UCLA Howland Tidbits

Here’s some stuff from the UCLA press conference today:

* Junior guard Malcolm Lee had surgery on his left knee on Tuesday – to repair the cartilage tear, remove loose cartilage and also fix a small meniscus cartilage tear – and Howland said he expects Lee to miss 4-to-8 weeks.

* I asked Howland about the log jam at power forward next season, and he said David Wear might play some at the three, and that Travis Wear has experience at multiple positions.

* Asked whether Brendan Lane might redshirt next year, and he said he hasn’t discussed that with Lane.

* Howland said he’ll begin his discussions with Tyler Honeycutt, Malcolm Lee and Reeves Nelson in the next 10 days about their future plans. He would not really speculate on any of the decisions, but he is quite certain there will be an NBA lockout, and that will play a factor in his discussions with the players.
“This is going to be a serious lockout. I have a lot of friends in the NBA, and they’re all preparing for it. They will not be playing in next December or January. Nothing in the summer time; July 1 it starts. There’s a real commitment by owner and ownership to get things right.”

* Howland said he does not have a target weight for Joshua Smith, but he wants his body-fat percentage to be somewhere around 12 percent. He also said Smith will be on a regular regimen with the rest of the players, rather than a conditioning-only plan like last year.