Howland I: 'Give them the time and space they deem necessary'

Bruin head basketball Coach Ben Howland held his longest news conference of the season Wednesday — and immediately launched into the topic of the day, about whether Kevin Love and/or Darren Collison will or have entered the NBA draft:

"I met with Kevin on Monday and basically went over all the information I had in my possession in terms of where he’s projected and here are the pluses, here are the minuses and my role in his decision — and his family’s decision — is basically to give him as much information as possible. I’ll support whatever he does, but it was not accurate that he told me on Monday that he was leaving to go to the NBA.

"He left today, about an hour ago, to go home to spend time with his family; his Dad’s birthday is tomorrow —  he’ll be 59 years old tomorrow — and he’s excited to go home and see his family and friends. And he’s going to sit with his parents over the weekend and, at that time, formulate some decision as to what he wants to do. So it was an erroneous report that he had said that, along with Darren Collison.

"I never met with Darren on Monday. I never spoke to Darren on Monday. I did not see him; I did not e-mail him; I did not text him. So that was not accurate and it was unfortunate because last night. It was reported last night that he had already made a decision and had told me that on Monday. First of all, he was very upset and he was calling frantically because everybody was calling him and, secondly, his Mom and Dad got off the plane — they didn’t get back until late last night; Dennis has a daughter who lives in London who came all the way out for the Final Four, so they had to drive her two hours from San Antonio to Austin for a 2 o’clock flight, then they drove back and got on a plane that got back at 7 or 8 o’clock [p.m.]. So when they off the floor, she called this morning, really upset about it. My whole thing is, I understand there is competition in this room to break the first information as to what these players are going to do, but in doing so, in some cases — as in this case — it compromised the players and their families and their feelings. I would just ask you to please give them the time and space that they deem necessary to make their decision as to what they want to do.

"And that’s not just Kevin and Darren, it’s Russell Westbrook, his family; Luc [Richard Mbah A Moute] and his family; Josh [Shipp] and his family, so on and so forth. The April 27 date is the last day to put your name into the draft and the draft is not until June. So they actually have a lot of time and there’s really a lot of pressure that has been put onto them because of everybody’s interest in wanting to know what they’re going to do. It’s been a little frustrating."

>> On Love specifically, Howland added, "He’s going to go high. He’ll definitely be in the lottery. Based on today, he could go as high as four or five and no lower than probably the end of the lottery [14th]. Most likely, somewhere between five and 10, five and 12, I’ve heard eight and 14. At the end of the day, he’s definitely in the lottery.

"His comment to me was basically — and they really do want their privacy and they deserve it — ‘I have a great problem here, because it’s a win-win situation. I really believe that. I love going to school at UCLA, I love my teammates, I love the fans, I love being a college student, but there’s also a lot to think about in terms of my dream of being an NBA player and the opportunity to enter the NBA and the financial rewards are significant.’ "

>> On the other Bruin prospects, Howland noted that "Darren is probably somewhere, right now, between 15 and 25 and Russell would probably be in that same range. And that’s going to be based, if they do put their name in, how they perform in each of the individual workouts for each of the teams. Obviously, it’s another outstanding draft; look at all the players who are coming out early this year.

"Right now, [Luc and Josh] are not projected in the first round, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t go in and knock somebody’s socks off in a workout. I’m meeting with all the players by a week from today and discuss the future and what their plans are, including Darren and Russell, who I still haven’t met with.

"Alfred [Aboya] is going to graduate, provided he passes all three classes this quarter, which is obviously likely, since he’s a very good student. [Leaving] is something he’s talked about in the past and that’s a possibility."

>>Howland also have his view of the decision-making process concerning the draft:

"My recommendation, one of the things I told Kevin and I will tell the Westbrooks and the Collisons when I meet with them here in the next few days, is they should definitely not sign with an agent, even if they put their name in and then also keep going to school. You can’t even work out for a team until June; we don’t get out of school until June 13. But you’re not allowed to have an individual workout with an NBA team, I think it’s June 3 or June 5, but after Orlando [draft camp]. They are allowed May 3, if you put your name in the draft, to then schedule a workout with a player, but that workout cannot take place until June, after Orlando.

"The reason I don’t recommend they don’t sign with an agent until the draft, or after the draft, if they did leave their name in is because, like Brandon Rush, for example, last year. One of the reasons Kansas is national champion this year is Brandon Rush. [He] was gone; Bill Self told me that on Thursday at the Final Four. He was leaving, he blew his knee out playing basketball and therefore had the rehab and came back. You saw that — what’s the kid out of the University of Miami — [with Willis] McGahee. He was really compromised in his draft pick because of his blown knee in football for example.

"A lot of it for me comes down to how are you going to best enhance — they’re all into the second contract. An NBA rookie now, if you’re a first-round pick, you’re guaranteed two years; after that, they have the right to you as a third and fourth-year player. And then you are a restricted free agent and they have the right to match. I actually had a guy in the NBA who’s the top stat guy in all the NBA [who says] the biggest factor in getting a good second contract — meaning after your first four years — is your performance and how well you do during your first three years. Because that’s what happens, you sign after your third year to get the money the great ones are getting like Carmelo [Anthony], like LeBron [James], etc., etc. So it’s all about going into the league and hitting the ground running if you really want to enhance your opportunity to make the most money and have the most success."

>> The Bruin coach also noted that he hopes all of his players will finish their academic work as well: "We all want our players to continue to matriculate and get their degrees at whatever time they are able to complete that, hopefully sometime in the near future. For example, Arron Afflalo is calling our academic coordinator, Kenny Donaldson, and planning to take a couple of courses this summer, which is great and glad to see that. We want all our players to get their degrees here from UCLA at some point and continue that, so that’s a positive.

"I was really proud that our team, this last quarter, during the most difficult time in terms of travel, had a team GPA of 2.97 and we had five players on the honor roll, including James Keefe, Nikola Dragovic – who are on scholarship —  and one other whose name escapes me; maybe Luc. But I’m really proud not only of how they performed on the floor this year, but how they performed off, and how they carried themselves and how they represented this university at all times.

>> In terms of future scheduling, Howland said, "We had our last team meeting yesterday in the locker room and, at that time, I just talked about what the plans are in terms of we’re going to take the next few weeks off, the players will have available to them our strength coach and the assistants if they want to start doing any individual workouts after this week. But we’re not making them required until the 28th of April. After a six-month grind like what they’ve been through, it is very important for their body to have a chance to recover and take some time away and get back on top of their academics. I mean we missed the first week of school essentially this week."

More coming in Part II on Wednesday’s news conference.

—Rich Perelman

Comments

[Shane]

I would be willing to bet my life savings that Love is gone. I hope I'm wrong, but I think he's gone. That being the case, this whole little song and dance is unnecessary. It's kind of a tease to the fans: "I might be back". Sure. Just cut to the chase.

[True Blue]

It is great to get a post from Rich! It is interesting to see the report on CBH requesting the press to honor the privacy of our players and let them make their own decision and announce it when they are ready. Since this is a LA Times blog it would be appropriate to have the reporter who apparently made an error to first and most importantly apologize to the student athletes and their families, and then acknowledge and apologize for the error.

While we do not know the ultimate decision, it is a personal career/life decision.

[Adam]

Heaven Forbid that DIANE PUCIN actually issue an apology, or even a "correction" for her errant report. Her name is on the byline, and she is responsible for anything underneath it. Her name was on the byline, and the information was wrong. A lot of fans are pissed, and Coach Howland expressed how it affected the players (remember, nineteen- and twenty-year-olds) and their families. Apologize as a representative of the L.A. Times, and as a person for the problems you put those individuals through.