Poor Communication & Unhappy Players: Honeycutt's Camp Fire Shots At Ben Howland
by Nestor on Mar 11, 2010 4:49 AM PST
in Basketball
59 comments
We have been hearing the rumor for few days now that both Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt are unhappy in Ben Howland's program and could potentially "test" the NBA waters. When we heard Lee's name mentioned we weren't surprised (but still disturbed which I will get into later). But when we heard that even a kid like Honeycutt is not happy with what is going on in Howland's program, we were ... well ... stunned.
It looks like there is a little more to those rumors at this point as the LA Times publishes a quote from Tyler's family saying he is also frustrated with Howland's offense:
"He has been frustrated," Stazel said. "He feels he can contribute more offensively. He would really like for Ben [Howland, UCLA's coach] to cut him loose a little more on offense."
As poncho mentioned that we have to be a little bit careful from these quotes because they are often results of reporters baiting interviewees into quotes that would fit into their pre-set narrative. In this case, the quote didn't come in a vacuum. The quote comes at a time we have already been used to criticisms at Howland's offense coming from his own recruited players' circles including JF, AA, KL, RW and LRMAM. Forget the criticisms we heard from primadonnas like Jrue Holiday and Drew Gordon. Before anyone dismisses this quote from Holiday, they should think why player after player coming out of UCLA have taken shots (either directly or through family) at Ben Howland's system.
To me there is a clear trend. People can be in denial over it but it is there. These players were not happy (in Honeycutt's case not happy right now) when they were playing for Howland and they were communicating that to their families. None of those players never came out and distanced themselves from those criticisms when they were published in the papers.
When we laid out what Howland needs to do to get this program back on track we wrote (emphasis added):
We also have to keep a very close eye on Honeycutt because for the health of this program, it is absolutely essential for Howland not to have just complete buy in from Tyler, but also making sure he is always connecting with him and keeping him inspired enough so that he comes back at least for his third season in Westwood. If Honeycutt high tails it out of Westwood after his second season, it will be a negative mark on Howland.
Doesn't look like Howland is off to a good start.
I don't blame Honeycutt for being frustrated. Not one bit. Howland's putrid offensive game plan this year which has been predicated upon stupid, dumb, possession destroying three point shots have been frustrating to everyone else. It wasn't just Honeycutt getting frustrated when we saw Howland kept coddling players who had no business being on the basketball court. So what is coming out from Honeycutt's camp is sad but can't say any of us on the front page are really surprised.
Meanwhile, if Malcolm Lee even considers "testing" the NBA waters, instead of blasting the kid we should probably start thinking about what are the other reasons why he is so anxious to get the hell out of Dodge. From rational perspective, Lee has no business even thinking about the NBA. He has been less than average at times this season. Yet here we are hearing strong rumors that he will likely try to make a quixotic attempt to get out of Howland's basketball cage.
I hope both Honeycutt and Lee come back. We need them both to have a very good season next year. For both of their long term career sake, another year in Westwood learning to play defense and fundamentals would be great for them. However, instead of blasting these kids for being spoiled, selfish brats (not everyone is bad apple ala Holiday or Gordon), we need to start thinking about the root of this disturbing trend of players unhappiness in Westwood. It is troubling and it is not limited to just today's kids being bunch of primadonnas on Hardwood.
Sure these kids need to appreciate the reality around him. However, there is also a matter of communicating with them effectively and guiding them through the process both with tough love with strong dose of positive reinforcement.
Right now I am not sure whether Ben Howland and his staff are effectively communicating with our student athletes (this has been an issue all season long). I find that deeply troubling. Something is clearly wrong with this program and it has to do lot more than bunch of kids acting like spoiled brats.
Communication is always a two street. Forget about a street. From what I have read and seen last two seasons, sometimes I wonder if there is even a rough path between Howland and his players (unless someone is from Serbia with two arrests, an ugly shooting touch, zero basketball IQ and incapable of playing defense). The lack of communication among this team has been apparent on the court all season and parsing together all the reports from this year it is not difficult to discern there hasn't been any effective communication going on off the court either.
Anyway, I guess there is a game today at 12:00 pm PST or something. Don't care much about it to read up on it. If you want to do a "gameday round up" on it, go right ahead. We will have a game thread up about half an hour before it. Whatever.
