For the past month, the road to a professional basketball career has taken Derrick Low through the streets of San Francisco.

It could soon take him to Phoenix, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland and New Jersey, but he hopes it will end up on the corner of 7th Avenue and 32nd St. in New York, the address for Madison Square Garden and the NBA Draft on June 26.

Low — a 2004 'Iolani School alumnus and recent graduate of Washington State University — has been eating, drinking and sleeping basketball through an intense daily regimen in the City by the Bay. He's hoping the training pays off next week as he begins personal workouts with at least five NBA teams.

"Right now (the focus) is the NBA, that's the priority," said Low, a 6-foot-2 guard who helped Washington State advance to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in March. "The overseas (opportunities) will be there, but right now the first priority is the NBA."

Low said his agent, Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports Management in Beverly Hills, Calif., has made contact with five NBA teams interested in bringing Low in for a personal workout: the Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets. Low said the Los Angeles Lakers are another possibility, and they are looking at nailing down workouts for at least three other teams.

"He updates me all the time," Low said of Goldfeder, whose firm also represents NBA players Tyson Chandler, Arron Afflalo and Ricky Davis.

The private team workouts will be especially crucial because Low was not one of 65 prospects invited to the NBA's Pre-Draft camp, which starts tomorrow in Orlando, Fla., and runs through Friday. Low's father, Ken, said only 29 of the players invited to the camp were college seniors; the rest are early entries or foreign players.

After completing requirements for his bachelor's degree in communications, Low headed to San Francisco on April 29 to prepare for the draft under the watch of former University of Hawai'i standout Phil Handy and personal trainer Frank Matrisciano. The daily routine includes a two-hour morning workout concentrating on basketball skills, a late afternoon session outdoors either running on the beach or up San Francisco's steep hills, then late-night shooting in a gym — including up to 500 3-pointers.

"I feel stronger now, I don't get tired as fast," said Low, who is training with about seven other pro prospects. "It makes me mentally tough, because some days we're outdoors on the beach and it's real cold, unbelievably windy with sand blowing in our face, but we just have to get through it."

Low said the cardio and strength workouts do not involve weight training. Instead, they do things like running sprints in the sand, running with a harness and dragging logs up tall sand dunes.

"We run a lot of stairs and steep hills," Low said. "They call it 'chameleon training,' where you have to adapt to the environment."

Matrisciano said he has had players quit after one week or even one day, but Low has passed every test so far.

"First of all, he's a great kid, and he's also worked extremely hard and is doing great," Matrisciano said. "What we do in one day is what some guys do in one week at the college level, but everything we've asked Derrick to do, he's done. He's had no problems with anything and he's improved leaps and bounds. He's grown stronger, he's more cut."

The program includes a strict diet with lots of protein and grilled or baked chicken breast, black beans and grain bread.

A week after Washington State was eliminated in the Sweet 16 by No. 1-ranked North Carolina, Low participated in college basketball's 20th Annual Three-Point Shootout in conjunction with the Final Four in San Antonio. He had the second-highest total in the first round and made it to the semifinals.

Low then played in the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational pre-draft camp last month and reportedly got mixed reviews, but he doesn't consider his performance there to be a setback.

"I just had to be myself and I thought I did good," Low said. "It went cool ... I was playing point guard against some good competition."

Low played point guard for four years at 'Iolani, where he was The Advertiser's State Player of the Year three times, and during his first two years at Washington State. He switched to shooting guard as a junior and led the Cougars in scoring the past two seasons.

Low said he would have no problem moving back to the point, if that is where NBA teams project him to play.

"It's easier to switch back to point guard than to switch from point to shooting guard," he said.

Matrisciano, who also trained Afflalo, said he wouldn't be surprised to see Low make an NBA roster as a shooting guard.

"He's a great 3-point shooter, and that's what teams look for, is someone who can come in and hit that shot," Matrisciano said. "I can see his role being like that, like a Steve Kerr. He only needs one team to like him, and if he can get the right opportunity, I think he hangs on with a team."

Low said he has been watching the NBA playoffs with interest; former UCLA opponent Jordan Farmar scored 14 points for the Lakers on Friday.

"I watch and try to learn," Low said. "I definitely have the opportunity to make it, so it feels good. I just gotta get there."