All Articles
May 6, 2024
When Pascal Siakam was moved to the Indiana Pacers in January, there was much surprise for a multitude of reasons. Pascal being dealt was not a shock; the Raptors were...
May 3, 2024
With April coming to a close, so does the high school All-Star game circuit, which ends with a culmination of talent that is the Jordan Brand Classic game. I had...
April 23, 2024
“This team needs shooting.” “They lost because the spacing was terrible.” These may be the most common phrases uttered when describing an NBA team’s shortcomings over the course of a...
April 20, 2024
I struggled with the title of this piece, the third of three pieces on how I frame prospect analysis. This final installment will discuss a player's athleticism, well, physical athleticism...
April 18, 2024
In this age of cinema, very few successful franchises have escaped the ignominy of a terrible reboot. Star Wars has the shameful second and third trilogies (Revenge of the Sith...
April 17, 2024
Modern NBA bigs must operate smoothly with and without the ball. Ahead, we'll define scalability and its specific features before diving into the bigs of the 2024 NBA Draft. When...
April 14, 2024
1. Caitlin Clark, Iowa The 3-point revolution was always coming to the NBA. It took a while, but by the time Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors ascended, the...
April 5, 2024
Three #1 Prospects from 3 Different NBA Draft Classes play in the same game for the first time in ESPN history. Scouting Potential Future NBA Players in The 2024 Hoophall...
March 31, 2024
Brandin Podziemski is a rare player, for many reasons. Besides being a lefty who looks like the upper half of a centaur with a funky love of hook shots, his...
March 29, 2024
There's a lot to love about DJ Burns, whose NC State Wolfpack are just two wins away from capturing an improbable Final Four appearance, but already captured the hearts of...
March 7, 2024
Some guys need a shot. So many NBA-level talents hardly get a chance, and second chances are even harder to find. Making the most of that chance can change the...
March 6, 2024
Chaos: a fast break ensues, its arrival in the two-handed dig that dislodges the ball. Players on both sides begin to leak out, trying to retrieve the ball with vigor...
March 5, 2024
On the 25th February 2017, in a game between the Raptors 905 and the Delaware 87ers at the Bob Carpenter Center, Nate Robinson created the “Natemeg”, one of the craziest,...
March 3, 2024
Prompt: who is your favorite sleeper in the 2024 NBA draft? Ahmed: Isaiah Crawford Perhaps no draft class of the past decade has taken shape later in its cycle than...
February 27, 2024
"Can you be porous defensively and win a championship? No, I don't think you can be. [But] can you be adequate and be able to ramp it up when you...
February 26, 2024
The Boston Celtics are in a strange form of NBA purgatory. On pace to win 65 games, they are running laps around the Eastern Conference. They hold the best net...
February 22, 2024
I will say the two unnameable words around the Golden State Warriors. No, it's not "fire Kerr", "trade Klay", "European bigs" or "affordable housing". It's two timelines. We know it...
February 21, 2024
Every ‘project’ is a handshake-deal with the NBA Draft Gods. There will be growing pains; it may look ugly for a few games or weeks, probably months, hopefully not seasons....
February 10, 2024
Productivity is the first basis of a player's game - how do they make things happen? But just behind that is a player's wiring: how they feel the game, think...
February 3, 2024
How Do Prospects Produce? That's the first question I ask myself as I begin the process for my 2024 NBA draft board. By separating production, feel and athletic premiums, I...
January 29, 2024
The Utah Jazz entered the year once again expected to be on the outside looking in. Only three teams had lower over-under predictions, and there was uncertainty around a roster...
January 23, 2024
It has been a short, strange journey for Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the NBA. Taken 17th overall in the 2019 draft, NAW has been the "also, this guy" in three separate...
January 19, 2024
1. Ron Holland, G League Ignite Quickly turning into one of the more polarizing prospects of the 2024 draft cycle, Ron Holland boasts prototypical size for a NBA wing standing...
January 4, 2024
It has never been easier to be forgotten in the NBA than it is now. As more and more talent clamors for spots among the 450, leashes grow shorter. Patience...
December 24, 2023
DeMar has changed his shot diet to help this offense succeed, and that deserves some attention. The night of November 28th, the Chicago Bulls had just finished taking one of...