GO BRUINS.
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It's obvious to me
that this year and next (and the next, one hopes) TH needs to be the center of this team’s offense. I think the nickname is cheesy, but when Donnie Mac talks about how skilled he is he calls TH ‘the Toolbox.’ As I said in poncho’s thread, I wonder how much of TH’s apparent lack of aggressiveness on the court is TH, and how much is CBH.
It’s one thing for a player who thinks he should be the star but in reality shouldn’t gets upset about his role on the team (though it’s still a sign of a big problem). If TH publicly voices frustrations, and especially if he even tests the waters, I will count that as a major negative against CBH.
Voicing frustration
I believe Honeycutt and his family are very close. They are not operating independently from Tyler.
Not implying
that ML shouldn’t be playing a big role; I’ve said all season long that he needs to play more of a role in the offense, especially cutting. I’m just trying to say that I think, based on basketball ability/skills/intelligence, TH should be the star of the team.
Def ... I agree with you
Honeycutt should be the focus. But Lee can play a HUGE ROLE next season as a potential defensive glue in this team.
I like both players but can Lee even expect to get drafted after a season he has been barely average in a unusually week PAC 10?
Whether or not Lee can get drafted ...
… is not the issue. The answer is pretty clear based on what we have seen. Any rational kid would remain in school. But that brings up the question why is he even thinking about exploring something so irrational and why he has become part of a trend in Howland’s program.
The focus shouldn’t be on Lee at this point. The focus is what is leading to his decision to even seriously think about this process.
Is there any way to point to some of these rumors?
I don’t see him going this year, testing maybe, but he needs to build some muscle / work on his shot
I don’t see the quote as being horrible, every player, and more so their parents especially with aspirations beyond college bball want more freedom, more shots. It makes sense cause unfortunately big numbers help get attention for the big dollars.
Also, remember a few weeks ago about the excitement of honeycutts’s “making the extra pass” quotes.
Afflalo and Collison wanted some more freedom.. but I’m pretty happy how their UCLA careers turned out
Uh
AA didn’t make those comments until he was formally in the draft. Same with JF, DC, KL, RW and LRMAM. The fact that these comments are coming in his freaking first year at UCLA is more than a little alarming. As I said elsewhere if you want to be in denial over it, go right ahead but don’t lecture us for discussing it in detail. Thanks.
where is the rumor that he'll test coming from?
well when you are the best player on a UCLA team hopefully you have NBA talent. Well he is and he does have the talent. Not trying to lecture, I went to the link and it was an in game chat where you say he might test, but don’t see any articles or anything else saying that.
True about AA and those other guys especially since they were older. But a lot of players want to do more in the offense and take more shots in every level of basketball. And their parents will agree or be more adamant about it.
Chatter
It is coming from what we are hearing from people around the program. We heard it days ago and now we are seeing straight shots from Honeycutt’s parents about him not being happy in Howland’s system. We have been around long enough to know that it’s more than just a coincidence. Honeycutt may not end up testing the NBA waters but the fact that chatter is happening about him not being happy in Howland’s offense is a matter of concerning given what we have heard from previous UCLA players.
A lot of players want to do more in the offense. They don’t happen to openly complain about in the second biggest media market in the country through their parents. Moreover, it becomes an issue when he just becomes one of many to raise it about the head coach.
If you are uncomfortable with these discussions, then no need to partake in it or read it. Feel free to be in denial over it.
Ok thanks
Not in denial, just wondering.. cause I hadn’t read the chatter here or elsewhere. I can see it and his frustration when he’s on the court hustling and anderson is turning the ball over and dragovic is taking bad shots. I can see with his ability and a not having faith in what he can show that he might test this year, and very likely at least test next year. Thanks.
FWIW
The chatter was more about how Tyler might test the NBA waters because he hasn’t been happy. As you pointed out given how we have bumbling around with Rag and Anderson (w/ no accountability) it’s easy for the kid to be frustrated. Again people should watch some of the last possessions against Oregon when guys like Tyler were making an effort not to pass to Rag because he is such a selfish black hole.
It creates a lot of resentment. It’s up to Howland and his staff to communicate with these kids. Let’s hope they do just that.
