What if the Sixers Draft … Chris Singleton?

Last year I did a write-up here at Recliner GM on why I thought the Sixers should draft Evan Turner.  It was the first time I really threw myself into evaluating and thinking about a college player and trying to predict how successful he’d be in the NBA.

After watching Turner’s rookie season, I’d have to say that my amateur scouting report of him after one game was a pretty good reflection of what we all saw from Turner.

Because of my experience, I found myself watching a lot of video of the prospects of this year’s draft and thinking a lot about them.  I’ve also found that I can’t make up my mind about who the Sixers should pick at #16 and at #50 (I want Bismack but there’s no way he lasts until #16; the Bobcats just hired a pretty shrewd guy, Rich Cho, as their GM, so I think that’s Biyombo’s “floor” for this draft).

So instead of making an argument for the specific player the Sixers should pick, I want to make a case for ALL of the players I think the Sixers should consider; I’m going to try to post as much as I can before the draft on Thursday.

First up: What if the Sixers draft…  6’9” Chris Singleton of Florida State?

Singleton has been the hardest guy for me to pin down.  He passed that “Blink” test for me – after watching his Draftexpress video breakdown for just a few seconds something told me this is a guy that’s going to do some good stuff in the NBA, and that he could do that for the Sixers.  After finishing Draftexpress’ video breakdown, I went over to vault.ncaa.com and hoped that they’d have an FSU game, and fortunately they did – a 2011 NCAA tournament game vs. Final Four team VCU.

I still didn’t know what to make of him after that game.  I had the answer, “Chris Singleton”, but what the heck was the question?  It was a while before I came up with this: he’s the perfect small-ball center.

One of the reasons I’m never totally comfortable with small-ball is that the 5 is usually played by someone who just doesn’t quite slot in at center.  An example well-known to Sixers fans is how Collins would use Brand at center late in games with Thad at the 4 and Iguodala, Jrue and Lou filling out the rest of the lineup.

So, if you could design a player who’d be perfect as a small-ball 5 for the Sixers, what would you want?

First and foremost, he should be able to hold his own against the big man that the other team is using at the 5, and this primarily means he can rebound.  He should be athletic and able to handle the more hectic pace of small-ball and be able to get up and down the floor quickly.  He should be able to block shots and help to generate turnovers with active defense.  On offense he should have some ability to finish in transition and he should be able to hit open 3-pointers from the top of the key.  Basically, he should be like Chris Singleton.

Of all those attributes the best is his defense.

I read his scouting reports before watching video of him so I knew FSU was a good defensive team, but after watching that VCU game it was easy to see why.

On defense, his court awareness was Tim Duncan-esque; it’s easy to see him becoming a floor leader like TD or KG one day.  He was very active and always looking to make something happen, even on offense.  Compared to the VCU midgets Singleton looked like Dwight Howard, but it was still easy to see that his above-average athleticism will translate to the NBA and be perfect for a team that likes to get up and down the court like the Sixers.

On offense he’s a poor man’s Josh Smith and he still needs to be defended; for what you would be asking of him he would not be an offensive liability.

Here’s what I think would be a potent small-ball lineup that we could see ending games this season:

Singleton-Thad-Iguodala-Lou-Jrue

And if Collins wants to play Brand then I would be very comfortable with this lineup that also has Singleton at the 5:

Singleton-Brand-Iguodala-Lou-Jrue

Some final notes on Chris Singleton:

• Singleton is better than Brackins.
• In the NBA I see him dunking the ball a lot.  I can also see him shooting and making the occasional clutch 3.
• I don’t like the player comps from Draftexpress and nbadraft.net.  I think he’s more like a shrunken-down version of Samuel Dalembert and Dikembe Mutombo, but with much more offensive skill and much more agility…
• …but not enough agility to guard shooting guards and point guards.  I think quick athletic small forwards (like Thad) could give him trouble if he has to guard them 1-on-1 out on the perimeter, but I think he’d have no problem with Carmelo.