OT: Why does Stromile Swift Suck?

I'm not trying to make the direct comparison with Tyrus Thomas. That's been used to more or less slur Tyrus since before he was even drafted.

But that fact is worth thinking about. Nobody likes Stromile Swift. I went and looked at the guy's numbers and was shocked at just how good they actually looked. So I'm not starting this as an opportunity to slag on Tyrus, but as an opportunity to understand him by understanding, through Swift, why it is that stats might not capture the whole story.

The knock on Thomas is that even when he's been productive, he's not been on the court much. He's got good measurable productivity, we say, so it's dumb to not have him on the court. What are these coaches thinking?

OK, well if that's true of Thomas, it's also true of Swift, isn't it? Look at Swift's numbers. I don't consider PER the end-all and be-all, but jeez, just look at them.

Code:

Season     	Age 	Tm 	MPG 	PER
2000-01 	21 	VAN 	16.4 	13.1
2001-02 	22 	MEM 	26.5 	17.2
2002-03 	23 	MEM 	22.1 	18
2003-04 	24 	MEM 	19.8 	19.2
2004-05 	25 	MEM 	21.3 	16.7
2005-06 	26 	HOU 	20.4 	14.6
2006-07 	27 	MEM 	19.1 	14.2
2007-08 	28 	TOT 	15.1 	14.8
2007-08 	28 	MEM 	15.7 	15.9
2007-08 	28 	NJN 	14.0 	12.7
2008-09 	29 	NJN 	10.7 	6.8
Career 	                	20.0 	16.2

I mean, even without being huge into PER, you look at that and see unmistakable progress through his first four seasons. Even in his fifth season, a 16.7 PER isn't anything to sneeze at.

But look at his minutes and they've completely flat lined throughout his career. Kind of funny, huh? Why is this. What's so bad about Stromile that's not being captured in PER or the other stats? Is he just a hidden gem that's never been given a chance?

 

He's an athletic guy but he has the basketball IQ of a rock. His years at Memphis were a pain.

 

How many games did those Memphis teams win? Beware the garbage time all-stars.

 

He had his highest PER when the Grizzlies won 50 games and made the playoffs back in 2004.

 

Good point... and he's the sort of guy who'd seem like a good fit next to Gasol.

 

Something about his minutes going down as his PER goes up ought to be a red flag, especially with a PER that high. He should have been playing 35+ minutes a night with those numbers unless someone was trying actively to derail his career. Who was the other big in that mix? Or was his defense terrible?

 

That Memphis team was incredibly deep. Gasol was the only player playing over 30 minutes and he only played 31.5 MPG.