Does BH micro manage...
both the Defense and Offense. Perhaps he should hire someone who could play the role of Offensive Coordinator and focus on the Defensive end. Don’t know what staff’s roles are but this seems like a move that NEEDS to be made.
Just curious
Were there ever any grumblings from players when Howland was the coach at Pitt? If not, why such a difference between there and here?
It is a very good question ...
… that we might have to look into. However, consider this prior to UCLA Howland was coached anywhere for more than three our four years.
The only incident I can think of was one player from Pitt (can’t remember his name) who openly yelled back at Howland (threw socks at him or something) in his last tourney game at Pitt. That was about it.
Isn't it the players obligation
to conform to the coach’s program? We all know that CBH style is not run and gun. The players should have known before they came to UCLA that they were going to run down the shot clock, grind it out on D, and limit possessions.
I do believe that TH should be the focal point of the offense. No arguments there. But TH has a great basketball IQ. Don’t you think he knew before he got to UCLA that this would be the style of the offense that CBH plays?
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 11, 2010 7:49 AM PST reply actions
Problem with your question
Is when you write this:
The players should have known before they came to UCLA that they were going to run down the shot clock, grind it out on D, and limit possessions.
Uhm, yeah Honeycutt did know that and then he came to UCLA to see the whole team getting repeated hijacked by someone like Rag who repeatedly got 33 mins doing everything anti-Howland.
Rag.
we all know your thots on Rag, but this team has plenty other issues than him. Rag wasnt the reason the Pitbull hit less than 10 threes in the pac 10 . Nor the reason the team cannot shoot freethrows, guard anyone off the dribble, offensive rebound, cutdown on turnovers. I agree with the offense complaints to a certain extent, but i’ve seen plenty of up and down games that the final scores still end up in the mid 60’s. Sometimes there has to be a method to the madness. I’d love see us get rid of that Howland tattoo of walking the ball up the court and push it more, though. And don’t get me wrong……I’m thankful that this is Dragobricks last game.
by LouisianaBruins on Mar 11, 2010 8:33 AM PST up reply actions
But you know, if they're going to go and smack talk CBH to the press...
Why pull punches? If the real issue was that CBH mismanaged Drago’s mins while he did “everything anti-Howland,” why not just say that? Especially when it would lend more credibility than the run-of-the-mill “I could score more if Howland had a faster offense!” No shit, Sherlock. That’s one step above “We could win if we scored more” on the ‘durrrrrrr’ scale.
I feel like if that were the real issue TH and/or his parents have, they would have just said that.
Any of the assistants have offensive scheming experience?
I graduated last year and have been through all of Howland’s Final 4 teams as a student. No matter how good the team was, there always seemed to be struggles offensively. Clearly Howland’s forte is his defense, and not his offense. Can he hire an assistant who has more of an offensive mind? Many sports writers think his poor offensive schemes were barriers to a championship team. Thoughts?
use the search function
And look up terms such as “efficiency,” “pace” etc. Howland’s offense has never been the issue. We have been struggling last two years because we have been sucking on defense and Howland let certain players get away despite constantly sucking or bothering to play D.
It’s an issue that has been beaten to death.
+1000
You keep nailing this yet people don’t seem to be listening.
Our efficiency has been tied to defense and rebounding both of which lead to fast transition scoring.
We have had almost none of any of that this year.
To a great extent, that may be a factor of playing ND. But not completely. Our guards cannot stay in front of anyone. Hard to play man D with slow or ineffective guards.
sjh
Man, this is so damn depressing
A losing record, poor coaching decisions, questionable recruiting, player defections, general discontent. Does anyone have any good examples of a coach who has turned a program back around after all of that? I don’t follow basketball at large closely enough to be able to come up with any off hand. I know every program is different, and many solid solutions have been proposed here over the past couple months, but just looking for a silver lining here and possibly more to emulate…
Disagreement is not "denial".
I have no idea how Kareem’s parents felt about Coach. No idea how Walton’s folks felt about Coach. No idea how Gary Beban’s folks felt about Tommy Prothro.
Why? Because, their parents were not posturing and/or advocating for their kids. Today, it seems like all a “reporter” has to do is hold a tape recorder in someone’s face, or put a camera in their vicinity — give them their 15 minutes — and you have a sound bite around which to build stories.
