Q&A with DraftExpress.com’s Jonathan Givony

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Jack Wang

I talked to DraftExpress.com‘s Jonathan Givony this afternoon, mostly for a story on UCLA basketball’s diminished expectations that runs in Thursday’s paper (online here). Here’s some interview bits that didn’t fully make it into that piece, with the overall gist being this: while the freshmen haven’t struggled to varying degress to adjust to the college level, they haven’t overly helped or hurt their draft stock.

Givony, by the way, watched UCLA’s two games in Brooklyn as well as against San Diego State.

Did Kentucky’s title run last year set up unreasonable expectations for UCLA?

“A little bit. I think Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, for them to play together and win together, just being the key guys, that just really doesn’t ever happen. I don’t know who is disappointed or why. It’s always like this, honestly. If you turn the clock back like a year ago, people were saying Austin Rivers stinks, he can’t make a shot. All these guys, they grow up slow.”

How much can UCLA’s struggles be attributed to Ben Howland trying to adopt offensive and defensive schemes he doesn’t normally espouse?

“I think it’s a personnel thing also. You have two guys who are, with Muhammad and Anderson, paying 25-plus minutes who are freshmen, just adapting to the college level. And then Larry Drew having to sit out all that time, he’s kind of been out of basketball for a long time. I think it’s been almost two years since he played. …

“It’s a personnel issue. It’s an experience issue. They need time. If they had Shabazz at the very beginning, It would have been easier. It think hey have plenty of time still.”

What are your impressions of Shabazz Muhammad so far?

“I think he’s been OK. Maybe his finishing around the basket needs a little bit of work. I agree his conditioning isn’t where it needs to be right now. He’s rebounding, he’s getting to the line, he’s scoring. I don’t know what standard people are holding him to. He’s been pretty good. …

“Usually guys that are way too high on my board, people will let me know about it in a friendly way. I haven’t got a peep about it. People know that he’s just five games into his career. It’s not like they started to evaluate him three weeks ago. They’ve been evaluating him for a while.”

Is there any chance at all that Kyle Anderson is a one-and-done?

“I didn’t think he was going to be one-and-done anyway. I think there were some pretty major question marks about how his game will transition from the high school level to the college level, let alone the NBA level. I’m not surprised or disappointed in the way he’s playing. He’s going to have to adjust. He’s a smart, skilled player. … If people around him are telling him, you’re a point guard, you need to transfer, then I’d probably be concerned.”

Do you think he’s caught in between positions? He can’t really defend point guards at this point and doesn’t seem to have the offensive skills to play forward.

“I think it’s premature to say that. This guy was one of the best high school players in the last decade. It’s been a rough start for him. I do think that a guy who is 6-foot-9 with his length and his feel for the game, I think there could be a spot for him if he improves his outside shot and he’s able to learn how to defend his position at the NBA level, which is the three. In that case, I think there could be a spot for him. It’s not going to come for him as quickly as people thought.

“He’s rebounding incredibly well. He’s passing incredibly well. He gets steals. He just can’t make a shot right now. That’s going to come in time. We’re eight games into the season. It’s still early at this time.”

Extra numbers from UCLA-CSUN

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Jack Wang

Some tidbits from the Bruins’ 82-56 win over the Matadors:

— Larry Drew II had a career-high 13 assists to just two turnovers. His previous high was 12 against James Madison this year.

“He’s not focused on scoring. … He’s a playmaker,” said sophomore shooting guard Norman Powell. “We count on him to pressure the ball on defense, get on the break, find the open man.”

— Kyle Anderson had his best offensive night of the year, scoring a career-high 15 points. Like he does on most nights, the point forward filled up the stat sheet with seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. His shot was still iffy coming out of high school though, and that’s showed so far. Still a small sample size through seven games, but he’s 34 percent from the field and 50 percent from the line. The latter number is particularly atrocious, especially considering that he has taken more free throw attempts (26) than anyone on the team except Shabazz Muhammad and Jordan Adams.

