REEVES NELSON DISMISSED FROM THE UCLA BASKETBALL TEAM

This didn’t surprise me in the least when I heard it, nor should it surprise anyone in Bruin Nation, or anybody else for that matter, as…

UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland made it official today when he dismissed junior forward Reeves Nelson from the team after the 6’8″ all Pac-10 player, who led the conference in rebounds per game last year, showed an increasingly bad attitude in practice and games, doing things like aggravate his teammates and specifically pointing and laughing at the fans while on the bench during the Bruins’ last game, a loss to Texas.

This was after he was suspended previously for bad conduct, missing the game against Loyola Marymount, then brought back for the Maui Invitational, which he missed the plane for.

As I’ve said before, it’s apparent, at least in my view, that Nelson has emotional problems, and – and I’m strictly speculating here – may be bipolar as his actions such as throwing the ball at teammates during a game show the signs of that condition.

It’s also clear to me that Nelson should transfer and get a fresh start someplace else, as it was apparently that he was unhappy with Howland’s style of play and coaching personality, which manifested itself on the court.

It’s too bad that it all had to go down this way, because Reeves Nelson is a beast on the boards and was a very valuable talent on the Bruins, at least when things were going well.

It was how he handled things when they weren’t going so well that was his downfall, as he turned out to be a cancer to the team and had to go; the classic addition through subtraction.

There’s not much more to say about this except that I hope Nelson gets help for his emotional issues, and his bipolar disorder (again, just speculating) if it turns out he has that.

This may be a cliche, but I really do wish Nelson well.