With parents marketing their kids — what is the harm of saying “My kid would have scored more points had he been somewhere else?” No one can prove otherwise.
I find it interesting that this is coming from TH’s parents. For, we’ve seen no example of any restraints put on him to stop him from shooting. Quite to the contrary — he has passed up shots. As to ML, he too has not been restrained. If he is feeling restrictions, they may bell be self-imposed, the by product of some very bad shooting games. Remember, it was ML against Notre Dame who burned the place down with some incredible athletic moves and shots. That ML just plain disappeared. ML may have a fair complaint; he, like JH, has played out of position for the benefit of the team. And, he has been credited for doing that. But, this is a team sport and that’s what you are supposed to do. Have his parent’s complained? Just curious.
Also, is CBH’s lack of communication skills responsible for their inability to shoot FT’s? Or turnovers?
At some point, players have to take some responsibility.
I am not absolving CBH in any way. He has some problems. He is a teacher and I don’t see that his students improved over the semester. But, that ties directly to the player mismanagement issues which are the core of the problem we are having.
Yes, we heard snippets from KL, LRMM, JF and JH — but with the exception of JH, the others were drafted for outstanding defense and have earned their time that way. They and their coaches have credited CBH with teaching them that D.
This year we have a group of kids who could not learn that D — so we abandoned it and went to the zone, to the satisfaction of many.
So, I do not agree, with what I’ve read or heard that we have, in Paul Newman’s words, “A failure to communicate”.
Nestor, I think your strongest point, all year, has been the mismanagement of playing time — to the detriment of the team and to the detriment of individual players.
In my mind that is not synonymous with a failure to communicate. It is just plain bad player management.
sjh
One of my favorite sayings to a jury is
“Look at what they did, not what they said.”
To support your point, I think CBH’s failure to sanction players for terrible D or stupid shots is a “form of communication” — but not the kind of communication many were talking about in this thread.
That said, I’m not big on attributing great meaning for sound bites from parents.
sjh
I think CBH's circumstances are the most unideal...
CBH is a disciplinarian, and he will come off as grating to many of his players. This is not unlike our venerated Coach Wooden. The problem arises because:
1. Players can declare after one year of college, and
2. UCLA is a big-name, blue-chip school, and CBH is a fantastic coach for pure basketball skills
I am willing to bet that Coach Wooden would not have done as well as he did if “unhappy” players like Bill Walton, and possibly Lew Alcindor, were able to leave after one or two years. With the capability to be one-and-done, and now with a precedent of a string of early departees to the NBA from UCLA in recent years, looking forward to the NBA is almost obligatory for any of our players that shine even a little. No one can deny that CBH’s players for the most part are ballers in the NBA. I credit him with fantastic coaching ability for this. And UCLA being the vaunted basketball institution that it is, our players will probably receive a little bit more recognition and publicity than they ought to.
All of these factors compounded = no long term success for CBH. Sad, but I think it is true. The one-and-done is screwing good coaches like CBH and others over, and it only facilitates a sense of entitlement for incoming freshmen.
one more thing...
Not only did players not leave after one year back in Coach’s day, but freshmen weren’t even allowed to play on the varsity team.
The more I think about this...
…the less concerned I am. What do kids do when they talk to their parents? They complain. It could be complaining about your chemistry class or your jerk history teacher, but its almost a fundamental aspect of nature that kids are going to complain to their parents. When your main focus is basketball, you complain about basketball.
I’m not saying this to say that there aren’t serious problems with CBH’s system, but in addition to reporters fishing for narratives I think its also important to keep in mind the child-parent relationship.
Obviously when these comments are made in the context of the draft they are business driven. The player wants to brag themselves up so that they get a better job. That doesn’t make what they and their handlers say right, but its understandable that they are doing what they perceive as best for them. I don’t think TH is going to leave this year and everything else TH’s mom said was positive, so I’m more inclined to think this was a combination of a mom getting baited into a question combined with a kid complaining to his parents just like any kid would.