December 23, 2023
An In-Person Scouting Report on Top Florida High School Prospects of the 2023 Nike EYBL Scholastic Sunshine Classic with Data Visualizations from Cerebro Sports' Analytics and Film Breakdowns from Day...
December 22, 2023
With college basketball season in full swing, let's look at a few players who have caught my eye as we head into conference play. I will highlight specific skills and...
December 20, 2023
Quality basketball analysis isn't about being 'right,' judging the means by the end result, but we here at Swish Theory are frequently, let's say, ahead of the curve. Whether it's...
December 13, 2023
If you know anything about the Boston Celtics' Sam Hauser, you know what this article will be about. This will be a lot of shooting film, and I'm not talking...
December 5, 2023
Aptronym (noun): a person's name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation. Do you ever feel like names are a form of predestination? It's astounding how often athletes with a...
November 28, 2023
Losing will always make fans look for someone to blame. Someone to fire. Even if losing was part of the long-term plan, fans tend to lose sight of that when...
November 27, 2023
Basketball in October rarely matters. Except when you're Jalen Suggs. There was a moment at the end of the third Orlando Magic game of the season versus the Los Angeles...
November 25, 2023
In the Sasser family, basketball isn't just a means to an end. Basketball is a way of life. Marcus Sasser, the reigning Jerry West Award winner and a consensus All-American,...
November 21, 2023
After two years of missing the playoffs, Rick Carlisle slightly pushed the pace for Indiana's timeline by signing Bruce Brown after excellent playoff displays with the Denver Nuggets. Some were...
November 20, 2023
There are few figures more fascinating than Robert Horry in the NBA Universe. Born as a combo forward, Horry channeled, shaped his disruptive energy into a controlled power forward endowed...
November 18, 2023
The Atlanta Hawks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 126-116 on Friday night in quite ordinary fashion. Atlanta put up an admirable fight consistent with their talent level, but couldn't sustain...
November 16, 2023
On a recent episode of ESPN’s The Hoop Collective podcast, host Brian Windhorst quipped that “the Chicago Bulls are in a rebuild and they don’t even know it.” This sentiment...
November 15, 2023
On July 1st, 2022, Aaron Nesmith had a major change in his outlook. After being a lottery choice by the Boston Celtics and beginning to establish a rotation spot at...
November 9, 2023
The Denver Nuggets (specifically general manager Calvin Booth) made waves this offseason by being utterly indifferent to Bruce Brown's exit. This was followed by Vlatko Čančar tearing his left ACL...
October 25, 2023
Roshan: The Minnesota Timberwolves will be a top 3 seed in the Western Conference. Most NBA fans were down on the Timberwolves to start the year after the team had...
October 17, 2023
Alex Caruso is elite at screen navigation. Not only has he mastered a precise technique for efficiently getting around screens, he’s also developed ways to avoid getting screened in the...
October 9, 2023
The Context So much of NBA team building is predicated on teams' ability to forecast changes in the league and adapt accordingly. Whether it be an evolving meta game, alterations...
October 7, 2023
After a long season, preceded by an offseason of hype, the WNBA Finals are here. During the spring months, there was much made about the dream match-up. The two super...
October 6, 2023
Overview So, here we are. The season hasn't even begun and the Dubs are scrambling to make up for injuries. Couldn't we at least have waited until January? Regardless, this...
September 28, 2023
It happens to all of us: you’re excited about a player and end up ranking him far too high, or dismiss a player too quickly who turns into a star....
September 7, 2023
The humble rebound. The Mach-Hommy to basketball's Griselda: underrated, ever-present, and thoroughly engrossing. Despite being one of the more critical parts of the game, rebounds are too often treated as...
September 1, 2023
In the doldrums of summer it can be easy to let the narratives run away with themselves. With no new NBA basketball, imaginations run wild, and there is none more...
August 29, 2023
The 2024 NBA Draft class is widely considered to be one of the weakest classes in years, bereft of a franchise talent; many NBA and draft media pundits have urged...
August 25, 2023
For many, the Washington Wizards are an afterthought: fluctuating between rebuilding and contending, constantly retooling and doubling down on a roster unlikely to win. It is, however, within these teams...
August 11, 2023
This current iteration of the Golden State Warriors is loaded with outstanding defenders. Draymond Green has arguably been the preeminent defensive player of the whole league for the past decade....
