Around the World: David Singleton and K.J. Smith bring international touch to Bandits coaching staff
By Contributing Bandits Writer: Grant Vassos • August 5, 2020
David Singleton never imagined it would happen this way. He was working as the assistant boys varsity basketball coach at his high school alma mater, Salesian College Preparatory, in Richmond, Calif., after helping his team to the 2014 CIF Northern California Division IV finals. That's when he received a phone call from Tim Fanning, the newest head coach of the Nelson Giants, a men’s professional basketball team in New Zealand's National Basketball League (NBL).
Fanning, a family friend and mentor to Singleton, asked the Oakland, Calif., native if he wanted to join him as an assistant coach for the upcoming 2015-16 season. He gladly accepted the offer. At 26-years-old, it became Singleton's first real breakthrough in a coaching journey that has since taken him internationally, and most recently, to the Fraser Valley Bandits of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).
"Basketball wasn't truly on my radar," said Singleton, who played NCAA Division II football at Tiffin University in Ohio. “It wasn't that I ever gave it up. I always missed the game, and I always thought maybe what could have been if I kept playing and things of that nature. But I always had a calling towards it."
Following a one-year stint with the Giants, Singleton went on to coach professionally in Vietnam for four seasons in the Vietnam Basketball League (VBL) and the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) before coaching in Indonesia. Along with learning under former British national men's basketball head coach Tony Garbaletto, Singleton's time overseas as the lead assistant to then Saigon Heat head coach, and now Bandits bench boss, Kyle Julius was enlightening for the young coach.
Singleton says today's game is moving towards a more European, high scoring style. Out is the old-school era of mid-range jumpers, getting into the post, and relying on point guards to run plays through.
Now, the focus has turned to pace and space, spreading out the floor to create mismatches, fast transitions, high shooting efficiency, and strong defense – which Singleton prides himself on having.
"The last two years I was in Vietnam, we were number one in defense in the league. And so that's another part of it. If you're able to get up and down and shoot the ball and play fast, it's a great thing. But at the same time, you also got to defend, and you got to defend to win." Singleton said.
K.J. Smith, an advanced scout for the Bandits, grew up in a basketball-minded family with close generational ties like Singleton. As the eighth coach of a family lineage extending from the high school level to the WNBA, the San Ramon, Calif., native grew up listening to strategies and philosophies of his older family members.
It was about the individual player: a pattern of figuring out their tendencies on the court, which direction they prefer to go in specific situations, and even their particular go-to move.
"There's certain things that all teams have consistent within their philosophy, it's kind of like a fingerprint, and certain aspects of that fingerprint can't change no matter how much you try to coach it away," Smith said.
Always the observer, Smith continues to learn from watching his younger brother and cousins, three of which currently play Division I basketball. It was his grandfather, however, who helped shape Smith's perspective when he was in high school. The former Milwaukee Buck taught Smith the value of the mindset and character needed to drive the talent on his team.
"He was always a big proponent of if you have this really, really fast, high-speed car and it's not the right engine or not the right fuel; it doesn't really matter how good the car is," Smith said.
The 2018-19 season was Smith's first year as an assistant coach for Brazilian basketball club Basquete Unifacisa of Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB), helping the team win its first Liga Ouro (second division) championship. He learned how to be open-minded to every possibility and how to communicate with players when he had no prior knowledge of speaking Portuguese. Singleton faced similar barriers coaching in Asia where he had to be aware of how people operated in a different culture, and which players could handle more criticism from coaches.
For the last three months, Smith has been in Brazil communicating with Singleton and the Bandits in preparation for the CEBL Summer Series and has continued to scout and analyze opposing teams throughout the Summer Series. Although there's no substitute for being in the gym where he can feel his players' presence and body language, according to Smith, his advantage comes from being able to watch games more closely from the outside.
Prior to the start of the CEBL Summer Series, Singleton and Smith spent the past month watching how teams in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) adjusted to the new Elam Ending rule. And have had "at least five to six different calls about it" with the rest of the Bandits coaching staff about strategy and recreating game situations in practice.
The rule is a new addition to the CEBL, where the winning team adds nine points to their score during the first stoppage of play in the final four minutes of the game. To emerge victorious, it is a battle of whichever team reaches the target score.
In 2018, Smith posted an article via Medium outlining the importance of practicing daily late-game scenarios – such as being down six points with one timeout and three minutes remaining – and conditioning players to execute clutch basketball while under pressure.
"You're entering a situation where it's almost a new game after that four-minute mark," Smith said. "So really being able to prepare and learn from the mistakes of others and their situations is invaluable."
In a shortened season where every game ends on a shot, scouting and coaching are vital. The pay-off from Smith and Singleton's expertise, and how it applies to coach Julius' system in a Canadian basketball environment may significantly determine who walks away with the Championship come Aug. 9.
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