Tyler's photo
On a more mundane note, did your editions of the LAT today have a picture of Mustafa instead of Honeycutt? The Santa Barbara edition had a great picture of Mustafa just above the caption, Long and Lean, Tyler etc.
by Arturo del Mundo on Mar 11, 2010 8:54 AM PST reply actions
Defense, defense, defense ...
The kids haven’t bought into the mantra. As pointed out time and again last season, it was our defensive slippage that failed us, not our offense. This season our defense went beyond slipping to falling flat on its face. As a stopgap we went to the zone, but like any finger in a failing dike, that could stave off disaster only so long.
It is the rare player that has the combined heart, intensity, and athletic talent to develop the defensive prowess demonstrated by JF, AA, LMR, LRMAM, RW, PAA, and DC, but CBH’s task now is to seek those players out, convince them to come to UCLA, then hone their skills. So far he’s done it everywhere he’s been, including here. My bet is that he will do it again.
sifting through the BS
I think with Drago gone next year TH will be the go to guy, or at least one of them. That might be enough to silence the complaints. If I was on this year’s team, watching some players receive preferential treatment in the way of minutes I would be complaining as well.
The difficulty lies in discerning what TH and family are really unhappy about. The style of play or the number of shots.
We really have come along way from the days a player followed his coach without question. And, then again CBH has created this mess with some of his questionable decisions.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Comments are not just about offense...
Yeah, we need to clear all the smoke, shovel out the crap to figure out what is really wrong. Its a hugwe problem is every player that comes in has issues with CBH. This pattern needs to stop.
From what I've
heard Howland is a tough coach, even when he was at Pitt. my brother law said a lot players didn’t like him. I think his strategy is be so tough that the players come together. He makes the team hate him, but as a team. Kind of like that movie… I don’t know what it is called but its about Football. Whatever it is, it is clear that some players respond (RW, AA, AA2..ect.) and other don’t.
Unfortunately, CBH's offensive system and personal style matter.
This topic shows the difficulty of running an elite college basketball program. Basketball is a team game, and is played best when all five players are firing in proper sequence. Basketball, when played at its best, requires discipline, with every player doing its part. As a player, basketball is the most fun when you have the freedom to use all your moves, which can be inconsistent with the team concept. A point guard with tremendous dribbling/penetration skills, may like to break down a defender with multiple fakes and dribbles. The problem is that four other players on his team may be standing and watching as this happens. The Lakers with Kobe (particularly before they acquired Gasol) were a prime example of the conflict between the individual and the team. Sometimes Kobe shoots them out of games, more often than not, he shoots them in. The coach is charged with keeping the team in balance. It is obvious the CBH is a coach he keeps a tight leash on the players within his offense.
It is a simple fact that CBH has earned a reputation for having a structured offensive system that stifles individual freedom. This may have been in a factor in JF, AA, KL, RW and JH leaving early, but the greater factor in each of those cases was a combination of them being ready to test their skills at the highest level, and that each of them had a realistic chance of realizing their dream of fame and fortune as NBA players. In each case, they were right. They each made it, whether they were high, middle or lower draft selections.
The more troubling aspect is what they are saying after they leave, about not enjoying CBH’s system. Instead of being salesmen for the program, they are harming the program by telling it as they see it. To this degree, both as current players and players who have left, the inmates do run the asylum.
And they may be right. I have been frustrated as a fan watching ruins running an offensive system that passes the ball without leading to easy baskets, only to have someone throw up a shot near shot clock expiration. Fortunately, DC was able to convert many of those near desperation shots, and the team still won.
The problems are exacerbated by inconsistency in discipline. It is hard to tell elite players that they have to play within the system, and then watch the coach do nothing when players like ND either ignore the system, or just go through the motions, and still play. Losing further exacerbates this problem.
I have still been and remain a big CBH supporter because the team has played with intelligence and grit since he arrived, and the program has had great success. But the problems are there, and they need to be addressed or they will get worse.
Winning cures all ills. Despite players leaving, with the team was thriving we were able to recruit players who replenished the stock. like Kl and JH. We were also great at identifying diamonds in the rough, like DC, RW, AA2 and LRMAM, who helped replenish the player pool. It is a huge problem that when the program was seen elite, we picked players who did not have the talent ascribed to them, like JA, Bobo, CS and even ML. These clunkers hurt now, and losing perpetuates the problem.
