from the three-point line, show a little bit of range. That's what Luc has to do."
After Love finished his workout day last week, he flexed his arms and broke into a jogging position.
"I could keep on going," Love said. "At first I hated eating the chicken and asparagus and broccoli, the salads," he said. "But I can't lie. I feel way better now. This is the first time in my life I've been pushed into my second wind."
His aim Friday is simple.
"I'm going to blow the socks off scouts with some of my numbers," Love said. "I think people will be surprised at my vertical [jump], my agility numbers. No predictions. Just watch."
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diane.pucin@latimes.com
