Duke's Kyle Singler Improves Draft Stock.

Everyone is talking about what Kyle Singler returning for his senior year will do for Duke. But did you know that he could go from a top 25 pick this year to a top ten pick next year?

Not many players are able to make this leap between their junior and senior seasons. NBA general managers’ interest tends to wane on players that they see too often.

That’s why good players do not stay in college past their junior years.

If you gave an NBA GM two boxes, told him one contained a Rolex and the other a mysterious item, seven times out of ten they will go with the mysterious item.

That’s because it has potential to be the greatest thing since TV.

Like the Philadelphia 76ers taking Jrue Holliday over Darren Collison in the 2009 draft. They both went to UCLA and play the same position.

For four years everyone knew Collison was quick and had a history of winning, but no one knew what Holiday was truly capable of even after his freshman season.

Now Collison is in talks for all rookie teams while Holiday is still learning the game on a potential lottery bound team.

2011 should see a change in such behavior.

A potential lock out is looming but unlike 1999 it should not be a long drawn out affair. The team owners hold all the cards and victory is just a matter of when.

Even though their primary objective is making more money, there are some aspects that if put in place will be good for the NBA and the NCAA.

One such nugget is the minimum age that players can enter the draft. If this is pushed up to age twenty, underclassmen will go pro in local minor leagues or Europe, but are more likely to stay in school.

This should get rid of the "one and done" system giving upperclassmen a chance in the 2011 draft.

Also due to this potential doom many players are bolting for the draft this year.

This will weaken the 2011 draft which is a bonus for Singler.

Like Tim Duncan, opting to stay at Wake Forest for his senior year in 1996 rather than join what we now know as a top three draft class of all time.

Duncan was the indisputable number one in 1997, whereas if he had gone in the 1996 draft he would have had to contend with Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson or Ray Allen for the top spot.

Also Utah Senior Keith van Horn also benefited from staying another year. He was the number two pick in 1997 and would have been lost in the 1996 shuffle had he left his junior year.

Singler was looking at a late first round or an early second round pick this year.

“From what coach was telling me and my parents, I couldn’t have gone wrong either way,”

He said. This can easily be interpreted to mean he will be in the NBA whether it is this year or next.

He will be the second Final Four Most Valuable Player to come back to college within the last decade. Joakin Noah was the last for Florida in 2007 and he won another title for the Gators.

Most importantly Singler’s marketing value will take off like a rocket.

NBA super agent David Falk thinks that the NCAA is a marketing tool for the NBA. Promoting his book he said;

“The single biggest factor contributing to the success of the N.B.A. over the last almost 30 years has been the N.C.A.A tournament.”

“Every guy in that era, from ’79 to about ’95, who came in the N.B.A., all the fans knew on a first-name basis. It got to the point, when Duke won twice in the ’90s, people said they knew how Grant Hill wore his socks.”

Grant Hill spent four years at Duke, won two championships and lost in a final.

The Pistons took him third in 1994.

Now Singler is no Grant Hill but if he can improve his draft stock he will get more playing time in the NBA and be less likely to fade into obscurity.

“My feeling is when he goes to the NBA,” Says Coach Krzyzewski, “he should be an outstanding player and not just be in the NBA."

Players drafted at the back end of the first round tend to end up on contenders with set rotations (playing time) and rookies ultimately get squeezed out through no fault of their own.

By improving his draft stock he will be able to make himself available to teams that actually need his services rather than those just drafting the best available player they don’t really need.