When you are losing, like now, every negative is magnified. Most of the players have played on winning teams all their lives, and hate losing with a passion. DG’s early departure was certainly hastened by the horrible play of the team over the first five games of the season. When you are winning, its us. When you are losing, its them. The players start calling out other players, as RN did this year. The players’ attitude about the program is a vital part of the recruiting process, and if you can’t recruit, you can’t win.
As has been stated repeatedly, the Bruin basketball program has a choice. It can keep the CBH system, and then recruit players who are committed to play in the system. This diminishes the pool of potential talent, and makes it less likely that the program can be dominant. Or you can change the system, make it more “star friendly” and have a chance to stay at the very top. Recruiting for “system only” players is less likely to succeed. I think you have have to change the system to compete at the top. You may even have to cater to star players to keep them happy. For example, feeding the ball into the post more would have kept KL happier, even though it would not have kept him here. [I think that Coach Wooden would have had similar problems coaching in today’s environment. Can you imagine what DG would have said to Coach Wooden if Coach made him cut his hair?]
The choice that has the best chance of attracting the best players is to open the system and make the program more player friendly. CBH is wedded to his system, and is unlikely to do that, but perhaps with time he will come to this conclusion, perhaps belatedly, as he did in his decision to play zone.
The criticisms and recommendations about style of play and player relations are valid and need to be addressed.
Great take
The troubling aspect for me is the major impact it is going to have on recruiting. I can’t imagine UCLA attracting the kinds of players we need to compete at an elite level when our players are grumbling about the coaching style.
More than just a trend
I think this communication issue is a full blown problem that needs to be addressed immediately.
The complaints from players have been around, but we always thought they were just spoiled delusions of grandeur because we always assumed that CBH was explaining to them why things are the way they are.
However, if you remember we have seen a few examples of Howland communicating to his team through the press this year. There was the Jerime Anderson suspension, calling out of players, mea culpas, etc. They have all been done at a press conference and not behind closed doors.
To me this suggests that communication between Howland and the team has completely broken down to the point where he doesn’t know how to talk to them. Maybe the bad apples like Holiday and Gordon caused him to stop talking. Maybe he doesn’t feel there is a team leader like AA or DC who will have his back and make sure the players get his message.
I don’t know what exactly is going on, but it is deeply troublesome and needs to be addressed ASAP.
by Sideout11 on Mar 11, 2010 10:29 AM PST via mobile reply actions
I should also add
that I really do think CBH cares a lot about his players. But he is human, and I think he got badly burned emotionally by Holiday and Gordon, and has decided to protect himself as a result.
Holiday
Not quite sure why everyone had such a huge problem with Jrue. He came in and was a very solid contributor and made all Freshman team. He worked hard and played good defense, and if he was overhyped coming into school, that can’t be reflected on him. He was a point guard who was forced to play off the ball for the first time in his life, and that is no easy task. When given the opportunity to run pick n rolls and operate as a pg he showed great vision as well as more aggression in attacking the bucket. I think Jrue would have been a sensational player for us this year as our PG, defensive stopper, and would have stepped into a much bigger leadership role as well.
A major thing that I feel has happened is that the 2007 Freshman class was simply freakish. Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, OJ Mayo, Derick Rose, Eric Gordon etc… that was the best freshman class arguably ever from a national perspective. Even just looking at the conference there was KL, OJ, Bayless, Harden (was a freshman but forced to stay for 2 years due to age ala Abdul Gaddy). 4 out of the top 5 picks were freshman with the exception being RW who was a sophomore.
Even taking a look at this year’s freshman class there are only two standout freshman that are considered in the top tier elite players in CBB and they both happen to play on the same team in John Wall and Demarcus Cousins.
JH was over hyped and as a result many people consider his year at UCLA a failure which isn’t the case at all. Disappointing? yes but definitely not a failure. The moment I will always remember is JH begging CBH to guard Demar Derozan at Pauley East after Derozan went off in the first half. IIRC Jrue shut down Derozan, was our leading scorer, and knocked down some big shots to help lead us to victory
by blueandgold100 on Mar 11, 2010 10:46 AM PST reply actions
I agree on Jrue's contribution
and have written, many times, that I think he got a bad rap, in great part because he left early.
