UCLA's Mick Cronin hires former player David Singleton as an assistant coach
LOS ANGELES — David Singleton, who played five seasons for UCLA, is returning to Westwood as an assistant coach under Mick Cronin.
Singleton spent the last two years playing in the NBA G League with the Atlanta Hawks' affiliate in Georgia.
He helped UCLA reach the NCAA Tournament Final Four in 2021. He also helped the Bruins make the tournament in 2022 and in 2023, when they made the Sweet 16. As a fifth-year senior, Singleton and the Bruins won the Pac-12 regular-season title.
Singleton set the school record for most games played with 164 while playing a fifth year allowed by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He ranks third on the career list for 3-pointers made with 219. He averaged 5.7 points and 1.8 rebounds during his career.
'He's always had his eye on becoming a coach, and we are thrilled that we can add him to our staff,' Cronin said in a statement Wednesday. 'He understands what it takes to get a team to perform at a high level.'
Singleton said he's grateful to return to his alma mater, where he graduated in 2023 with a sociology degree.
'I'm looking forward to adding to the legacy and program in any way that I can as an assistant coach,' he said in a statement.
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Tyler Boucher may earn a spot on this team in a year or two. But this isn't a bad group, and we may even need to put an asterisk on the two 2019 picks — Sogaard is at least still in the organization, while Thomson just re-signed in Ottawa on a two-way deal after returning from Europe. Our cap-era cutoff helps the Blue Jackets a bit here, as they avoid top-10 picks such as Pascal Leclaire and Alexandre Picard. That doesn't mean they can't put together a decent roster, though. And unlike some other teams we've seen, we can find some high picks here that a team really can't afford to miss on. Forwards: Gilbert Brule (6th in 2005), Nikita Filatov (6th in 2008), Kerby Rychel (19th in 2013) Defense: Gabriel Carlsson (29th in 2015), Corson Ceulemans (25th in 2021) Goalie: Oscar Dansk (31st in 2012) Total career stats: 482 games, 55 goals, 0 wins Missing on a pair of sixth-overall picks, especially just a few years apart, set the franchise back in a big way. The defense was the tricky part here; Ceulemans is still in the organization and is only 22, but his stock seems to be plummeting, even getting the dreaded 'prospect I was wrong about' treatment from Pronman. But if you wanted to, you could swap him out for David Jiricek, who's already been traded, or even Ryan Murray, who had a decent NHL career that was impacted by injuries but never came close to living up to the hype of being picked second. Maybe they should have taken that Islanders offer. Advertisement This one's kind of fun, since the Lightning built one of the better rosters in the league largely through the draft, both by hitting on top picks such as Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman and by finding later-round gems such as Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. If any team would be immune from putting together an all-bust squad, it would be them. And yet … Forwards: Jonathan Drouin (3rd in 2013), Carter Ashton (29th in 2009), Nolan Foote (27th in 2019) Defense: Vladimir Mihalik (30th in 2005), Slater Koekkoek (10th in 2012) Goalie: Riku Helenius (15th in 2006) Total career stats: 893 games, 121 goals, 0 wins Yeah, that's an interesting group. Koekkoek has been open about his struggles, while Drouin has fashioned a solid comeback story in recent years. Meanwhile, Helenius is among the highest goaltenders picked in the cap era, and his NHL career lasted only one game. Luckily for Tampa, that experience didn't scare them off from taking goalies in round one. The Sabres are the flip side of the Lightning — a team that's never any good, partly because they never seem to hit on any of their (many) high picks. Surely they'll have an unbeatable entry. Forwards: Alex Nylander (8th in 2016), Mikhail Grigorenko (12th in 2012), Marek Zagrapan (13th in 2005), Defense: Dennis Persson (24th in 2006), Ryan Johnson (31st in 2019) Goalie: Jhonas Enroth (46th in 2006) Total career stats: 572 games, 51 goals, 50 wins Huh. That's nowhere near the mess I was expecting. While Zagrapan and Persson never made the NHL, they were picked back when this team was actually good. With Johnson still in the system, you could argue that Nylander is the only true first-round bust of the Terry Pegula era. (I'm thinking Matthew Savoie is too young to get that label yet, although Sabres fans may disagree.) But if anything, it feels like the Sabres tend to wind up with a bunch of mediocre picks instead of outright whiffs. Maybe they're playing it too safe? Hard to say, but I found their entry interesting. Advertisement They've found some value over the years, especially with Kirill Kaprizov in the fifth. But their first-round record is a mixed bag. Forwards: Benoit Pouliot (4th in 2005), Zack Phillips (28th in 2011), Colton Gillies (16th in 2007) Defense: Tyler Cuma (23rd in 2008), Filip Johansson (24th in 2018) Goalie: Kristofer Westblom (65th in 2005) Total career stats: 780 games, 136 goals, 0 wins No Marco Rossi, at least not yet. Pouliot had a better career than you probably remember, playing 12 seasons and counting for 130 goals toward the total here, but he never came close to living up to the expectations that come with being a fourth pick, especially when Carey Price and Anze Kopitar went off the board over the next few picks. You can argue over whether this team of Coyotes picks is now the Mammoth or if they're just floating around in a weird liminal space of semi-existence, waiting to be revived. For our purposes, it doesn't matter, although JJ Peterka could tell you that yes, Coyotes picks became Mammoth prospects. Forwards: Henrik Samuelsson (27th in 2012), Brendan Perlini (12th in 2014), Nick Merkley (30th in 2015) Defense: Nick Ross (30th in 2007), Brandon Gormley (13th in 2010) Goalie: Mark Visentin (27th in 2010) Total career stats: 382 games, 54 goals, 0 wins. Yeah, that's a tough look. I've focused on the late-round picks, which are a mess, although you could argue that higher picks like such as Kyle Turris and even Dylan Strome, hurt more. What really stands out is that there's about a decade where the Coyotes don't find anything resembling an impact player in the first round aside from Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a streak that's mercifully snapped in 2016 when they nailed two picks with Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun. No, I'm not putting Trevor Zegras on the team, don't be ridiculous. We'll give him one more year. Advertisement Forwards: Logan MacMillan (19th in 2007), Brayden Tracey (29th in 2019), Jacob Perreault (27th in 2020) Defense: Mark Mitera (19th in 2006), Jacob Larsson (27th in 2015) Goalie: Igor Bobkov (76th in 2009) Total career stats: 174 games, 3 goals, 0 wins Oof. We can defend the Ducks a little here, because they've spent most of the cap era as contenders, which means they picked late. And while Bobkov never made it, he's an outlier on a team that's actually really good at nailing its goalie picks, landing John Gibson, Frederik Andersen, Ilya Bryzgalov and Lukas Dostal with early picks. Still, when they miss, they miss big — pretty much all of those career stats come from Larsson, with the other five players on the list all playing in one or zero NHL games. OK, now it's over to you. I went through just about every team, and some just won't work at all — either because they rarely miss, rarely have first-round picks to miss with, or in some rare cases can't fill out a full roster. (Did you know the only goalies the Leafs have taken in the first three rounds in the entire cap era are Tuukka Rask and Joseph Woll? Sorry, Tyler Biggs fans.) But I'm sure I've missed a few, so let me see what you can come up with. Or just remember some especially bad picks that your team made, especially if you knew all along that they should have taken the other guy. (Top photo of Jakub Zboril, Zachary Senyshyn and Jake DeBrusk: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)
