Steve Lavin’s final game as UCLA head coach. It sounds
almost surreal, does it not?
But today’s game against Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament
is almost certainly Lavin’s last hurrah.
In a way, I am saddened by his imminent firing. Lavin is a media
spin-master, to be sure. When asked hard basketball questions Lavin
invariably responds with cliches or evasive and ambiguous answers
that at the same time pacify and confuse everyone.
But you got the feeling that Lavin honestly believed in what he
was saying and doing. He would remember your name or face and flash
you a wide smile. This didn’t come from being a smooth
operator, and despite his ridiculous slick-backed hair and polished
looks, Lavin isn’t a con man. Far from it.
The weight and responsibility of continuing John Wooden’s
legacy is a tremendous burden to bear. Perhaps all Lavin’s
positive mojo comes from the fact that he is now free of the monkey
on his back.
Additionally, Lavin has kept this program clean, at least in the
public eye. Jim Harrick, the man that brought UCLA a championship
in 1995, couldn’t say the same. His most recent fiasco at
Georgia is the latest in a line of scandals that follow his 1996
departure from UCLA.
With the exception of JaRon Rush (a player who had no interest
in maintaining his eligibility), most of Lavin’s Bruins have
stayed out of trouble and, more importantly, received a degree.
Jason Kapono and Ray Young will soon join a list that includes Dan
Gadzuric, Matt Barnes, Billy Knight and Earl Watson, among
others.
Still, as good a guy as Lavin is, he is equally bad at being a
head coach. Despite his minimal basketball knowledge he never
brought in an experienced assistant to help with the bare-bones
game plans.
Players rarely improved under his so-called tutelage. Baron
Davis, the best player Lavin ever recruited, bolted for the NBA
after one year and is now an elite point guard. I shudder at the
notion of what he might have been had he stayed (think Ray
Young).
Or take Kapono. As a freshman he averaged 16.4 points per game.
As a senior he averaged 16.0 ““ pretty damning numbers.
Lavin lacks a killer instinct and that has rubbed off on his
teams, as evidenced by innumerable late-game collapses and ugly
early season losses. What’s more, Lavin was hampered by his
inability to make solid mid-game adjustments.
Simply put, he got out-coached on an almost nightly basis. When
teams changed defenses, offensive sets, or began exploiting a
mismatch, Lavin would immediately call a time out and discuss the
situation but never find a solution.
His supporters ““ yes, they’re out there ““ can
point to some pretty solid accomplishments. The one they like to
throw out there most is the five Sweet-16 berths in six years,
matched only by Coach K at Duke.
But it has always been my feeling (an opinion shared by many
others) that Lavin won in spite of himself. With the amount of
talent that the UCLA name draws to the program every year,
there’s no reason the Bruins shouldn’t be perennial
national title contenders.
Think about the past year’s squad. There was Gadzuric, a
physical specimen that could dominate when he stayed out of foul
trouble.
Matt Barnes was a defensive pest, a tricky rebounder on the
offensive glass, and could score in various ways. Jason Kapono was
there to stretch defenses and throw up three-point daggers. Billy
Knight could do much of the same.
Freshman Cedric Bozeman was a highly touted prospect and was
supposed to be a 6-foot-7-inch point guard that opposing teams
could never match. The bench could then throw up T.J. Cummings,
Dijon Thompson and Andre Patterson.
That is more talent than Maryland had last year. It’s as
good a team as Arizona has this year. Last year’s team can
only be considered a major disappointment. Getting to the Sweet 16
is good. Limping into the Sweet 16 when you have national
championship talent is bad. There is a major difference, and
that’s the kind of difference that gets you fired.
This year’s final assault on all the wrong kinds of
records has finally cooked Lavin’s goose. Here’s hoping
that Dan Guerrero can do what predecessor Peter Dalis could not:
find the right man for the job.
The King is dead, long live the Emperor.
E-mail Colin at cyuhl@media.ucla.edu.