http://www.nbadraft.net/adidas-nations-top-ncaa-prospects
The immediate thing that was noticeable about Swanigan was how much more toned he looked at Nations in the few months after seeing him at the Hoop Summit. It does seem like he is very focused on conditioning for the college level and it did seem to help him here. What also stood out is that even with his lighter frame, he did not appear to have gained much in terms of athleticism. He has very soft hands that he combines with his massive arms and body to create space for post opportunities. He also has a nice understanding of spacing and does a good job of carving out space to help out on the boards. The huge question mark will be who he defends at the next level, as he is a player that relies much more on smarts and size as opposed to athleticism. This should help him make a major impact at Purdue, but it is still questionable whether it will translate when he faces players his size who are considerably faster and more explosive.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-bas...nations-kobi-simmons-lonzo-ball-gary-trent-jr
BIG ASS BIGGIE
Caleb "Biggie" Swanigan's knife into the back of Michigan State fans turned even more public when he swapped the Spartan green for Boilermaker gold. It takes a bad man to turn his back on Tom Izzo like that.
And that's just who Swanigan is. Ho-ly shit. The previous two Nations have seen me enamored with Montrezl Harrell ... sorry I just got Montrezl PTSD for an hour. Anyway. While Biggie doesn't have the athleticism of Trez, he's got all of the width, and certainly the meanness. On one particular play, Boise State's 6'9 forward James Webb had an open lane to the basket from the wing, and he took it. Swanigan slid down from the top of the key and met him at the rim. Webb went down. Hard. And he stayed down a while. Swanigan did not fall. If he wasn't charged with a flagrant foul, you might not have known he was even aware of the collision at all. In the huddle, as Webb was slowly making his way to two feet under the basket, I overheard Swanigan say: "He shouldn't have came in like that if he didn't want to fall down." Damn.*
Later on, I was next to one of the coaches as he talked about Swanigan: "Caleb's old school, man. Like a 40-year-old who gets shit done. Big ass, too."
That's a big bad man with a big, bad ass coming to West Lafayette.
*Big ups to Webb, who went right back at Swanigan on the next play. Dude could also be special this year in his second season in Boise.
The immediate thing that was noticeable about Swanigan was how much more toned he looked at Nations in the few months after seeing him at the Hoop Summit. It does seem like he is very focused on conditioning for the college level and it did seem to help him here. What also stood out is that even with his lighter frame, he did not appear to have gained much in terms of athleticism. He has very soft hands that he combines with his massive arms and body to create space for post opportunities. He also has a nice understanding of spacing and does a good job of carving out space to help out on the boards. The huge question mark will be who he defends at the next level, as he is a player that relies much more on smarts and size as opposed to athleticism. This should help him make a major impact at Purdue, but it is still questionable whether it will translate when he faces players his size who are considerably faster and more explosive.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-bas...nations-kobi-simmons-lonzo-ball-gary-trent-jr
BIG ASS BIGGIE
Caleb "Biggie" Swanigan's knife into the back of Michigan State fans turned even more public when he swapped the Spartan green for Boilermaker gold. It takes a bad man to turn his back on Tom Izzo like that.
And that's just who Swanigan is. Ho-ly shit. The previous two Nations have seen me enamored with Montrezl Harrell ... sorry I just got Montrezl PTSD for an hour. Anyway. While Biggie doesn't have the athleticism of Trez, he's got all of the width, and certainly the meanness. On one particular play, Boise State's 6'9 forward James Webb had an open lane to the basket from the wing, and he took it. Swanigan slid down from the top of the key and met him at the rim. Webb went down. Hard. And he stayed down a while. Swanigan did not fall. If he wasn't charged with a flagrant foul, you might not have known he was even aware of the collision at all. In the huddle, as Webb was slowly making his way to two feet under the basket, I overheard Swanigan say: "He shouldn't have came in like that if he didn't want to fall down." Damn.*
Later on, I was next to one of the coaches as he talked about Swanigan: "Caleb's old school, man. Like a 40-year-old who gets shit done. Big ass, too."
That's a big bad man with a big, bad ass coming to West Lafayette.
*Big ups to Webb, who went right back at Swanigan on the next play. Dude could also be special this year in his second season in Boise.
