Howland Phone Conference Pt. 3

UCLA head coach Ben Howland on how Malcolm Lee's departure compares to his other early entries:
"I wouldn't go about ranking that compared to anything else. Obviously I just want nothing but the best for Malcolm. He's given so much to our program, been such a great Bruin. We wish him nothing but the best. The decision has been made, and I want him to have great success. I'm really hopeful that his knee will heal fine. I think he'll be fine here. He is now moving to Las Vegas. He's dropped his classes, will be establishing residence, working out with IMPACT."

On how good the Bruins could've been with both Lee and Honeycutt:
"I really believe if we had both of them back, we'd have a chance to challenge no question in that category. That's why, I'll tell you what, I just walked right back over from workouts. Fortunately for us, the Wears are going to be two really good players. Dave will play some minutes at the three. I really like Norman Powell, and especially for Tyler Lamb, this opens a lot of opportunities on the wings. I hope we're going to have a signee on the signing date tomorrow."

On UCLA adding even more players:
"Anything is possible."

On the team:
"I'm very, very optimistic and excited about our team next year. We've been working out players individually now starting yesterday. I'm very excited. We're going to be very young. Zeek is able to shoot but not able to dribble with left hand. Jerime and Tyler Lamb really had great workouts today. We're going to have a very formidable front line."

On how the players reacted to the news:
"It's always tough to lose a teammate, but in same vein, I'm sure their very supportive and wish him the very best."