There is an article in the Mecury News about Drew Gordon and his time at UCLA. The article is entitled "Drew Gordon works to repair reputation for NBA draft." In other words, Drew a marginal NBA prospect (second round) wants to repair his reputation after the infamous Sports Illustrated article in which he was a key player. It is interesting foremost for what he does not say:

Even now, Gordon is careful not to speak ill of Howland.

"There are people who you just butt heads with, and I'm sure everyone reading this can relate to that in their own lives," Gordon said. "It's not about someone being right or someone being wrong. It's just a difference of personalities and opinions."

Gordon was the leader of the terrible freshman class that started the downfall of the last four years. Whether it was the bad blood on the 2008-9 team which started with them being angry Collison came back or the hangover team of 2009-10 that had a losing record when Gordon quit. Gordon was the leader and his bad reputation was well deserved.

As far as what he does say about the Sl article, Gordon has a similar reaction to Reeves Nelson. He was bad, yes, but the article is exaggerated.

Gordon, speaking in general terms, claims the article embellished what actually happened.

"We were freshmen and we weren't getting much playing time," Gordon said. "So we did take advantage of the college life and make some ill-advised decisions. But when I read that article, there was so much negativity there. It was hurtful."

Hurtful? The general consensus I hear is that while Reeves may have real mental health issues, Gordon was just a bad seed. Gordon was set to be a star of the 2009-10 team and was playing in every game as a Freshman. It is not like he was never playing.

Maybe he grew up, I hope so for his sake. But if it hurts his draft status, Gordon has himself to blame.