Thanks to Bob The Bruin and Bruinville News for posting the following stories.
Observations from UCLA's only open basketball practice
By Ben Bolch
The Fabulous Forum
The who, what, where, when,
why — and why not — of L.A. sports
The Los Angeles Times
October 25, 2010 | 9:46 pm
The only UCLA basketball practice open to the media this season was Monday at Pauley Pavilion.
A few observations:
1) Reeves Nelson made seven consecutive shots from near the three-point line early in the practice before losing his long-range touch, prompting Coach Ben Howland to work with the sophomore power forward on his form. Nelson's frustration mounted as his shots began to stray, and he briefly pulled his jersey over his head, but he said his accuracy had improved since last season. That could help the Bruins stretch opposing defenses.
"Coach just tells me to keep shooting because he's confident in my shooting abilities, and I think I'm shooting a pretty high percentage overall in practice so far," Nelson said. "Today was a little off, but the other days have been going pretty well, so I'm liking it."
Nelson also displayed the hard-nosed side that won him fans as a freshman, bulling his way into the post for a dunk and later going from one end of the court to the other after a steal only to come up short on an attempted dunk and take a tumble.
2) Malcolm Lee, the team's leading returning scorer who averaged 12.1 points last season, said he hoped to be even more assertive on the offensive end, but Howland stopped one play to admonish the shooting guard for passing up an open shot. Shortly thereafter, Lee buried a jumper with freshman Matt Carlino in his face.
3) Neither point guard distinguished himself, though Lazeric Jones played almost exclusively with the first team. Both Jones and Jerime Anderson committed some ugly turnovers with bad passes, and Anderson also struggled at times with his shot.
Though he appears to be the front-runner, Jones said no decision had been made on a starter.
"Everything's still up in the air right now," said Jones, a junior college transfer from Chicago who was brought in in the wake of Anderson's struggles last season. "I don't really know who the starting five is, so right now I'm still working hard trying to get on the floor, period."
Asked about the battle at point guard, Jones said, "It's been going back and forth every day. He's been doing really well and I've been trying as hard as possible. I don't think there have been bad days for him or me or us as a team. That's why it's really up in the air."
Lee described Anderson as more of "a pure point guard" while saying that Jones "has more of a playground edge to him, plays with a chip on his shoulder."
4) Joshua Smith, the 6-foot-10 freshman center who appears heavier than his listed weight of 305 pounds, knocked Anthony Stover to the floor ... with what seemed like only a tiny shift of his massive body. "He's three-plus bills on the block," Lee said of Smith. "That's hard to move." Smith displayed some deceptive quickness in half-court sets, though. He appeared beaten by Stover on one move only to pin Stover's shot against the backboard.
5) Sophomore forward David Wear displayed a nice touch from three-point range, making several shots during full-court action. Too bad for Bruins fans the transfer from North Carolina will be ineligible this season.
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Hoops Post-Practice Report
By Jon Gold on October 25, 2010 5:44 PM
Inside UCLA with Jon Gold
The Los Angeles Daily News
* Talk about an efficient practice. In 2.5 hours, they barely had time to breathe, but the conditioning is such that I didn't see too many of the guys really sucking wind. Even the guy with the most wind to suck, Joshua Smith, looked like he was handling the tempo of practice very well.
* Tyler Honeycutt came back with a shot this year, folks. Beautiful release, and he looks very comfortable shooting the ball. Comfort is as much about having the confidence to shoot as it is having good shooting touch, and he looked like he's developed both.
* Reeves Nelson also spent a lot of work during the summer on his outside shot, but after watching him practice, I'm not sure he has the range he thinks he has. He had some beautiful shots, but was often short with the ball, and he still shows some hesitation outside. but he'll definitely get some prettier baskets than last year.
* Tyler Lamb had a so-so practice, but you can see that he is an incredible natural feel for the game. He had a baseline spin move that was deadly, but then he missed the floater. Such is life with a freshman. Above-average defensive tenacity, and he should be a viable option behind both Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee.
* Jerime Anderson looks noticeably thinner and quicker, but still has his issues finishing in the lane. I've never seen a guy who gets to the basket as well as he does still struggle to convert the layup. I gotta assume its a feel or touch issue, but it's not good.
* Very, very, very impressed by David Wear. Will he ever turn into a major star? Who knows. But he's a basketball player, plain and simple.
* Nice exchange: Brendan Lane comes down on one possession with Lee, Smith, Honeycutt and Jones and drops in a 3-pointer, and then the Bruins get back into transition the other way - Anderson, Stover, Nelson, Lamb and Carlino - and Nelson finishes inside.
That was followed by a Josh Smith bucket on a beautiful post move and a Tyler Lamb outside shot.
* Didn't get a very good look at Matt Carlino, but the good shooting form is as advertised. He had a little problem defending the perimeter, but he's obviously nowhere near as strong or experienced as the guys - Anderson Lee - that he was guarding.
* Lastly, I'm not quite going all-in on Malcolm Lee as a superstar, but his offensive game is looking pretty good right now. I still need to see more consistency from him on a play-to-play basis - some guys look good even when they miss; he's not one of them - but he's definitely got some new moves this year.
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