Coming into the season it was believed that Kyle Singler would be the go to backup small forward for the Thunder. After being traded to the Thunder last season he did play most of the games in Kevin Durant’s absence (until he eventually lost the spot) and he averaged 17.5 minutes for OKC. In those minutes he got 3.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.7 assists. To put it quite simply, Singler did not get it done.
Fast forward to last offseason where the Thunder gave Singler a 5 year $25 million contract. It left most people scratching their heads, why would the Thunder give Singler such a long contract? The $5 million a year is not that much anymore with the big TV deal coming for the NBA, but the 5 years makes it hard to trade Singler.
When looking at OKC now it is easy to see that the Thunder are going to HAVE to find a way to work around that 5 year deal and get rid of him. Singler does not produce. At all. He averages 11.2 minutes a game and that is 11.2 minutes too long. The Thunder should be playing Anthony Morrow or Dion Waiters in that shooting guard instead because Singler has been horrible.
How bad has Singler been? One could argue that there is not another player in the entire NBA that gets minutes like Singler does and plays as bad. He averages 23% shooting in his time, 19% from three-point land, 50% on the free throw line. This translates to Singler averaging 1.9 points and 1.5 rebounds in the games that he plays. Right now there is no aspect of Singler’s game that is good.
Want more proof of how bad Singler is? He has the worst player efficiency rating (PER) in the entire league. His PER is currently sitting at -0.21. Compare that to other players in the NBA, not a single other player has a PER lower than 3.5. Singler’s estimated wins added is -1.2 games, good enough for fifth worst in the league. That means Singler getting playing time has actually LOST the Thunder a game.
The catch with Singler is that in years past he is not been this terrible. He actually has decent career averages, sitting at 7.7 points a game on 41.8% shooting, with 3.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists. If Singler could put up those type of numbers in the 11 minutes of time that he gets on the court then the Thunder would be happy. He would not be doing much but he would be a serviceable backup for Kevin Durant. A backup that the Thunder need to have. If KD goes down again then everyone should be afraid of how much time Singler will get.
Plain and simple, Singler is having a bad season. A very very bad season at that, but he does not have a history of being this bad. Until Singler finds his skill back the Thunder need to keep him off the court. Billy Donovan has other options with Dion Waiters and Anthony Morrow. Maybe even giving Josh Huestis a shot to get going behind KD.
Kyle Singler is playing like the Monstars have taken his talent, and for a team that is fighting to win a championship like the Thunder are, that kind of play just is not acceptable.
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