Greatest Grizzlies: Stromile Swift Was Ahead of His Time
By AJ Salah
High-flying, shot-swatting center Stromile Swift lands at No. 19 on Beale Street Bears’ countdown of the Greatest Grizzlies in franchise history.
Stromile Swift was ahead of his time with the Grizzlies. This may be seen as a generous way of touting an undersized, offensively-limited center who will go down as little more than a footnote in NBA annals. But Swift was a rim-running, shot-blocking athletic freak in an era where big men were still largely valued on their brute force and back-to-the-basket games.
In today’s NBA of pick-‘n’-rolls, rim protection, and relative pint-sized pivots, his skills would have been celebrated. Despite not having any stretch potential to speak of, he brought several niche attributes to the table.
As it stands, Swift will be most remembered for furious facials and demoralizing denials. He possessed innate quickness both off the bounce and as a weakside defender, allowing him to cover ground to embarrass opponents on both sides of the ball.
Stro’ was drafted second overall out of LSU; a member of the largely-forgettable class of 2000. He joined the ill-fated Vancouver Grizzlies for their final season. There, he mostly rode the pine, buried beneath Bryant Reeves, Othella Harrington, and even ultimate journeyman Tony Massenberg.
The following season, the Grizzlies migrated to Memphis, with Swift benefitting from the change of scenery. His scoring rocketed from 4.9 to 11.8 ppg, his rebounds nearly doubled, and he finished 18th league-wide in blocks per game. While the campaign served as his career peak, it also established a baseline for his NBA potential.
Unfortunately for both Swift and the Grizzlies, that potential would be cut short. Following the 2003-04 season, Stromile would be hampered by various injuries; averaging just 51 games/year before finally hanging it up in 2009. Perhaps too obvious a pun, his career was indeed “Swift.”
His latter years — brief stints with the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, and China’s Shandong Lions — were unspectacular. Still, Stromile Swift left his mark on the Grizzlies franchise, cracking their all-time top-10 lists in games played and rebounds collected, while sitting third in blocks.
Next. No. 20 on the Greatest Grizzlies Countdown. dark
His career is perhaps emblematic of the Grizzlies’ franchise history thus far; brief, fierce, and with more than its share of unanswered questions.
How Stromile Swift would have panned out in today’s NBA — or with a clean bill of health — is anyone’s guess. For now, he will have to be content with the No. 19 spot on our countdown of the Greatest Grizzlies.