Kyle Singler and Luol Deng Announce Retirements

[Truth&Justise]

Reporting from Spain that Kyle Singler is retiring for "personal" reasons.

Kyle Singler and Iberostar Tenerife have parted ways, the club announced. The 31-year-old American forward requested contract termination as he intends to retire in order to attend to personal matters.

Singler played for Lucentum Alicante and Real Madrid before moving to the NBA where he played 363 games split between the Detroit Pistons and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After six seasons in the US, he had a one-year stint with Obradoiro after which he joined Tenerife this summer. He banked a total of 24 points in the two games he played this season in the Spanish League.

Source.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

He gets buckets.

Hope all is well for Kyle.

[NSDukeFan]

One of my all-time favorite Dukies, I hope all goes well for him.

[elvis14]

What a tough kid he was. Always appreciated his play when he was at Duke. I could care less about numbers I appreciate how he played. Tough, competitive, smart. Champion. Played one position: winner.

[SouthernDukie]

Well wishes to Kyle. One of my favorites from the modern era as well. Still really shocked he didn't have, at a minimum, a solid NBA career (even if it was only coming off the bench as a 6th, 7th or 8th man).

[JayZee]

Well wishes to Kyle. One of my favorites from the modern era as well. Still really shocked he didn't have, at a minimum, a solid NBA career (even if it was only coming off the bench as a 6th, 7th or 8th man).

Not sure about overseas, but he made >19 million in the NBA, and also looks like he's getting $1M a year for the next 4 years, if that is what dead cap space means. Not bad.

[HoganLake]

Kyle is certainly one of my favorites. He should have two national championships and his jersey hanging in the rafters - just my opinion. I wonder why he could not make it in the NBA. Did he get hurt at some point?

[HereBeforeCoachK]

What a tough kid he was. Always appreciated his play when he was at Duke. I could care less about numbers I appreciate how he played. Tough, competitive, smart. Champion. Played one position: winner.

Not afraid to bang some with Hans-Flop either....

[sagegrouse]

Kyle is certainly one of my favorites. He should have two national championships and his jersey hanging in the rafters - just my opinion. I wonder why he could not make it in the NBA. Did he get hurt at some point?

He "made it" in the NBA to the tune of $22.6 million in past and future payments from the Pistons and Thunder.

[JayZee]

He "made it" in the NBA to the tune of $22.6 million in past and future payments from the Pistons and Thunder.

My impression as to why he wasn't more successful in the NBA was that he couldn't "make it", so I looked at his stats. He was a career 36% #pt shooter which is better than I had thought. With the Pistons, he even hit 40% one year. Unfortunately, kind of like what happened at Duke, he couldn't sustain that good shooting. And while his D, rebounding, toughness and intangibles were elite at Duke (thus why he's still such a fan fav) those attributes were clearly not as valuable in the NBA. If he could have maintained that 40% 3Pt rate, surely he'd still be in the league.

I'll always remember Kyrie when asked passing instead of shooting one time, saying something to the effect "That was Kyle F**n Singler I passed to"

Besides the NBA $$, he'll always be a NCAA champ!

[Billy Dat]

My impression as to why he wasn't more successful in the NBA was that he couldn't "make it", so I looked at his stats. He was a career 36% #pt shooter which is better than I had thought. With the Pistons, he even hit 40% one year. Unfortunately, kind of like what happened at Duke, he couldn't sustain that good shooting. And while his D, rebounding, toughness and intangibles were elite at Duke (thus why he's still such a fan fav) those attributes were clearly not as valuable in the NBA. If he could have maintained that 40% 3Pt rate, surely he'd still be in the league.

When OKC acquired him, they were looking for him to do what Shane did for the Heat, play lock down D and nail open 3s. I think they saw him as a glue guy piece of a title team. I swore he'd be perfect in that role as his play on the Pistons made it seem like he was headed that way. But, he never could shoot well enough. His 3 and D role was eventually taken by Andre Roberson, who wasn't that good of a shooter either.

Bottom line, it was all right there for Kyle, he just wasn't good enough. My gut says that he didn't live and breath the sport enough to get better..which is fine.

