Kings trade Skal for Caleb Swanigan

#93
Wow, after watching those highlights. How was He not getting more playing time in Portland?
Seeing him pass in the high post like that, even being summer league, atleast flashes potential he could be a big body guy to come in and play the high - low game with Harry & Bags. A utility guy but can be much needed in a way Scott Pollard was to Divac and Web
 
#99
Has anyone been fined for flipping in awhile?
I dunno but I just watched Plumlee flop against Embiid. Doris Burke even said "And Embiid puts it in easily after the flop". Made me laugh.

I don't think they've been enforcing the rule at all.

Isn't there another rule that you can't force a foul by jumping into the defender or something like that? Because that's still happening all over the league.
 
I hope to see him also. I believe Skal had himself a 32 point game last year also and I wasn’t surprised to see him traded but I will have to see what plans vlade thinks he has for the new guy . Who knows maybe Skal will get some playing time elsewhere.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
I made quite a few posts about Swanigan when he was at Purdue. He was one of my favorite dark horse candidates who might slide into the 1st rd. As someone mentioned earlier, he's got quite a story, originally weighing around 400 pounds, he completely remade his body finally got down to around 250 pounds. If I were going to compare him to someone, and I have in the past, it would be a shorter version of Cousins. He's very skilled and was a double/double machine his sophmore year at Purdue and almost a 20/10 guy, avreaging 18.5 pts and 12.5 rebounds a game.

Like Cousins, he can play bully ball by backing you down to the basket and scoring. What made in more interesting to me was his ability to step out beyond the 3 pt line and shoot the ball. He averaged 44.7% from the three, while averaging 54.8% overall. Add in that he's an excellent passer with terrific court vision and you have a player with quite a bit of potential. The downside is that he's about as athletic as Cousins. Doesn't have great hops, (29" max vertical) or great lateral quickness (one of the slowest times in the agility drill at the combine). But, he does have a 7'3.5" wingspan, and a 8'11" standing reach.

Does all that add up to a productive NBA player? I can't answer that, but I wouldn't bet against him. Let me put it this way, if Jack Cooley can play in the NBA, then Swanigan might end up being a star. Someone did a Reggie Evans comp, but I think Reggie was a little better overall athlete than Swanigan, but Swanigan is far more skilled than Evans. Particularly on offense. It should be interesting to see how he pans out.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Swanigan is not an NBA player so we should probably not hold our breath on seeing him get meaningful minutes.
You might not like him, but he's been an NBA player since he was drafted by Portland.

As far as "meaningful minutes" go, I don't think that's why he was acquired. It's nice to know we've got him on the bench, however, especially considering for whom he was traded. I can see a lot more opportunities for Swanigan going forward than I saw for Skal.
 
You might not like him, but he's been an NBA player since he was drafted by Portland.

As far as "meaningful minutes" go, I don't think that's why he was acquired. It's nice to know we've got him on the bench, however, especially considering for whom he was traded. I can see a lot more opportunities for Swanigan going forward than I saw for Skal.
Obviously. This was most likely a small-time cap move involving the extra years we had picked up on Skal. Say what you want about Skal, but he averaged ~20 minutes his first two years with us and gave you some modest production along the way. Swanigan's NBA career is characterized by being an end of the bencher in Portland and underwhelming in the G-league. Ska's NBA resume as limited as it was is still more than Swanigan's and he's more talented at the moment when you compare the two. Skal was the 5th/6th big and that's likely what Swanigan is, not much has really changed.

I'm curious what this insightful knowledge is based on, or do you have a crystal ball? I suspect that Swanigan would dispute your claim.
As is stands his only real plus at the NBA level is rebounding.

Dropping from being 400 pounds and homeless to be drafted in the first round is an incredible story but we're looking at what he does night-in-night out in the NBA. As it stands, he's still out-of shape, unathletic, lacks good offensive touch and a post game., poor shot selection. Most importantly, he is slow. Absolute turnstile on defense, gets killed in PnR, just an undersized, slow-footed guy whose not an NBA athlete.

If he's going to be a productive NBA player he wasn't anything close to it in Portland or atm. He was really, really, really, really bad.
 
Look at the dudes court vision alone and you can tell Vlade picking him up wasn't some fluke. The Kings liked him in pre draft workouts too. I remember reading that he did quite well when he came to Sac prior to the draft.
 
