Junior forward Reeves Nelson dismissed from the UCLA men’s basketball team
Junior forward Reeves Nelson was dismissed from the men’s basketball team Friday.
By Daily Bruin Staff
Dec. 9, 2011 2:37 p.m.
A teammate’s dismissal gave Reeves Nelson his first chance at being a contributor to the UCLA men’s basketball team. Two years later, Nelson himself has been dismissed.
Coach Ben Howland announced the junior forward’s final punishment Friday, wrapping a season in which the team’s leading returning scorer and rebounder had been subjected to numerous disciplinary measures for misconduct.
Nelson last played 12 first-half minutes in a 69-59 loss to Texas on Saturday before Howland decided to bench him at halftime for poor play. Late in the second half, Nelson was seen smiling and laughing on the bench as UCLA lost the lead.
“It’s just a culmination of everything,” Howland said. “The last game, his behavior on the bench, after the game … we had to move forward.”
In December of 2009, starting center Drew Gordon left the team after a “mutual agreement” with Howland following the team’s 2-4 start. That left a hole in the lineup and paved the way for Howland to give the 6-foot-8-inch Nelson minutes as an undersized center.
Nelson responded with energetic play that quickly made him a fan favorite at Pauley Pavilion. He followed that up with a stellar sophomore season, leading the team in scoring and rebounding and earning All-Pac-10 first-team honors.
His projected status on the team this year was underscored by his appearance on a regional cover of Sports Illustrated’s college basketball preview issue. The magazine’s preseason poll, like many others, had UCLA pegged as a top-20 team.
Howland waited to dismiss Nelson until Friday, the end of fall quarter, but indicated that the decision was far from mutual.
“Reeves did not want to leave,” Howland said. “He’s disappointed but understands that this is a final decision. This is it. We are moving forward without him.”
Howland handed Nelson his second indefinite suspension in just under a month Tuesday. Both times, Howland cited “conduct unbecoming of a member of the UCLA basketball team.”
But Howland said he had to move forward in the best interests of the program. Already mired in a 2-5 start, he didn’t want his team to be distracted any longer.
“Honestly I think this will be a positive for our team,” Howland said of Nelson’s dismissal. “When I suspended him the first time, the two practices after that were the best two practices of the year. Hopefully, this will be a unifying thing for our team.”
Nelson’s future is unclear. Howland said he could stay in school, turn professional or transfer and have one-and-a-half years of eligibility remaining.
He would likely have to sit out a full year by NCAA transfer rules. Howland noted that he could find a landing spot in Europe, where a handful of NBA players have opted out of their contracts to return for the resumption of the NBA season later this month. The NBA draft is not until June.
Nelson, unavailable to the media since his initial suspension, tweeted Friday morning, “Here I am, on the road again….. There I gooooooo. Turn the page.”
