With Lavin Staying, Is Anybody Leaving?

Pleased, but making no promises, junior J.R. Henderson and sophomore Jelani McCoy kept their NBA options open on the first day of Steve Lavin’s permanent UCLA tenure.

Though both players said they were glad Lavin--who has disciplined those two players by benching them a combined five times--was given a four-year extension through the 2000-01 season, both said that their decisions whether to enter the upcoming June NBA draft will not be affected.

“Right now, my plan is to stay, but I really don’t know yet,” Henderson said Tuesday after practice. “I don’t think any coach really affects anything on that decision.

“Of course, if it’s a bad situation, that’s one thing. But this isn’t a bad situation. So we’ll see.”

Said McCoy: “I really haven’t thought about that. I’m just thinking about winning the Pac-10.”

Though neither would be considered a top NBA draft choice at this point of the season, several previous non-seniors have been lured into the draft by strong late-season runs that have increased their draft value.

Lavin said Tuesday that all of his non-seniors have told him, barring unforeseen circumstances, they plan to stay.

“If we sign the five or six [recruits] that we think we will, we’ll be in a very strong position next year on the national scene,” Lavin said.

Junior Toby Bailey has said he is staying at UCLA for his senior season no matter what, and reiterated the opinion Tuesday afternoon.

Bailey said Lavin told the team he had gotten the job, then whistled the first drills to start.

“There wasn’t much talk about it,” Bailey said, “He didn’t put [the uncertain job situation] in our face [before Tuesday]. We knew he was going to be our coach the rest of the season, so we weren’t really thinking about next season.

“I was coming back regardless of who was the head coach, but this makes me happy. I think it’ll help in the recruiting, the kids seem to like Lav. He’s a likable guy.”

The Bruin players’ reaction overall about their newly permanent coach was a blend of pride for what Lavin has accomplished and determination to make this season a success.

The way junior Kris Johnson see it, Lavin’s status finally gives the Bruins a chance to quit playing under a cloud of controversy and uncertainty.

“I’m pretty excited,” Johnson said. “I’m glad that we can finally get some stability in the program. For the first time in four or five months, we can just think about basketball and not have any distractions.

“First it was the Blazer thing [with recruit Baron Davis], then it was Monty’s [the dinner that eventually got Jim Harrick fired], then it was Coach Harrick getting fired, then it was the interim thing . . .

“Now it’s just ‘OK, he’s the head coach.’ That’s it. The air is cleared and it’s time to just concentrate on basketball.”

Senior Charles O’Bannon said that if anything, the move at this point in this strange season will force the team to follow Lavin’s instructions even more closely than before.

O’Bannon credits Lavin for preaching a code of conduct and sticking to it--off the court, and especially on it, when the lights are on and the TV cameras are zooming in for every shrug or scowl.

“I think there’s going to be even more emphasis on team rules,” O’Bannon said. “These rules aren’t going to be just for eight months now, they’re going to be going on for years now, for the rest of their careers.

“So if Coach says ‘Jump,’ we’re going to ask how high.”

O’Bannon agreed that Lavin’s use of discipline--and, for the players, at least, shockingly swift decisions to bench them--was necessary.

“Yeah, I think our team did need the discipline,” O’Bannon said. “When he started benching people, he said, ‘You’re going to do this or these are the consequences.’ And we saw that he was serious. I knew right then that we had to get our act together.”

Said Henderson: “We’re really playing much more as a team now, we’re definitely sharing the ball, we’re looking for each other, there’s nobody yelling at each other or pointing fingers like we used to do.”