Adam Rose (a USC alum who runs "What's Bruin" in the LAT) flagged the following comments Stan Love made recently on some radio show:
Host: We talked during the Oregon-UCLA game about Ben Howland's recruiting pitch to you. When you look back on Kevin's year at UCLA, he get everything he was promised there?
Stan Love: [Laughs] Promised? That's kinda' ... uh ... No, is the honest answer to that.
Host: What would you have liked to have seen differently?
Stan Love: I like to see him used in the offense a lot different: face the basket more, touch the ball more. When you're a high percentage shooter I think those guys should shoot the most. It's a great fit for him as far as coming to UCLA and his teammates and all that, but I think he coulda' expanded his game a little more. You guys really didn't get to see what he can do.
To give Adam credit he had a good reaction to this exchange in the same post:
It's easy to misinterpret that and nobody should take it personally. Remember that Stan Love isn't taking a swipe at UCLA or Howland -- he's merely trying to convince NBA GMs that his son is even better than we saw last year.
That sounds about right. And I will add few more points:
- I don't see any harm in Stan Love saying that Love should have "touched" the ball more. We all said it during the season along with Coach Howland. So no biggie there.
- This is same draft posturing we saw from the parents of AA and JF. Yet the way they have made the effort to stay in touch with Howland's program since they turned pro leaves no doubt there is not much to be read in those pre draft comments.
- To me all Mr. Love was saying that his son could have piled up more impressive stats but he was playing within a team setting
So all in all I don't see any reason to get upset over this stuff. This is a business involving millions of dollars. Stan Love is doing what he can to elevate the draft status of his son, while Coach Howland remains focused in solidifying UCLA's status as the best program in the America. I don't see the conflict.
And if there was an issue we wouldn't see recruits like J'Mison Morgan coming to UCLA knowing how going through Howland's program and learning how to play defense and team game within Ben Ball's scheme in LA's media market is a pretty sure fire way to get a ticket punched for the NBA.
So it's all good.
GO BRUINS.