By Kostas Giataganas/ info@eurohoops.net
Russia, China, Greece and now Spain. Over the last three years, Chris Singleton has been changing teams steadily, however the element that remains a constant is his reliability and, in fact, at a very high level.
For other players, the question may be to rack up enough appearances for some bonus or their contract itself, but in the case of the forward who played for Panathinaikos and who will now play for Barcelona, there are barely any absences one can find in his record, at a time when the strain at a high level has gone through the roof.
Eurohoops documents the 29-year-old American’s unstoppable course, from the NBA, to the Olympic Sports Center Athens and the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona, at the team he hopes to help return to the elite of the EuroLeague.
Florida and the NBA
Born in Canton, Georgia, he went through Florida State’s college basketball program (2008-2011), where he played for the Seminoles for three years, under the instructions of the longest serving and multi-winner for that particular institution coach, Leonard Hamilton.
In 2011, Singleton considered himself ready for the NBA and registered for the draft, where the Wizards selected him with the 18th overall pick and opened the door of the magical world for him.
From 2011 to 2014, he played in the colors of Washington, where he counted 66 and 57 appearances in the first two years, averaging 4.6 and 4.1 points respectively, though his third season was… jinxed, as he missed the first two months due to a fractured metatarsal of the left leg.
As a result, after his return he wasn’t able to really find a spot on the roster, and with only 25 appearances, at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season he found himself in China and the Jiangsu Dragons and then the G-League with the Oklahoma City Blue, making the decision to take a look at Europe too.
Berlin with Bartzokas and Lokomotiv
In the 2015/2016 season, the Florida State graduate was introduced to European basketball through his collaboration with Georgios Bartzokas’s Lokomotiv, being one of the main ingredients of an excellent mix that pleasantly surprised and shook the EuroLeague.
In just their second appearance in the EuroLeague, Lokomotiv found the way to have one of the most competitive squads in the competition and go all the way to the Final Four in Berlin by knocking out Barcelona – then coached by Xavi Pascual, who will now coach Singleton in Panathinaikos – with two breaks and 3-2 wins in the playoffs.
The American was a protagonist of that series and the MVP of the qualification “final,” with 16 points, 12 rebounds and a ranking of 27 in Game 5 in Krasnodar, a performance that was even better than his debut against… Panathinaikos in Russia, where he’d chalked up 16 points, 9 rebounds and a ranking of 21 and displayed his credentials to Europe for the first time.
An interlude with a Chinese spree
As he came to the end of his course in Krasnodar, Panathinaikos announced a deal with him for 1+1 years on July 1, 2016, when he was already in China, playing in the colors of Anhui Wenyi.
He played in the Chinese team in the summer and the second-tier league (NBL), where he taunted his opponents with the impressive averages of 24.6 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.5 steals, 1.6 blocks in 29 appearances, with 19 double-doubles (points-rebounds) and five games with 30+ points and 16+ rebounds, celebrating the title.
Titles and consistency in Panathinaikos
The Greens – then coached by Argyris Pedoulakis – waited patiently for Singleton to be done with his commitments in the Far East, as he missed the first part of the preparation, though this didn’t stop him from joining Panathinaikos without interruption.
The lack of rest raised some questions regarding his fitness throughout the season, with many waiting for him to… drop down, but this never happened, as he was perhaps the most consistent Green at a high standard in those two seasons, alongside Nick Calathes.
In the two years he spent in Athens, the American was at the forefront, being the protagonist of the double in 2017 and the championship in 2018, though at the level of the EuroLeague he wasn’t able to help his team go the extra mile and make the Final Four, despite their home court advantage in both seasons, due to the superiority of Fenerbahce and Real at the critical moment.
At the same time, he was among the 4 players who reacted against the decision for the team to return with a bus from Istanbul in April of 2017 after being knocked out by Fenerbahce. This, however, didn’t stop him from being the top rebounder, first in playing time and second best scorer for the team in the 2016/2017 season in the EuroLeague, while in the 2017/2018 season, he was the only one, together with Gist, who had 34-for-34 appearances in the competition and was first in playing time, the top rebounder and third best scorer.
The most impressive element of his two years with the Greens was his unbelievable percentage in appearances. Out of the 143 games that Panathinaikos played in this time in the EuroLeague, the Greek championship and cup, Singleton had 139 appearances, which is a figure of 97.2%, missing just one game (championship) in the 2016/2017 season and three games (championship) in the 2017/2018 season!
Based on the numbers, Singleton was even better in Panathinaikos than he was in Lokomotiv, as – except for the team’s progress in Europe, since with Lokomotiv he reached the Final Four of 2016 – he broke all his personal records in the EuroLeague in:
The ranking (34 vs Maccabi)
Points (26 vs Maccabi)
Offensive rebounds (5 vs Zalgiris)
Defensive rebounds (11 vs Fenerbahce)
Total rebounds (13 @ Valencia)
Assists (4 @ Malaga)
Steals (6 @ Maccabi)
Blocks (4 @ Barcelona)
Playing time (38 @ Real)
From a thriller summer to Barcelona
After his first season with the Greens, he became the protagonist of a transfer thriller. Panathinaikos activated the second year of the contract and… half of Europe knocked on their door.
According to reports and to Panathinaikos, aside from Khimki, who made successive offers in order to acquire him, CSKA Moscow and Milan, among others, also wanted Singleton, with Dimitrios Giannakopoulos turning down any offer to discuss the matter and keeping the player at the Olympic Sports Center Athens, making him an offer for a new contract, which the player turned down.
But this year, as the contract expired, his course with the Greek champions came to its end. Regarding the next stop in his career, the player said, “I’ll go wherever they want me,” and Barcelona showed that they really wanted him.
Eurohoops revealed the big offer made by the Catalans, who won his signature and who want him to be the foundation on which they can build a renewed team that will be able to aim high once again.
He can do everything and he’s well worth the money
Singleton was undoubtedly one of the most sought-after players on the market and Barcelona can certainly feel confident about their selection.
In the last three years, when he has been playing at the highest level in the EuroLeague, the 29-year-old ace has been an excellent instrument for any coach, as his coaches themselves can confirm.
It’s not easy to find a big man who is 2.06m tall who can play unbelievably well outside the paint. Offensively, he can threaten from mid- and long-range, shooting after a dribble but also setting up his own plays by putting the ball on the floor.
On the contrary, he’s not the type of big man who will score by posting up, but he’ll mainly do it facing the basket, while he’s a very reliable rebounder who knows where he has to be in order to get the best position.
Defensively, he clearly has an issue with big men who are strong and can take him to the basket, but his “malleability” helps him make it difficult for them to handle the ball well and to steal the ball, while he has the speed and the ability to mark smaller opponents, which he did many times in Panathinaikos.