"Pleasantries weren't the point of the conference call with Mick Cronin. The UCLA basketball coach asked the player who could help his team contend for a national title about his plans after college. That was easy enough. Dent told Cronin that he wanted to play in the NBA. OK, Cronin responded, let's say you're playing the Lakers tomorrow. Who would you guard?"
"It couldn't be their primary ballhandlers, Luka Doncic and LeBron James, because they're 6 feet 6 and 6-9, respectively, while Dent is only 6-2. So who do you guard next? Continuing down the roster, Cronin got to Austin Reaves, the 6-5 dynamo. "Cronin's like, well, you're not a good enough defender to guard him," said Josh Giles, who was on the call last spring as an advisor to Dent after having coached him at Corona Centennial High."
Donovan Dent entered the transfer portal as the top point guard and declared an NBA aspiration during a conference call with UCLA coach Mick Cronin. Cronin confronted Dent about defensive limitations by asking who he could guard on the Lakers' roster and pointing out mismatches against taller players and Austin Reaves. Cronin warned that he would loudly hold Dent accountable in practice to prepare him for the NBA. Josh Giles, who advised Dent and previously coached him at Corona Centennial High, relayed Cronin's critique and emphasized that Dent would be challenged and called out. Dent accepted that tougher accountability might be what he needed.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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