I am rather fond of Nelson, actually.

His singular determination to compete and win sometimes reminds me of none other than Bill Walton. With the latter, we knew well how he dominated with his formidable height, agility and multifacted skills. Nelson’s career will never come close to Walton’s fame and accomplishment when it is all said and done. But I do know that, every time he steps onto the court, he will not disappoint Bruin fans with his desire to play, his will to prevail and the inherent mentality of a company commander to always lead his troops to victory.

I always got a kick out of watching him, eyes piercingly focused, shoulders slightly crouched in a gunslinger’s gait, awaiting the ref’s whistle to begin the game. He was every bit as intense as Walton was, when the Red Head ruled Pauley with his scorng, shot blocking & rebounding.

Nelson scores consistently, albeit less dazzlingly than Walton. Nelson also rebounds as well as anybody his height can, as much as he possibly can sometimes over much taller opponents. If and when he out hustled other players, they were all key rebounds that sent an instant jolt to the tempo of the game much like Walton did, except Nelson sped downcourt himself, outrunning everybody for a jumper, layup or slam dunk.

In this regard, he reminds me of a fiery, yet temperamental Trevor Wilson. But Nelson blew hot and cold much less than Wilson did. If pushed, he would push back as hard as Wilson did too, however.

With experience, Nelson will win many games for UCLA before his career is over at Westwood. Meanwhile, we are always in for a treat with this gunslinger of a player whenever he plays.

Tell me why I should not be fond of him.

John Rothstein forgot about AA. He was the epitome of of Ben Ball Warrior. I want to see Reeves control his emotion and play both sides of the court EVERY minute like AA. Still its good to see Reeves get a lot of attention in the preseason and hopefully he can live up to LRMAM and AA and earn his initials. I’m with you Htse, when he is dialed in to the game and not pouting, he is my favorite Bruin. When he is throwing a ball at his teammate and sulking, he drags down the entire team. With football in its current state, its good to see the basketball team back in a positive light.

I mentioned that before too. But given proper coaching under Howland, the dude will learn. He will.

Reeves is not the glue guy. That may be De’End Parker. Big MAY. Reeves is the scorer and rebounder. That is his role and he led UCLA in both last year.