— Against CSUN, the Bruins had an 8-4 edge in fast break points and a 24-16 edge in points of turnovers. “Every time we were in transition we made good plays,” Muhammad said. “Guys like me, and Norman and even Trav are really athletic.”

UCLA 82, CSUN 56: A post-Smith world

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Jack Wang

LOS ANGELES — In beating Cal State Northridge 82-56, UCLA finally played the way it was supposed to against the Big West. The Bruins still had sloppy moments on both ends of the court, but after recent debacles against Cal Poly and UC Irvine, the Wednesday night victory appeared to be a long stride forward.

But the news everyone wanted to discuss was the departure of Josh Smith, the second player to leave the program in four days. (Tyler Lamb announced his intent to transfer on Sunday.) Ironically, Smith was plastered all over the cover of the game program.

UCLA now has just eight scholarship players on its roster. And with Tony Parker’s sprained ankle, they may even have just seven available against San Diego State on Saturday.

Program gone wrong? Quote of the night, courtesy of Shabazz Muhammad: “I think Ben is the perfect guy for us.”

The players, predictably enough, tried to dismiss any talk of bad locker room chemistry. Travis Wear said that the guys all like each other and hang out together. Norman Powell said that UCLA will continue to be a top destination for recruits.

But it’s hard to argue against the recent exodus, all since 2008: Chace Stanback (UNLV), Drew Gordon (New Mexico), Mike Moser (UNLV), Matt Carlino (BYU), J’Mison Morgan (Baylor), Brendan Lane (Pepperdine), De’End Parker (USF), Anthony Stover, Reeves Nelson. Some were dismissals, but the sheer number is still stunning.

At this point, the Bruins have effectively cleared the roster of anyone involved with the program during the time documented by Sports Illustrated. The main holdover? Ben Howland.

Shed weight: It’s easy to make jokes about how much thinner the Bruins are in the frontcourt without Josh Smith. Travis Wear even made a few puns in the postgame press conference, although those could have very well been unintentional.

Smith hasn’t contributed much on the court, his numbers declining each year since his All-Pac-10 Freshman introduction that ended with a third-round NCAA loss to Florida. His 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game are hardly irreplaceable. (His career, both the good and the bad, are summed up well in this airballed layup. Skilled enough to take the ball upcourt, too heavy to finish.)

But just who exactly will replace them? The obvious candidate is Tony Parker, but he was bothered by back spasms last week and sprained his ankle during Wednesday’s warm-ups. He ended the game with a boot on his left foot, playing just one minute. Howland said the trainer didn’t believe the injury to be serious.

With no true big men available, UCLA was able to run a relatively effective up-tempo offense for the first time this season. Playing CSUN helped, of course, but there still were moments like Muhammad shaking a defender to go up for a dunk. Or a wild sequence that saw Norman Powell tipping the ball away at halfcourt, Jordan Adams diving to the ground to grab it before flipping it to Larry Drew, and Drew then swinging an alley-oop pass up to Powell.

Zone defense: Howland confirmed that the team will indeed play more zone defense, although it will not completely abandon man-to-man. Nearly every player looked more capable in the zone, but Kyle Anderson stood out in particular. His utilized his length well and didn’t have to fight through screens. The result was three steals and two blocks — all in the first half.

The caveat is that Cal State Northridge was having an absolutely atrocious shooting night. The Matadors front-rimmed shots from all over the court, from uncontested 3-pointers to running floaters. Few teams will be so kind as to convert just 32.9 percent of their shots.

Starting lineup: Ben Howland said he put both Kyle Anderson and Larry Drew in the starting lineup because he expected more pressure and wanted both his ballhandlers on the court. He then continued to emphasize that the starting five doesn’t matter that much because everyone will get minutes. (This is especially true now that Josh Smith and Tyler Lamb are both gone.) Jordan Adams also started for the first time, but didn’t see an uptick in looks: 8 points on 3/5 shooting.

