Link: http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2006/09/another_stro_show.html September 17, 2006 Another Stro Show Stromile Swift will be spectacular. There's a pretty good chance that he will be spectacular against the Rockets, either in the first preseason game Oct. 10 or the first week when the Rockets are in Memphis Nov. 7. Spectacular, however, is not enough. Now — and it's about time — it will be what he does the next night, and the night after that. Swift has breathtaking talent. Even his unsatisfying one season in Houston was enough to demonstrate that. But he had convinced the wishful-thinking Rockets that he was ready to become more than an occasional tease of talent, remarkable as he could be. They wanted him to grow into a reliable performer and an every day worker. They needed him to compete when Dirk Nowitzki snarled in his direction. To me, he looked like a guy that would always be a heart-breaker, a guy that would seem capable of so much, but fall short in the end. But now that he was sent back to the Grizzlies in the deal to get Shane Battier out of Memphis, his team more than wants him to be an every night player; the Grizzlies need it. Pau Gasol's injury offers the sort of opportunity Swift did not have in his first five seasons spent behind Shareef Abdur-Rahim and then Gasol. Now heading into his seventh season, Swift is needed more than he has ever been before. In the loaded Western Conference, the Grizzlies might not be able to fall too far behind the pack early and certainly cannot expect young Hakim Warrick or Rudy Gay to pick up Gasol's scoring load. All these years it was natural to wonder why Swift did not produce and it looked as if it did not matter enough to him. But now, he's needed. Swift was never going to be the featured guy with the Rockets as long as Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady stayed healthy. When they were hurt last season, he did not fill the void. He'll get a chance again. Spectacular talent always gets another chance. Whether he does more with it this time with the Grizzlies will go a long way toward measuring his career, and the Rockets' draft-night trade. Posted by Jonathan Feigen at September 17, 2006 07:52 PM
Stro will shine with the Grizz since Pau will be out for a while. I still wish we had him considering how weak we are at the 4. This is Stro's chance to silence the haters and I hope he takes full advantage.
I can't understand why anyone would call swift a spectacular talent. - not a talented rebounder - doesn't have handles - not a high bb IQ - gets lost in the game (cato syndrome) - not a good passer - no real offensive moves - decent defender - amazing jumping ability - great length so where is the spectacular talent?
I guarantee you nobody will answer. I've asked it many many times in several threads and the two replies were (1) silence & (2) got called "The Stro-hater". Stro will shine when he gets a heart transplant. It just isn't in him to perform well over an 82 game schedule. You can't turn lead into gold.
true. i'm glad someone pointed that out. however, besides being athletic he has little to offer. decent defender. decent interior passer. not a major loss. i would rather have shane, anyday. giving up gay might have been a mistake but we are in "win now" mode and shane was the right way to go.
He's a b&*ch and if Yao played like Stro you would all be crying every day on this site. A 40 yr. old man played harder than him everynight. He hasn't improved his shot, his defense, his passing and definitely his grasp of the game for years now. He could have earned his way on this team instead he played like an inconsistent b&*ch. Screw him and all of the players like him that continue to water down this league and turn fans with basketball knowledge away to avoid watching lazy coddled idiots that steal millions from owners.
Yao himself said he's going to miss Stro and said he was a good player. I rather take his word, who actually played with Stro, than any other fan who thinks they are a pro analysis.
Barkley said Yao wasn't a good player and would never get 20 points in a game. You can't go by what these people say, JVG didn't even like playing Swift, JVG wanted to get rid of Swift. JVG didn't like how he worked in practice.. or games. I think JVG worked with Swift alot more then Yao. You just got to go by their production. I think stats does the proving and Stro doesn't have any, the other proving that isn't on the stat sheet are those little things that help a team win, basically called hustle night in and out.. He doesn't do that either So no stats and no hussle means I say he sucks That and the 4 balls passed to him each game that just kept bouncing after colliding with his palms out of bounce everygame. SOME people do these little things that don't show up on the stat sheet yet help the team win..SOME people do these little things that don't show up in the stat sheet yet help the team lose and not only is that truth but it is truth that Swift represents the one in bold for all the screw ups and brain freezes he gets each time he steps on the court. That and he is injury prone, he sits out games over little things, a sprained thumb? I'm glad we are rid of you.. If he hasn't learned to catch a simple pass all these years in the NBA, how do you expect him to improve anything else? If Stro truly gives it his all and he still can't box out for rebounds, move in the right spot on plays, play 10 minutes without being totally exhausted and not be able to CATCH a freaking passed BALL after 5 years in this league then he just doesn't deserve to be in the NBA. If he just doesn't try to improve those basic things which is the more likley scenario then he obvisoley doesn't care which team wins the game. and having a player who doesn't care who wins the game = BAD = good that he is on the grizzlies who are in our division = great that he is the backup? to pau
Swift does not have "it," never will have "it," he doesn't even know where "it" is. He is a fraud, he is impersonating a professional basketball player. If he was ever going to do "it," he would have done "it" here. A chance for him to lose the "bust" label. Wear it with pride, Stromile, because that is what you are. Yeah, you got the money, but you cheated the league, your teammates, and the fans.