Luol Deng retired today, too.

[Acymetric]

Not sure about overseas, but he made >19 million in the NBA, and also looks like he's getting $1M a year for the next 4 years, if that is what dead cap space means. Not bad.

No, dead cap space just means he counts against the Thunder's cap, I don't believe they are still paying him.

[sagegrouse]

No, dead cap space just means he counts against the Thunder's cap, I don't believe they are still paying him.

I checked the Singler stats. It listed $999 thou under "Salaries" in 2019 and the remaining four payments under "Contract" with a notation of early termination. If they aren't paying him, why do they list anything?

This is as complicated as Brexit.

[Trey21]

When OKC acquired him, they were looking for him to do what Shane did for the Heat, play lock down D and nail open 3s. I think they saw him as a glue guy piece of a title team. I swore he'd be perfect in that role as his play on the Pistons made it seem like he was headed that way. But, he never could shoot well enough. His 3 and D role was eventually taken by Andre Roberson, who wasn't that good of a shooter either.

Bottom line, it was all right there for Kyle, he just wasn't good enough. My gut says that he didn't live and breath the sport enough to get better..which is fine.

Luol Deng retired today, too.

Unfortunately, you're pretty much 100% right on why Singler didn't make it in OKC. In 2015 he signed a sweet 25 million/5 year deal and it just never really worked out for him with the Thunder, after showing some promise earlier in his career with the Pistons. I mean it was really, really strange to watch it happen in real time. I don't know if he got the yipps, or if his playing style just eventually took its toll, but everything just kinda vanished from him. His highest average while with the Thunder was 4 points per a game. A shame because OKC really could have used a player like him.

Luol Deng - I'm glad I grew up watching Luol. He was so special at Duke and his career as just been a wonder to watch. He is probably one of those really good NBA guys (he got two all-star nods) that might get lost to time, but those Bulls teams in the late 00's and early 10's are beloved. Those early Tom Thibodeau team's are kinda like my generation's version of the 90's Knicks. Luol also ranks sneaky high in a lot of the Bulls' major statistical categories.

Points- 4th

Steals- 5th

Games played- 6th

Rebounds- 9th

Blocks- 10th

[weezie]

I loved Kyle for his ability to "know" where the ball was going to rebound. He was masterful at that.

[dukelifer]

Kyle is certainly one of my favorites. He should have two national championships and his jersey hanging in the rafters - just my opinion. I wonder why he could not make it in the NBA. Did he get hurt at some point?

He made it to the NBA and got paid over 15 million dollars. That is a big accomplishment although he did not get crazy Miles Plumlee money. Kyle was a below average NBA player but half the league is below average. Still he did very well for himself and now he can move to the next phase of his life.

[brevity]

Luol Deng retired today, too.

Link: Bulls sign Luol Deng, who retires from NBA after 15 seasons

Deng ranks highly on the Bulls’ All-Time Career Leaders list in seasons played (T-4th, 10), games played (6th, 637), minutes (5th, 22,882), points (4th, 10,286), field goals made (5th, 3,987), field goals attempted (5th, 8,675), free throws made (8th, 1,925), free throws attempted (8th, 2,490), offensive rebounds (9th, 1,109), defensive rebounds (6th, 2,969), total rebounds (9th, 4,078), steals (5th, 639) and blocked shots (10th, 360). He led the Bulls in scoring in both the 2011-12 (15.3 ppg) and 2012-13 (16.5 ppg) seasons.

Mods, could we make this a shared retirement thread?

[cato]

Link: Bulls sign Luol Deng, who retires from NBA after 15 seasons



Mods, could we make this a shared retirement thread?

From the window . . . To Luol!

[Reilly]

Among former Duke players in the NBA/ABA, Luol ranks 4th in points and Kyle 33rd: https://www.basketball-reference.com...i?college=duke

[MChambers]

In more than 40+ years of watching Duke basketball, Kyle is one of my favorite players. What a warrior!

Luol was great, too, but since he only played one year at Duke, I don't have quite the same feelings for him. Don't get me wrong -- he was great.

Congrats to the two of them. Hope they enjoy their postplaying lives!