Taking Peeler No Trouble for West : Lakers: Missouri guard’s potential was too much to pass up at No. 15, despite recent problems with the law.

Talented, troubled guard Anthony Peeler became a Laker Wednesday after a week in which he pleaded guilty to a felony and was arrested in another incident.

He was given a suspended sentence in the first case and charges were dropped in the second.

His standing in the draft dropped, too, but the Lakers, choosing 15th, stepped up.

“If someone had told me two years ago I’d have had a chance to draft this kid, I’d have told everybody they were crazy,” Laker General Manager Jerry West said.

“A lot of people think we’re probably crazy, but we think this kid has a great future ahead of him.

“From a playing standpoint, there’s no question on this kid.”

The Lakers then chose USC point guard Duane Cooper on the second round, using the 36th pick they got from the Milwaukee Bucks as compensation for Mike Dunleavy.

The 6-foot-3, 212-pound Peeler, a ballyhooed high school player in Kansas City, went into a detox program for an alcohol problem after his freshman season at Missouri.

He went on to stardom and was projected as a lottery pick. “He’s a drop at 15,” an Eastern Conference personnel director said. “He belongs in the top 10.”

However, on May 30 Peeler was arrested in Columbia, Mo., in an incident with a woman. The police report alleged that he held a gun to her head and bit her on the cheek.

Charges were subsequently reduced. Peeler pleaded guilty last week to a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon plus misdemeanor charges of restraint and assault.

However, he was arrested in a separate incident Sunday in Kansas City when a woman, who said she was Peeler’s former girlfriend, encountered him in a car with his current girlfriend.

The old girlfriend, Lanae Brown, 19, claimed Peeler hit her. Prosecutors, however, dropped the charges when Brown’s story changed.

Brown said Wednesday in Kansas City she intends to file a civil suit against Peeler.

“I’ll let him have his fun now while the draft is going down,” Brown told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “While he’s doing that work, I’m doing this work.”

The Lakers had begun the last month with a list headed by Pepperdine’s Doug Christie, Virginia’s Bryant Stith and Peeler. But at the Chicago pre-draft camp, they were alarmed by Christie’s knee, which had undergone arthroscopic surgery twice.

Knowing Stith was unlikely to be available when they picked, they focused on Peeler.

They interviewed him after the first incident and found him soft-spoken and quick to smile.

When the second incident blew up three days before the draft, West asked Peeler to fly back immediately for another talk.

“Obviously all those things concern you when you hear them like that,” West said. “But those charges were dropped.

“We’re going to view him as a player whose future is ahead of him and whose past is behind him.

“In every job, regardless of what you’re doing, you’re going to be subjected to criticism. I work for an owner (Jerry Buss) who really supports us. I just got off the phone with him and he said we made the right choice. And that’s nice to hear.

“This is something that obviously wasn’t easy for us to do because we hadn’t been this high before.”

Peeler watched the draft in the Laker front office and said he was overjoyed.

“I feel I’ve made some mistakes,” he said. “But that’s just a part of growing up. I think that matured me a lot. I’m just ready to get on with the Los Angeles Lakers. You’ve just got to think before you do things. I feel like since it happened, I’m a better person.

“It’s time for me to move on. The only way you can do good is look up and try to reach the stars.

“I can’t explain it. I don’t feel it’s a pattern. . . . It’s just something that happened.”

Laker Notes

Anthony Peeler averaged 23.4 points as a senior at Missouri. He finished his collegiate career as the Tigers’ all-time leader in assists (479) and steals (196). . . . Jerry West on Doug Christie: “There was a concern about his knee. We wanted to take a player who we felt had a chance to have a career.” . . . Duane Cooper on becoming a Laker: “I feel great. It’s a dream come true, something I’ve always wanted to do. The only thing I need to do now is talk Vlade (Divac) out of No. 12.” . . . West on Cooper: “We thought he was one of the most impressive players in the Chicago camp. We got a player we thought we were going to have to trade up higher in the second round to take.” . . . Laker assistant coach Jim Eyen has resigned to join Mike Dunleavy’s staff in Milwaukee. Randy Pfund is expected to announce his staff next week. . . . Pfund on Clipper top pick Randy Woods of La Salle: “He’s a scorer. He looked like he had the same green light I had in college--and my father was the coach.”

OVERVIEW: Harold Miner lasts longer than expected before going at No. 12 to Miami, the first of four Southland collegians selected in first round. C8

NBA Draft

A look at the first round of the draft, held Wednesday in Portland, Ore.

No., Team Player Pos. School 1. Orlando Shaquille O’Neal C Louisiana State 2. Charlotte Alonzo Mourning C Georgetown 3. Minnesota Christian Laettner F Duke 4. Dallas Jim Jackson G Ohio State 5. Denver LaPhonso Ellis F Notre Dame 6. Washington Tom Gugliotta F N. Carolina St. 7. Sacramento Walt Williams G Maryland 8. Milwaukee Todd Day F Arkansas 9. Philadelphia Clarence Weatherspoon F Southern Miss. 10 Atlanta Adam Keefe F Stanford 11. Houston Robert Horry F Alabama 12. Miami Harold Miner G USC 13. Denver Bryant Stith G Virginia 14. Indiana Malik Sealy F St. John’s 15. Lakers Anthony Peeler G Missouri 16. Clippers Randy Woods G La Salle 17. Seattle Doug Christie G Pepperdine 18. San Antonio Tracy Murray F UCLA 19. Detroit* Don MacLean F UCLA 20. New York Hubert Davis G North Carolina 21. Boston Jon Barry G Georgia Tech 22. Phoenix Oliver Miller F Arkansas 23. Milwaukee Lee Mayberry G Arkansas 24. Golden State Latrell Sprewell G Alabama 25. Clippers Elmore Spencer C UNLV 26. Portland Dave Johnson F Syracuse 27. Chicago Byron Houston F Oklahoma St.

* Rights to MacLean traded with center William Bedford to the Clippers for center Olden Polynice and two future second-round draft choices.