Tyler Honeycutt, Malcolm Lee Ready to Leave UCLA for NBA

Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee have declared themselves eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft. Both Honeycutt and Lee helped lead UCLA into the 2011 NCAA Tournament, and it seems that they now have high hopes of entering the NBA. As the college basketball season draws to an end over this weekend, we should expect to see quite a few more declarations coming from the most talented players.

ESPN reported that Honeycutt was leaving school in order to make his way into the NBA. He had a good year as a sophomore for the UCLA Bruins, posting stats of 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Those aren't overly spectacular statistics, but his size (6'8") could lend him well to the NBA game. It looked for a long time like Honeycutt wouldn't come out of school, but it's possible that the early exit from the NCAA Tournament might have made up his mind.

Andy Katz just reported today that Lee would also be entering the Draft. Lee was a guard for the Bruins this year, averaging 13.1 points in 33.1 minutes per game. He hasn't seemed like someone who was quite ready for the jump to the NBA, so it will be very interesting to see what the reception of his decision ends up looking like. It was noted by Katz that Lee won't hire an agent yet, so that will allow him to return to UCLA for the 2011-12 season if he decides his draft forecasts aren't as good as he thinks right now.

Both Honeycutt and Lee were key parts of the UCLA offense this season, and in one more year they could possibly move from the category of good college basketball players to great ones. Neither has been highly touted by anyone putting together mock drafts for the NBA, but the folks over at NBAdraft.net do have both players getting drafted this year. In their latest mock draft, it is predicted that Honeycutt would go to the New Orleans Hornets with the No. 20 selection, and Lee would go to the Washington Wizards with the No. 33 selection.

That is high praise already for both of these UCLA products, and if they can project into the mid-to-late first round, it becomes more definite that they will both commit to staying in the draft. The 2011 Draft will take place June 23, so there is a lot of time for both players to create additional buzz about why they should get drafted early on. The NBA Combine in May could help that cause, especially if they want to move up in the early draft projections.

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