Chris Singleton

Washington will still need to consolidate this position during the season. The injuries to Porter, Beal and now Al Harrington are exposing a real lack of depth, particularly offensively. Backup point guard Eric Maynor has continued to struggle badly since his injury two years ago, shooting only 32% from the field, whie his backup Garrett Temple is similarly inefficient offensively but without any jump shot range and with more turnovers than assists on the season thus far. At the forward spots, Jan Vesely has finally shown some signs of life yet still provides almost nothing offensively, whilst Singleton and Trevor Booker have been mostly opportunity scorers in the NBA thus far. And the two players who can score off the bench, Harrington and Kevin Seraphin, are liabilities defensively and on the glass.

Chris Singleton and Jan Vesely, Washington Wizards

Drafted together in 2011, the two long, athletic defensive forwards were supposed to secure the front line indefinitely. In practice, both have disappointed. Singleton has been poor -- the intriguing improvements in his jump shot as a rookie disappeared as a sophomore -- and he has looked entirely overmatched offensively while only occasionally playing the caliber of defense he figures to base his career upon.

Meanwhile, Vesely has really disappointed, becoming so incapable of doing anything other than foul last season that he racked up multiple DNP-CD's only two years after being a top-10 pick. This top-10-pick status also further counts against Vesely, whose team option season calls for a $4,236,287 salary in a career in which he hasn't even so much as justified the minimum salary yet. Of the two, he figures to be the most threatened for this reason.

Pick 18: Chris Singleton's slide down the draft board is ended before it becomes embarrassing, as Washington stops the rot at #18. Washington earlier had a choice between Singleton and Jan Vesely, and now they've wound up with both. They're happy. They should be.

On his way to the podium, Singleton needs two goes at putting his hat on. Must Improve: Putting On Hats. In his interview with a now completely invisible Mark Jones, Singleton touts his ability to defend all spots 1 through 4. It's more likely to be 3 through 5, but Singleton and Vesely combine to be a hell of an imposing forward pairing. Add that to JaVale McGee, and it's a tough unit to score on. Singleton's offensive role is less apparent, and struggles when asked to create half court offense, but that shouldn't happen in the NBA. If the Wizards push the tempo, he'll find a niche offensively.

I don't think Washington needs Yi Jianlian any more.

Chris Singleton - Singleton was as disruptive of a defensive force as there was in college basketball last season. With his frame, athleticism and reach, he seemed to be everywhere, a constantly disruptive force and bringer of chaos and destruction, and now, this puny world, uh, will bow down to him. Everything about that half of the floor should translate easily.

Offensively, Singleton is more awkward. He is certainly not talented, but it will be tough to find a niche; much as he may prefer to handle and shoot from the perimeter, he is rather average at both. There's also nothing more than a rudimentary post-up game, and as much as Singleton wants to be a ball handler and slasher go-to type, he isn't. If he were to stick to spotting up, getting out and running, and using the looks facilitated by his physical tools, this would be better. (The greater spacing offered up by the NBA game, as well as the increased pace, could both be big helps to him. As could going to a team with a playmaking point guard better than Derwyn Kitchen.)

Vesely is enjoying somewhat more hype to Singleton because he's bigger, and, to the American audience, more of an unknown. Singleton has been on ESPN for a few years, so while his strengths are well established, they are also now assumed, whereas the Vesely learning curve continues. Truth be told, the two are pretty comparable. Vesely's size, upside and what have you will more than likely see him go before Chris, but if you wanted Vesely and he's already off the board, Singleton is the logical back-up plan.

They do it mainly with defense, and that defense is anchored by future lottery pick, Chris Singleton. Singleton is 6'9, very athletic and has long arms, the prototypical body type for a small forward/new era power forward if ever there was one. He combines the physical tools with timing, good hands and good defensive effort, and is one of the best defensive players in the nation. No, check that - he is the best, the single most disruptive individual force boasted by any team in the whole of college basketball. And while he pales offensively compared to defensively, Singleton still does enough on that end to lead FSU in scoring, averaging 13.8 points per game. (No one else scores in double figures, although Derwin Kitchen's 9.9ppg can probably get a mulligan.) Singleton has improved his free throw and three point strokes, tightened up his ball handling slightly, stopped throwing as many insanely bad passes, and developed a fledgling post game, something he never previously had. He is still not much of a ball handler or shooter, but his physical tools avail him easy looks anyway, and he is dynamite in transition.