LonZoBallin wrote:CoachJReturns wrote:LonZoBallin wrote:One thing I love about Swanigan is how he used to weigh 400lbs as a 8th grader lmao like how is that possible?
Seriously tho, for him to get himself into shape to NBA potential player level from 400lbs 8th grader shows he has great work ethic imo That's a great quality to have. You know he's willing to put in the work as he's already shown it.
I agree and I have no concerns at all with his weight. The question is what is the likelihood of a big with a lack of athleticism finding a role as a regular rotation player in the league these days? I can't see Masai drafting a slow big when he's seen how difficult it is to incorporate them in the lineup. His outside shooting makes him an easy enough fit offensively for a lot of teams, but he's going to get abused defensively at the next level.
One thing that I like about him is he thinks the game well. Fat guys usually always do. They have to think a few steps ahead because they're always a few steps behind. He's a very good passing big because of this as well. Great quality to have in a 5 imo
I haven't watched him enough but I don't always assume slow big= JV on Defence. Because he has range and can pass the ball I think a hyperbolic comp but maybe possible ceiling is Gasol or on a lower end Bogut. I'll be the 1st to say the slow 7 footer is dead, but you can't write them all off. The ones that are intelligent defenders and know where to be have a place. imo Bogut getting injured in the finals last year was the reason the Warriors lost. I haven't watched him enough on D, though, to see if he has that potential.
The last guy with a profile like this was Jimmy Butler, who just also happened to be ridiculously underrated as well...
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18523734/purdue-caleb-swanigan-overcoming-obesity-homelessness-become-big-nba-prospectThroughout his youth, he floated between unstable housing situations and homeless shelters, back and forth between Indianapolis and Utah, as his mother, Tanya, tried to stabilize her life with six children, all while his father, Carl Swanigan Sr., wrestled with a crack-cocaine addiction.
Swanigan inherited two key features from his biological father—height and a tendency to obesity. The elder Swanigan, who died in 2014 from complications of diabetes, was 6'8" (2.03 m) and weighed nearly 500 pounds (230 kg) at his death. By the time Swanigan was entering eighth grade, he was 6'2" (1.88 m) and neared 400 pounds (180 kg). His weight issues, according to Medcalf, were also a symptom of his unstable home situation. His father had many brushes with the law, battled drug addiction for most of his adult life, and physically assaulted his wife. According to a story in Bleacher Report, he was accidentally dropped by his mother as an infant, leaving a bruise on his face; this incident led her to move with her children to Salt Lake City. For the next decade, the family bounced between Indianapolis and Utah; he recalled that he lived in five different homeless shelters and attended 13 different schools by the time he was 13.
When his mother decided to move the family to Houston, his older brother Carl Jr., concerned that Caleb would keep gaining weight if he moved with his mother, called his former AAU basketball coach, Roosevelt Barnes, a former three-sport star at Purdue who played on the school's 1980 Final Four team and now a successful sports agent. Barnes, living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, agreed to take Caleb in if he could adopt him and raise him as his own son. Barnes addressed Swanigan's eating habits and, after receiving clearance from a cardiologist, began putting him through workouts similar to those Barnes himself went through in college. By the time Swanigan finished high school, he had slimmed down to 260 pounds.
Maybe Avery Bradley 2.0. His shooting form isn't bad so can improve.