Kyle Singler, killer bargain
Over at Grantland, Bill Simmons has a column looking at some of the best bargains in the NBA, and Kyle Singler made his honorable mentions:
Kyle Singler (Pistons): 3 years, $3.13 million
I like this guy and can’t totally explain it. Either he’s going to end up being horribly overpaid by Joe Dumars (a.k.a. Jerebko-ed), or he’s going to end up on the Spurs at some point, have a bunch of clutch moments, and make everyone say, “Dammit, they did it again!” It’s a coin flip right now.
That’s a pretty solid description of Singler. There’s nothing, in particular, that he does that screams starter on a good team, but there’s also nothing that he does so poorly that you look at him and think there’s no possible way he could start for a good team, either. The contract Dumars gave Singler is great value, but I will admit that Simmons’ comment about Joe Dumars ‘Jerebko-ing’ Singler gave me a shudder. That is a totally plausible scenario.
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Mar 4, 2013 • 10:48 am
by Huddy
The fact that he is a role player put in a starting role makes evaluating him really difficult. He could be a solid guy off the bench, but matching up against starting SFs in this league at starter minutes is exposing his limitations especially on the defensive end.
Mar 4, 2013 • 10:30 pm
by MrHappyMushroom
Exactly. We’ve gotten pretty desperate these past few years. Guys like Will Bynum and Jerebko–who I like, as I do Singler–out
Mar 4, 2013 • 11:04 am
by tarsier
The thing is that if Jerebko kept playing like he had been, his contract would be about right. If he had improved, it would be a bargain.
I give Dumars a lot of flak, but betting on a guy Jerebko’s age to at least maintain his level of performance is a risk worth taking.
Mar 4, 2013 • 11:56 am
by I HATE FRANK
I agree about Jonas …before the Injury and Before Frank Jonas was on his way into the starting line up to replace Prince. His 36 per min stats were very solid … this season was a huge set back for Jonas
Singler is tricky, because there have been player like Singler on good teams and starting … Kyle Kover , shane Battier, Robert Horry, every spur to ever start that name
Wasn’t Duncan,Parker, or Manu …. (I’m speaking about speciality players)
So Singler does not have a high ceiling, but he is one of those guys that can produce when given the chance based on the system
Mar 4, 2013 • 12:08 pm
by tarsier
Yeah, I think Singler’s ceiling is a little lower than Jerebko’s, but not much. But I’d never give him $4M/yr, not because he couldn’t realistically be worth it, but because there will always be some such role player wings available for less.
Mar 4, 2013 • 4:48 pm
by oats
I don’t know, I thought with JJ coming off an injury that Dumars paid over market value for him. He’s a fairly limited second round player who missed an entire season before getting that contract. I thought we could have had him at closer to $3 million per year. I don’t actually know that that is true, and if $4.5 million was the going rate then I can’t complain about it too much because it was about the level he played at as a rookie. Still, it felt like Detroit was bidding against no one with that offer, so I get the point being made.
Mar 4, 2013 • 4:59 pm
by tarsier
I agree wholeheartedly with this. I just don’t know if there was any competition.
Mar 4, 2013 • 11:15 am
by Mark
I like Singler, but I liked him more at the beginning of the year than I do now. I just don’t think he makes enough of an impact as a starter. He doesn’t really do anything great, and even though he does all the little things, those little things really don’t have a big impact on the game or add up to anything big. His defense is OK, but nothing special to where he could be a lockdown defender. He seems to miss a lot of easy shots. He’s a good 3 pt shooter, but I wouldn’t really consider him a reliable 3 pt shooter. I just don’t know what he’s great at.
In other words, I kind of thought he could be the next Shane Battier, but I’m just not seeing enough on defense and from 3 pt land to believe that anymore. I do think he would make a great backup SF though.
Mar 4, 2013 • 2:36 pm
by G
…since before ‘Jerebko’ there was Maxiell & Stuckey… Singler is exactly the type of player to fit into that equation. Nominally talented, shows promise but not extreme promise – the kind of guy that might someday average 12 & 6, and doesn’t exactly fit one position (Maxiell plays the 4, height of a 3, Stuckey was a 2 miscast as a 1, Jerebko waffling between the 3 & 4 spots, and Singler with his SG/SF situation).
Mar 5, 2013 • 2:59 am
by Ryan
I like both Jonas Jerebko and Kyle Singler as versatile role players who aren’t going to hurt the team. JJ has taken a step back this year with Lawrence Frank’s insistence on playing Jason Maxiell but I hope that when Maxiell is gone he and Singler will form a very effective front court reserve unit being able to come in at different positions and contribute.
I regard both of these guys as assets though not foundation pieces.
Mar 5, 2013 • 3:09 am
by Ryan
I also think that these guys will both look better when we’ve got better coaching and a coherent system. Right now it seems like very few people on this team understand their roles and I don’t see any overarching philosophy to help them.