Stro is good for a hightlight reel dunk here and there, a trick pass here and there but thats it...missed defensive assignments, asleep on the boards...can't say I will miss him. Wish him luck though.
The Stro hatin' is unfreakin'believable on this board. He is a cheater? C'mon, you guys can't be serious. If Stro's a cheater, what leaves Juwan as, a Kim Jong-il? How 'bout Keith can't shoot, can't dribble, can't dunk, can't finish layup, can't do anything Bogans? Ryan Bowen, anyone? When you care to look at Stro's +/- stats, you'll find he was nowhere near the kind of atrocious Rockets player you guys are portraiting as. If anyting, JVG failed Stro.
You have really drunk the Kool Aid. Who failed Stro his other 5 NBA seasons? Stro is the failure, not his several coaches. Please forget the word cheater. Try and answer the other questions about Stro and rationalize why he's never improved. What's amazing about this thread is how the tide has changed. Most people here have finally stopped blaming JVG for Stro's problems.
The way the off season went down has really drained my energy and my enthusiasm. Too tired to get in to a lengthy debate...preferred Rudy Gay, Swift and Mike James to what we have now. Dump on Stro all you want. It's not important anymore. Just don't lose sight of the fact that Van Gundy's total offensive scheme for Swift consisted of dumping the ball into the post and letting him go 1on1. No cutters, no re-posts, no PnR's...nothing. Combine that with Rafer walking the ball up as Swift (who contrary to popular belief has a footspeed advantage on most Centers) had already established position and you have another piece to the lack of production puzzle. Is Stro going to "bring it" 82 games? Nope. But I for one won't be shocked if Fratello is able to get more out of him than VG. In closing, it's also worth mentioning that West let Lo Wright walk before Gasol got hurt so Swift must have figured into the Grizz's plans somewhere.
While Stromile might not be the perfect fit for this team, he's not as bad as some of you make him out to be. He's inconsistant, yet most of the time i like his defense. This team had 2 shot blockers Mutombo and Yao, so his presense will be miss. And while his offense and rebounding was not consistant...it was not like he averaged 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds like ryan bowen did last year. Averaging 8.9 points 4.4 rebounds isn't bad for a Role-Player. Maybe the expectations for him were so high that unless he becomes at least a double double player he's always in the same boat as bowen.
No I am not drinking Kool-Aid, thank you. Stro's numbers weren't spectacular, but then again he mostly wasn't a starter when he was with Griz or Rockets. His occasional lapses in defense were overly stressed. More often than not he was singled out as the scapegoat for the team's miserable performance and JVG's ineptitude as a coach and a mentor. Sure Stro wasn't the most self-motivated player in this league, but he did clearly express a desire to help Rockets to win more games than the previous season. He had no chemistry problem with the team/teammates. If I remember correctly, his presence on court with Yao produced one of the highest +/- ratios among all rockets players. That alone says a lot about his value to this team. No matter how you want to exonerate JVG, it was he who wanted Stro in the first place. Stro is talented but with flaws. A good coach brings the best out of a player while minimizing the weakness. JVG did a C job in mentoring Stro and could score no better than D in the way he played Stro.
Stro is a young, athletic, decent backup PF, with a REASONABLE salary. How many of those can you find in the NBA today? Judging by how many big men we signed this offseason, I'd say it's pretty rare. I wish him well in Memphis.
