During the NBA season the media is lucky if they can catch a glimpse of the last few minutes of a practice, but even then, at best they’ll catch players working on free throws or some other tedious or unintersting aspect. However, with the Raptors inviting the media to the Air Canada Centre this month for pre-draft workouts, the media is given the treat of watching over a hour of an actual practice and then have the benefit of interacting with the players. On Wednesday afternoon I was able to head to the ACC to watch Ryan Anderson, Kosta Koufas, Robin Lopez, Drew Neitzel, Jeremy Pargo and Jason Thompson try to impress the Raptors brain trust. Here are some notes from what I saw and heard:

* Without question the top player I saw this afternoon was Robin Lopez. He was able to control the glass, completely took away Kosta Koufas’ ability to drive, showed a ton of hustle and did a great job of boxing out whoever was near him. During the three-on-three part of the workout Lopez was able to put a body on Koufas on each defensive possession and on the offensive end he was able to seal his man and steal some offensive rebounds. Lopez has an endless motor in him and at 11:30 am when the rest of the players were soaked in sweat and grabbing their knees during breaks he was showing the signs of his great conditioning.

* Besides his heart and conditioning, what impressed me about Lopez is that he looks to already have an NBA ready body. A lot of the players today looked like they would need a season working closely with the strength and conditioning team of whatever NBA team they get drafted by but Lopez looks to have enough muscle mass to be able to play decent minutes his rookie season.

* Someone who pleasantly surprised me this afternoon me was Ryan Anderson. He was able to nail some daggers from deep during the three-on-three scrimmage and he didn’t show any fear going into the paint trying to hit some lay-ups or grabbing some boards. I think he may be a bit of a reach for the Raptors at the 17th spot but he could be a steal for an NBA team late in the first round.

* Drew Neitzel showed some promise this afternoon but teams could shy away from drafting him due to worries about his size (6’0”). Despite finishing fourth all-time at Michigan State in assists and posting a sizzling assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.8/1 last season a lot of teams aren’t sold on him as a point guard. There have been a lot of comparisons to Daniel Gibson and after witnessing him first hand this afternoon I think that’s a fair comparison. At one point he hit three straight shots to win the game for his team but he wasn’t able to get his teammates open looks, something point guards in the NBA need to do to secure extended minutes. For Neitzel to stick in the NBA he may need to play alongside a bigger point guard for him to fit as an under-sized shooting guard or combo guard. With the Raptors shipping out Juan Dixon last season, a similar player to Neitzel, I would be surprised to see them take a chance on Neitzel even if they were able to obtain a pick in the second round.

* Midway through the workouts I looked over at the sideline and I realized how intimidating this whole process must be for these players. For today’s workout they have former NBA players Sam Mitchell and Alex English, Mitchell who was the Coach of the Year in the NBA two season ago, Bryan Colangelo who is a two time Executive of the Year, Wayne Embry and Maurizo Gherandini who are basketball icons as well as Mike Evans who is an assistant coach. Talk about being placed in a pressure cooker for two hours.

* I wasn’t able to hear the exchange to know what was said, but Sam Mitchell and Robin Lopez had a talk near the end of the workouts and Lopez was able to get the normally ornery Mitchell to crack a smile.

* After the workouts Raptors head scout Jim Kelly talked with the media about how tough it is to get all these players together at one time in addition to sharing his thoughts on Robin Lopez’s showing today. Click here to listen to the audio clip of Jim Kelly’s chat with the media.

* During the post-workout media scrum Robin Lopez joked with reporters about some of the epic games of one-on-one he had with his brother Brook growing up. Click here to listen to the audio clip of Robin Lopez’s chat with the media.

* After the workouts I was able to secure exclusive interviews with Jason Thompson and Drew Neitzel. Look for those to be transcribed as well as posted in Podcast within the next few days.

* Fellow Hoops Addict writer Rashad Mobley will be attending some pre-draft workouts in Washington and I’m hoping to attend a couple more workouts in Toronto so keep checking back for more of these pre-draft workout notes from myself and Rashad.