THE KINGS’ PEACH

SAC gets a pair of ballers — Bruin Tyler Honeycutt drops to the 2nd Round before being drafted #35 by the Sacramento Kings, where he will swing with Jimmer Fredette (but will be handled by an ex-trojan), and Bruin Malcolm Lee gets selected #43 by Chicago (but is expected to be traded to Minnesota, where he might play with UCLA Star Kevin Love)

Instead of competing in the Final Four next April for UCLA, Bruins Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee will be looking up from the bottom of the NBA standings, counting the days until they are mathematically eliminated from the Playoffs — and that’s if they actually MAKE IT onto their teams’ line-ups.

Since neither player was drafted in the 1st Round, they do NOT receive guaranteed contracts, and will have to compete to earn places on the squads.  Although Honeycutt should be a shoo-in for the lowly Sacramento Kings, his Coach is ex-trojan Paul Westphal.  Westphal’s college career was spent totally in the shadow of great John Wooden UCLA teams, so chances are he still harbors resentment towards the blue and gold. Therefore, Honeycutt will really have to rise above his competition in order to survive the cuts.  Sacramento also picked up two other stellar rookies — BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, who led the NCAA in scoring last season, and Isaiah Thomas from the Washington Huskies — both of whom can shoot the lights out from the perimeter.  Although they are both Guards and Tyler is a Forward, there still might be a logjam, with three outside shooting Rookies all trying to crash the party.  Unless Honeycutt’s non-chalant approach to working for his supper changes, he may be a free agent, or may be playing in Europe instead of Cow Town come this Winter.  If that’s the case, he may wish that he stayed in Westwood for a Championship run.  Of course right now he has no regrets, and he would never admit it if he did, but when the Kings are floundering in the Division cellar and Honeycutt isn’t getting any minutes, he might be longing for Ben Ball.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Lee looked like he was in great shape, getting drafted near his projection, by Chicago, one of the best teams in the League.  But sources say that Chicago will deal him to Minnesota tomorrow.  The good news about that deal is that instead of playing with SCumbag Taj Gibson and jerk Joakim Noah, he’ll get to feed Assists to Kevin Love.  The bad news is that next Spring, he and Love will be 20 games out of 1st place, soon to be watching the Bulls on TV, going deep into the Playoffs.  The other bad news for Lee is that Love may not even be a T-Wolf when Lee gets to Minnesota — The Timberwolves drafted Arizona Power Forward Derrick Williams with the #2 overall pick, and then drafted another Power Forward later in the evening.  That means that the rumors of Love getting traded away could become a reality, leaving Lee on a perennially bad team, without the fellow Bruin to comiserate with.

In other bad news for Bruins, Philadelphia’s Jrue Holiday got a new trojan teammate.  The Sixers drafted ex-usc Center Nikola Vucevic in the 1st Round, which means that his contract is guaranteed.  Not only does Holiday have to share a locker room with someone from the school with no class or integrity, but also, the Sixers wasted a 1st Round pick on someone who will not come close to being able to elevate them to the next level.

And that wasn’t the only bad news for Bruins.  In Football, Offensive Lineman Stan Hasiak was declared ineligible for the upcoming season, so he is transferring out of UCLA.  So once again, the Bruin O-Line is starting to dwindle, as it has for what seems like every year for a long time now.

But it wasn’t all bad news for Bruin fans this past week.  Going back to Basketball, UCLA signed a new recruit for the year after next:  Highly-rated Jordan Adams from Georgia.  This is the first payoff from Ben Howland’s recent hiring of Korey McCray, who coached Adams in AAU ball.  Not only is Adams a good get, but it is possible that his signing will give the Bruins a better chance to sign a couple of Adams’ friends, who are even MORE highly-regarded, including one guy who is considered by some experts to be the top recruit in the Country.

And finally, congrats to Bruin Golfer Patrick Cantlay, who was the top finisher of any Amateur in last week’s U.S. Open.  His 4-under-par 67 was the 5th-best score by an Amateur in the 111-year history of the U.S. Open.  And when asked if he is going to turn Pro now because he could immediately start raking in the big bucks, he said that he will get his degree from UCLA before he joins the Pro Tour.  If only Honeycutt and Lee felt the same way!  At least they will have the option to come back and get their degrees in the future, like after their playing days are over, OR, during the upcoming lockout.  By the way, Baron Davis and Ed O’Bannon are both back at UCLA, completing their degrees right now.