He had a strong freshman year for us playing out of position.
sjh
by Class of 66 on Mar 11, 2010 11:10 AM PST up reply actions
Disagree
Sure, we were all disappointed that JH was overhyped coming in (thats on ALL recruiters, not just ours). But the vitriol on this site for him is a direct result of his primadonna attitude while wearing our jersey, the abandonment of the program after a lackluster year, and then the subsequent badmouthing of our coach and our program. For those reason, JH will never be a Bruin to me…
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Mar 11, 2010 10:51 AM PST reply actions
fair enough
sometimes my law degree gets the better or me, ha. Either way, i’d prefer to just forget about the JH/DG “era”…
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Mar 11, 2010 10:55 AM PST up reply actions
JH's situation is an example of how hard it is to manage a program.
JH was a very good freshman, but was not a great shooter and lost playing time to MR because of it. Also, CBH felt that the team would be best with DC at point, even though JH wanted to play that position. Maybe he needed to play JH more at point and not dock his playing time in order to keep him happy. But this puts him in a position of going against his better judgment, and in some instances, not giving JH the discipline, backed by reduced playing time to get him to play the game, in CBH’s opinion, the right way. This is a tough pill for any hard nosed coach to swallow (and yes it does raise the question of why he hasn’t applied this discipline in the ND situation.)
by 75NatChamps on Mar 11, 2010 11:14 AM PST up reply actions
Good cop bad cop
I remember someone wrote about this earlier, but it was a great point. Since CBH is widely acknowledged as having a rough persona, how much were his assistants more than just yes-men?
Not just being the devil’s advocate or the counter-point to CBH, but also in the role of good cop/bad cop. After all, CBH has had assistants like Keating and Dixon, and we know that Dixon has been quite successful elsewhere, so he was obviously no small assistant.’
Seems to me just more evidence we need new blood in the assistant ranks
im so proud
Guess who is representing us on the tournament program. Of course, it’s drago…wow. Sorry about the messed up post, I’m using a new phone.
Go Bruins!
by uclaluv on Mar 11, 2010 11:20 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
CBH created this mess
No use scapegoating players. It’s almost unanimous from current and past athletes. CBH maybe the worst offensive coach in the game.
Just compare DC under the chains of CBH’s offense for four years at UCLA and how “surprising” he is in the NBA where he stands in for Chris Paul effortlessly and gets rave reviews for the total package including SCORING.
This train wreck of unqatchable basketball is over for this year. CBH needs to adapt and change or he will be toast next year. Unfortunately, I have seen zero this year to show that he is capable of doing so.
Here's what you're missing...
The offensive efficiancy stats notwithstanding, DC did a little something called WINNING under CBH. I find it difficult to challenge the offensive system that, with DC as a primary piece, went to 3 final fours…
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Mar 11, 2010 11:32 AM PST up reply actions
Agree 9on ML and TH
We cannpt aford these guys to leave for whatever reason. they can be the leaders next year. Others have “tested” the waters before and still returned. Now as far as an offense goes, I and others have stated that for a couple of years we had no offense and this years team proved our point. ML can be a real slasher to the basket from the 2 and TH can do it all and should not be handcuffed by a non-existant system. You have got to let the kids play at least sometime so that the coach can be more effective when he needs to reel them in at times
Feel great for one day - can't help to feel optimistic
Thinking of TH and RN a year older and better is a great foundation. ML will probably be a decent puzzle piece. JA didn’t look terrible. BL will be a JK sophomore clone, or better. If Lamb, Smith and/or Stover can play, we might be alright. If Lazeric Jones can break down players off the dribble from the point, we may be better than alright. CBH mentioned that he has a verbal commit from a point guard, that he couldn’t talk about. Does anyone know who that might be?
isn't that LJ
who can’t sign a formal LOI because he is a JuCo transfer, so can’t be talked about? (Assuming you are talking in re Petros/Money interview)
I may have it muddled though.
by britishbruin on Mar 12, 2010 9:28 AM PST up reply actions
they leave they suck
they came to ucla knowing what Ben howland preaches defense and spreading the ball Lee and honeycutt need to know this is ucla not some division 2 school so leave you’re not good enough to play for the clippers.
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