UCLA 60, Georgia 56: postgame audio

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Jack Wang

Here’s the game story from last night.

UCLA 60, Georgia 56: Postgame press conference by thejackwang

At around 1:20, Howland talks about Shabazz being more comfortable with the team. Shabazz talks about the same thing at 2:00. Howland talks about having to switch to zone defense at 3:50.

“We couldn’t stop them in our man. Just changed it up and went to zone. early on, we had one or two stops and they hit a couple threes and we stayed with it. i thought we got better at it. I thought Norman Powell, in particular, did a great job along with Larry up high, bouncing around guarding three guys. … We haven’t worked on it much. We’re going to work on it more. This is a team that will probably be a good zone team in certain situations. I want to primarily be a man-to-man team, but we’ve got to be able to go to it once in a while — especially when we’re getting scored on as easily as we were.”

At 6:55, Shabazz describes his own game — “guard/post guy who can give a matchup problem for the defense.” He and Kyle talk about their chemistry at 8:55.

UCLA 60, Georgia 56: On Shabazz and Kyle

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Jack Wang

NEW YORK — UCLA’s 60-56 win over Georgia was a slow, plodding game that provided little excitement for fans outside of Shabazz Muhammad’s significantly improved encore.

It’s clear that the Bruins’ offense is still a work in progress, that it might have to stick with a zone defense more often, and that the team will be better once fully healthy and in 100 percent game shape. For now, let’s focus on the most promising play of the night.

It came almost six minutes into the second half. Kyle Anderson had rebounded a missed 3-pointer, one of many that Georgia launched against UCLA’s 2-3 zone. He dribbled upcourt and, when he was somewhere between the arc and halfcourt, threaded a perfect bounce pass to Muhammad underneath the basket.

Muhammad bobbled it at first, but recovered to put away two points and draw a trip to the line. (He missed the and-one.) UCLA had a 39-35 lead.

“I know when he’s going to pass the ball and when he’s looking for a guy to cut,” Muhammad said after the game.

That was perhaps the only truly glowing moment for the Bruins all night, a glimpse at what the team’s up-tempo hopes could look like if ever fully realized. For now, though, Muhammad is still trying to improve his conditioning and Anderson is still feeling out the odd positional quandary he’s in between forward and point guard.

Muhammad scored a game-high 21 points to go with four boards, while Anderson rebounded from his scoreless performance Monday night with a 9-9-3 line. Three assists, while better than the 0 Anderson posted two games ago, still isn’t much for a player with such impressive court vision.

“I think he was more comfortable tonight,” head coach Ben Howland said of Muhammad. “We’re learning to play with Shabazz for the first time. We didn’t play with him all summer. Same thing in a game situation until just yesterday. It’s going to take some time, but I thought he did a great job.”

Added Anderson: “Shabazz cuts very hard. Bringing the ball up, I see his defender struggling with him to the basket. … It’s a pretty good connection between us.”

Freshman Jordan Adams did get left out in the cold. A decrease in looks wasn’t surprising with Shabazz taking a bigger chunk of the offense, but his 1-for-6 outing will probably prove to be anomalous.

Anderson likely to play tonight v. James Madison

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Sam Strong

*UPDATE: UCLA confirms Lamb will not play tonight.*

Sam Strong here again, providing you with all the UCLA v. James Madison coverage you ever dreamed of. A reminder to follow me on Twitter if you want more timely updates.

Freshman Kyle Anderson, who sustained a bone contusion in his right wrist in the win over UC Irvine on Tuesday, looks likely to play. He was warming up and shooting with tape on his wrist but didn’t appear hampered by it in the least.

Junior guard Tyler Lamb, who is recovering from knee surgery, was not warming up with the team. Looks like he’ll be out tonight.

Anderson has bone contusion, is game-time decision for Thursday

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Jack Wang

Freshman point forward Kyle Anderson will be a game-time decision for UCLA’s Thursday night game against James Madison. He was tested Wednesday after injuring his hand Tuesday night; preliminary results from an X-ray were negative, and an MRI indicated a bone contusion.

