Pacers' Draft Possibilities: Chris Singleton

With the Draft Lottery complete, the Early Entry List set, and the NBA Draft fast approaching, it's time to examine more in depth some of the players who could be available for the Pacers. Over the next few weeks I'll be trying to put together as many profiles as possible. Instead of identifying players as specific targets for either Pacers' pick, I'm just going to cover a pool of players I think are possibilities. You'll find some players who the Pacers would likely have to trade up or down for. I've also expressed my opinion that the Pacers need to be focused on talent as much as fit so players at all five positions will be included.

These profiles are not intended to advocate for one player over another, just examine their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss in some detail what they have to offer. For each profile I provided Ten Important Statistics to guide the discussion. Today we'll be looking at:

Chris Singleton - SF - 6'9"  230 lbs. - Florida State University

Current DraftExpress Projection: Round 1, Pick #19

Strengths:

• Terrific athlete, good physical tools
• Excellent defensive player, can defend multiple positions, creates tons of turnovers
• Good transition player
• Decent rebounder, displays good effort chasing down rebounds outside his immediate area

Weaknessess:

• Contributes very little offensively, not a perimeter scorer, not a post scorer, to be efficient he'll need others to create scoring opportunities for him
• Although he has shown improvement, plenty of questions remain about his perimeter shooting
• Has struggled with shot selection, not much of a ball-handler

Impressions:

Although he clearly has his flaws, players of Singleton's nature who are capable of locking down multiple positions, rebounding out of their area and scoring in transition (off cuts to the basket and second chance opportunities on the offensive glass) are valuable assets. If Singleton can develop into a reliable spot-up shooter on top of that, he'll have a long and productive NBA career.

-Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress.com

• Shawne Williams - 919
• Rudy Gay - 904
• Jared Jeffries - 894
• See the rest of Chris Singleton's comparables at Hickory-High

How he can help the Pacers:

It's tough to envision Chris Singleton taking on a huge role for the Pacers' next season. Although he can play some power forward, it seems more likely that his future will be primarily on the wing. Most of his value is as a defender, and the Pacers already have a crowded wing rotation, with two solid defenders in Paul George and Dahntay Jones. However, that rotation will eventually empty out over the next few years and Singleton could be a solid player to have around. He has shown some steady improvement over his college career and could potentially become a more productive offensive player. Even if that's not the case, his defensive prowess would make a valuable piece to have coming off the bench. Any lineup with him and Paul George together could be pretty scary for opposing offenses.

Video:

More Information:

• DraftExpress Profile
• ESPN Draft Profile
• NBADraft.net Profile