Murray State University Athletics
'Chicago' to Seattle via Italy? Singleton works for NBA spot
8/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Former Racer basketball standout James "Chicago" Singleton spent a good portion of last month working out in the Seattle SuperSonics' Summer League, hoping to earn a spot on the NBA team.
The summer league games were played July 16-24 at Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City, Utah. With the completion of summer league play, Singleton can only wait to see if he has earned a spot in the NBA. If not, he will return to play for his new Italian team, Olimpia Milan.
The 6-8 Singleton, positioned as a forward after playing at center at MSU, played all six games in the Rocky Mountain Revue, one of the NBA's premier summer league operations.
He was teamed with such notables as Luke Ridnour of Oregon, Damien Wilkins of Georgia, Nick Collison of Kansas, Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State and Derrick Zimmerman of Mississippi State.
Singleton's first summer league game in the six-game schedule, ironically, came against Chicago's summer league team. He started, played 27 minutes and had a co-team-high seven rebounds, but went 1-for-5 from the field in Seattle's 72-66 loss.
Singleton started in every game but one, the third game of the summer, which came against Charlotte, but he played 26 minutes in that game, as starting forward Ridnour played only 10.
Singleton's best game in the summer league came against Portland, as he scored 10 points, had a co-team-high seven rebounds and a game-high four steals in Seattle's 82-80 win.
Singleton finished the 2004 Summer League averaging 5.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, with 26 minutes per contest. He was third on the team with nine steals (1.5 spg) and tied for second with seven blocked shots (1.2 bspg).
He shot 30 percent from the field (12 for 40), 35.3 percent inside the arc (12 for 34) and 83.3 percent from the line (10 for 12).
After playing the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons at Murray State, Singleton played in the Chicago Bulls' summer league in 2003, then signed on with Sicc Cucine Jesi of LegaDue (League2, the Italian second division).
At Sicc Cucine Jesi, Singleton helped the team to a 22-10 record, tying for second in the 14-team division. He started all 32 regular-season games, averaging 13.3 points and 12.1 rebounds per game, shooting 56.8 percent inside the arc, 36 percent from three-point range and 69.7 percent from the line. Singleton also averaged 31.3 minutes per game.
In the 2003-04 playoffs, he averaged 17.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game over 11 games, leading Jesi to the LegaDue title. Singleton ranked second in the league with 12.1 rebounds per game, and he led Jesi to three-game sweeps in the semifinal round and the championship round in both best-of-five series.
Singleton was named the LegaDue Player of the Year, Forward of the Year and Import Player of the Year. He was also named to the Eurobasket All-Italian First Team and All-Imports Team.
On June 18, 2004, he signed to play with Olimpia Milan, also known as Armani Jeans Milano, of Series A, or upper division. The team was known as Breil Milano last season, and finished at 15-19, tied for 10th place in the 18-team league. (Armani is the team's third sponsor in three seasons.) The Series A schedule begins in October.