Anderson left briefly in the first half of the 80-79 overtime win over UC Irvine after he dove for a loose ball and landed on his right hand. Bruins head coach Ben Howland said that in watching film, he noticed that Anderson tripped over a cameraman’s foot on the baseline. Unlike photographers, the cameraman shot video was permitted to position himself closer to the court.

“I don’t like that rule at this point,” Howland said. “That’s not a UCLA rule, that’s a conference rule.”

Anderson shot just 2 of 7 from the free throw line against the Anteaters.

Junior guard Tyler Lamb, who is recovering from knee surgery, is also a game-time decision for Thursday’s tipoff against JMU.

Other notes:

— Four-star recruit Zach LaVine, who committed to UCLA in June, has officially signed his letter of intent. The 6-foot-4 combo guard out of Washington’s Bothell High is expected to play more of a shooting guard role next year, although Larry Drew’s graduation and Anderson’s potential departure for the NBA draft leaves a gap at the one spot.

“He is going to be a very good player,” Howland said. “Can really shoot it. … He’s got a lot of upside. He went from 6 feet going into his junior year and is now about 6-foot-4 going into his senior year.”

— Although the Bruins held UC Irvine to 39.7 percent from the field, their defensive performance was still a patchwork affair. The Anteaters shot 10 of 22 from beyond the arc, including two in the final three minutes that gave them a two-point lead. If it weren’t for Jordan Adam’s late free throws — and UCI’s subsequent missed free throws — UCLA likely would have lost in regulation.

“Our sense of urgency on defense was not great,” Howland said. “You could see the freshmen are all learning stuff for the first time. That last 3-point shot by (Michael) Wilder, Jordan had no clue. That guy was curling around and got a wide open three. These freshmen are going to make a lot of mistakes defensively. Kyle’s trying to learn how to play defense at this level for this first time. Everybody made mistakes.”

— The Bruins were outrebounded 51-39 Tuesday night, and were beat 16-8 on the offensive boards.

“Norman (Powell) continues to leak out on the shot like we’ve got Patrick Ewing down there rebounding for us,” Howland said. “That’s not the case. There was a lot of scramble situations. They beat us to a lot of those. Again, credit Irvine.”

UCLA files appeal on Muhammad

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Jack Wang

UCLA has filed an appeal on the NCAA’s ruling of Shabazz Muhammad’s ineligibility. The NCAA appeals committee will hear the case on Friday, and the school hopes to hear a decision then as well. The star recruit was declared ineligible just hours before the Bruins’ season opener against Indiana State last Friday.

His eligibility hinges on whether his unofficial visits to Duke and North Carolina, funded by financial advisor Benjamin Lincoln, qualifies as coming from someone with a pre-existing family relationship. Lincoln’s brother is an assistant coach for Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, Muhammad’s high school.

“I’m concerned about Shabazz,” said head coach Ben Howland. “I’m just optimistic and hopeful that everything will work out. … Hopeful is a big part of it too.”

Howland emphasized again that his players will not be wearing “Free Shabazz” T-shirts in the future. Freshmen Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams and Tony Parker warmed up in the shirts before UCLA’s win over UC Irvine on Tuesday night.

“We won’t be wearing our shirts tomorrow,” he said. “This is their friend, but that’s not something we’ll do in the future.”

NCAA’s Shabazz ruling dampens season-opening win

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Jack Wang

Here’s the game story from Tom Hoffarth, who filled in to paint the scene at Pauley Pavilion last night.

UCLA 86, Indiana State 59

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Jack Wang

The No. 13 Bruins looked solid after an jittery start, closing the game on a 14-3 run. Midway through the second half, Indiana State pulled off a 12-4 run that closed UCLA’s lead to 11. Behind Jordan Adams’ game-high 21 points off the bench, the host team opened new Pauley Pavilion with a 50-point outburst after halftime. Continue reading →

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