Background and career
Kyle Colby Singler (born May 4, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. Singler was a four-year starter for the Duke men's basketball team and was instrumental in their 2010 NCAA championship run, and was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. In the 2011 NBA draft, the Detroit Pistons selected Singler in the second round with the overall 33rd pick. His professional career spanned from 2011 to 2019.
Singler attended South Medford High School in Medford, Oregon. In high school, he averaged 29.3 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game as a senior. In 2006, Singler played against Brandon Jennings in the championship game of The Les Schwab Invitational. Singler was also named to the 2006 U18 USA Junior National team, alongside fellow top prospects Michael Beasley, Jerryd Bayless, and 2006 star recruit Spencer Hawes. Singler is also one of eight players featured in Gunnin' for That#1 Spot, a 2008 documentary directed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys which was filmed in 2006. In October 2006, he signed a letter of intent to play college basketball at Duke University. In 2007, Singler led South Medford to its first-ever state basketball championship, winning 58–54 over defending champion Lake Oswego and national standout Kevin Love. A year earlier, Love and Lake Oswego had defeated Singler and South Medford for the state championship. Singler was a member of the Legends AAU team, along with future UCLA player Kevin Love, and participated in many prestigious all-American camps, including the Nike All-American Camp (Indianapolis), the Nike Peach Jam (Augusta), and the Main Event (Las Vegas).
2006 Elite 24 Hoops Classic 2006 Second-team Parade All-American 2007 Oregon Co-Player of the Year 2007 First-team Parade All-American 2007 McDonald's All American 2007 Jordan Brand All-American 2007 Oregon Southwest Conference Player of the Year 2007 OSAA 6A All Tournament Team 2007 OSAA 6A State Champion
Singler started at power forward as a freshman and finished the 2007–08 season with averages of 13.3 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game, helping lead Duke to a 28–6 record. Singler put to rest any speculation that he might enter the 2008 NBA draft, saying: I didn't give the NBA any thought; I know I'm not ready. I need to mature both physically and mentally. I want to get stronger and quicker, and I want to work on learning how to play the game. I'm at a great place for that.
In January 2009, he had a career-high 16 rebounds against Georgetown, a game in which Duke won 76–67. Singler ended the 2009 season as the top scorer for Duke. At the end of the season, Singler was averaging a team-high 16.5 points per game in 37 games played.
In February 2010, Singler scored a career-high 30 points against Georgia Tech, hitting a career-high 8 three-pointers in 10 attempts. In the ACC Tournament Final (playing Georgia Tech again), he hit a career-high 14 free throws. On March 28, 2010, in an Elite Eight NCAA game, as Duke beat Baylor and advanced to the Final Four, Singler (667 points), Jon Scheyer (690 points), and Nolan Smith (628 points) became the second trio in the history of the school to score at least 600 points each in the same season. Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mike Dunleavy Jr. first accomplished that feat for Duke in 2001–02. Singler scored 19 points in the national championship game to reach 707 for the season, joining Scheyer (728) as the two became the second duo in Duke history to score over 700 points each in one season, following in the footsteps of Jason Williams (841) and Shane Battier (778), who did so for Duke's 2001 national championship team. Through the 2009–10 season, Singler was also 6th on Duke's all-time list in offensive rebounds (272), and 7th in defensive rebounds (490). For the season, he averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He was 3rd in the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage (.399), 4th in scoring, 3-point field goals made (2.1 per game; his 8 against Georgia Tech were the most in the ACC in a single game for the season), and minutes (35.9 per game), and 7th in free throw percentage (.798). Singler was instrumental in Duke winning its fourth national championship; he was named NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player after averaging 20.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in wins over West Virginia and Butler. Scheyer called him "the toughest player I've ever played with."