I made quite a few posts about Swanigan when he was at Purdue. He was one of my favorite dark horse candidates who might slide into the 1st rd. As someone mentioned earlier, he's got quite a story, originally weighing around 400 pounds, he completely remade his body finally got down to around 250 pounds. If I were going to compare him to someone, and I have in the past, it would be a shorter version of Cousins. He's very skilled and was a double/double machine his sophmore year at Purdue and almost a 20/10 guy, avreaging 18.5 pts and 12.5 rebounds a game.

Like Cousins, he can play bully ball by backing you down to the basket and scoring. What made in more interesting to me was his ability to step out beyond the 3 pt line and shoot the ball. He averaged 44.7% from the three, while averaging 54.8% overall. Add in that he's an excellent passer with terrific court vision and you have a player with quite a bit of potential. The downside is that he's about as athletic as Cousins. Doesn't have great hops, (29" max vertical) or great lateral quickness (one of the slowest times in the agility drill at the combine). But, he does have a 7'3.5" wingspan, and a 8'11" standing reach.

Does all that add up to a productive NBA player? I can't answer that, but I wouldn't bet against him. Let me put it this way, if Jack Cooley can play in the NBA, then Swanigan might end up being a star. Someone did a Reggie Evans comp, but I think Reggie was a little better overall athlete than Swanigan, but Swanigan is far more skilled than Evans. Particularly on offense. It should be interesting to see how he pans out.
I agree 100% with the rest of your post but you're being generous to Swanigan here. He's not close to the athlete Cousins is. Cousins might not be an explosive freak but he is extremely agile and nimble for a guy his size, with great coordination and body control; all aspects of athleticism. If Swanigan had the same athleticism, he'd be a rotation player right now given his skillset and rebounding.

I posted about him before the draft too, I liked him. Maybe I'm nitpicking. But he's definitely not the athlete Cousins is.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
I agree 100% with the rest of your post but you're being generous to Swanigan here. He's not close to the athlete Cousins is. Cousins might not be an explosive freak but he is extremely agile and nimble for a guy his size, with great coordination and body control; all aspects of athleticism. If Swanigan had the same athleticism, he'd be a rotation player right now given his skillset and rebounding.

I posted about him before the draft too, I liked him. Maybe I'm nitpicking. But he's definitely not the athlete Cousins is.
Well, if you go back and compare both players at the combine, their very similar as far as athletic ability goes. Neither is going to win a foot race. I certainly don't want to get into an argument over which slow car is the fastest, and in no way am I saying he's the next Cousins. I simply compared his style of basketball to Cousins. As I stated, the downside is that he's not a good athlete. However, his defense at Purdue didn't make him a liability, and just because he didn't get much playing time at Portland, doesn't mean he can't play in this league. Doesn't mean he can either.

Hopefully he'll end up being a contributor down the road.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
Obviously. This was most likely a small-time cap move involving the extra years we had picked up on Skal. Say what you want about Skal, but he averaged ~20 minutes his first two years with us and gave you some modest production along the way. Swanigan's NBA career is characterized by being an end of the bencher in Portland and underwhelming in the G-league. Ska's NBA resume as limited as it was is still more than Swanigan's and he's more talented at the moment when you compare the two. Skal was the 5th/6th big and that's likely what Swanigan is, not much has really changed.



As is stands his only real plus at the NBA level is rebounding.

Dropping from being 400 pounds and homeless to be drafted in the first round is an incredible story but we're looking at what he does night-in-night out in the NBA. As it stands, he's still out-of shape, unathletic, lacks good offensive touch and a post game., poor shot selection. Most importantly, he is slow. Absolute turnstile on defense, gets killed in PnR, just an undersized, slow-footed guy whose not an NBA athlete.

If he's going to be a productive NBA player he wasn't anything close to it in Portland or atm. He was really, really, really, really bad.
Obviously you haven't seen him play much, if at all. So I won't waste my time any further.
 
Well, if you go back and compare both players at the combine, their very similar as far as athletic ability goes. Neither is going to win a foot race. I certainly don't want to get into an argument over which slow car is the fastest, and in no way am I saying he's the next Cousins. I simply compared his style of basketball to Cousins. As I stated, the downside is that he's not a good athlete. However, his defense at Purdue didn't make him a liability, and just because he didn't get much playing time at Portland, doesn't mean he can't play in this league. Doesn't mean he can either.

Hopefully he'll end up being a contributor down the road.
I haven’t focused on him at all in the past; however when I watched the Stockton replay above I can absolutely see a little DMC in the way he moves, positions his body, and is generally ground bound. I think your observation is spot on. Obviously he’s not the player DMC is, but the way he moves most certainly is.