August 10, 2023
As writers about the sport we love, it can be easy to distill and summarize. Too often these outstanding athletes and entertainers are reduced to dehumanized debate points and objective...
August 6, 2023
From Steph Curry to Damian Lillard to Ja Morant to CJ McCollum to Pascal Siakam to Paul George, there have been countless examples of mid major draft picks who kept...
August 4, 2023
Over this past weekend I had the privilege of traveling to Louisville, Kentucky to watch Made Hoops’ Midwest High-School Academy showcase. The event was loaded with high level talent from...
August 2, 2023
High school basketball, and more specifically grassroots circuits, is the Amazon rainforest of the basketball world. A wealth of natural hoops knowledge sitting at your fingertips, hidden in the foray...
July 31, 2023
Maya Moore. Sylvia Fowles. Rebekah Brunson. Seimone Augustus. Lindsay Whalen. Katie Smith. The Minnesota Lynx have had no shortage of great players don the navy, green and gray. Crowning the...
July 20, 2023
Shooting has a way of presenting itself in the strangest ways. No matter how many indicators we identify and traits we look for, it comes out of left field all...
July 18, 2023
In the Vegas heat, it can be easy to see things that aren't there. Summer League stat lines pop and crackle, games sizzling in the excitement of new NBA basketball....
July 14, 2023
With the first Swish Theory draft cycle in the books, it’s time to recap the cycle in this follow-up to my final piece with The Stepien. Here I’ll be looking...
July 6, 2023
Precedents “Bodies on the floor, carnage…and a bucket” was the play-by-play description for what could have been any given Alyssa Thomas highlight: Sensing an opportunity, she dove on the floor,...
June 27, 2023
Draft day for the Los Angeles Lakers wasn’t the most exciting. They finally made a trade with the Indiana Pacers, but that was to only move up seven spots in...
June 27, 2023
The NBA draft is in the books but things are far from determined. That is especially the case for our set of “Flawed Freshmen,” viewed so for lack of consistent...
June 23, 2023
It was a hectic day for the Golden State Warriors roster. Chris Paul is now in Golden State. Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and Ryan Rollins are in Washington along...
June 22, 2023
Happy Draft Day, everyone. It’s time to reveal my personal rankings of the 2023 class. This is an absolutely fascinating class that I had a great time evaluating. Obviously, Victor...
June 22, 2023
There are many things that could happen with this pick on draft day, but in all likelihood, the Golden State Warriors will be adding another rookie to the roster with...
June 22, 2023
Let’s face it - Amen and Ausar Thompson are difficult to wrap your head around. For one, they’re physically impossible to tell apart, both 6’7” with 7’0” wingspans and weighing...
June 22, 2023
At long last, the 2023 NBA draft is here. Despite coming in with the best odds in the draft, the Detroit Pistons slid all the way to the fifth pick....
June 20, 2023
Leonard Miller is creative, dynamic, and reckless. He throws no-look skips for seemingly no reason, he has both the external hip range of motion and intermediate area touch of Kentucky...
June 19, 2023
The Fallacy: Lead Guards Are the Same as They've Always Been LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Those four players hold 9 of the last 11 Finals MVP...
June 12, 2023
Michael Neff’s Strategy for the 2023 Draft Lately, I have been dissatisfied with using a big board as a means of properly reflecting my thoughts on a given draft class....
June 11, 2023
Life in the WNBA is no easy road. It has been called by many fans the most challenging league in the world to make it in, and year after year...
June 8, 2023
With the Los Angeles Lakers’ season ending in successful, yet bittersweet, fashion, their focus shifts to the 2023 NBA Draft where they have two picks. LA holds the #17 pick...
June 7, 2023
Setting the Stage The basketball gods must love breakfast tacos. The San Antonio Spurs struck gold in the lottery once again, where their record is somehow even more impressive than...
June 6, 2023
My first piece recapping the 2023 NBA draft cycle focused on dynamic prospects, those whose production declined as competition increased. I called them "whiteboard" prospects given their obvious strengths/weaknesses, seemingly...
June 5, 2023
The Miami Heat managed to steal a game in the infamous altitude against the Denver Nuggets and even the NBA Finals at a game apiece. I'm sure you heard about...
May 30, 2023
Bucket getters. Ethical Hoopers. "That-boy-nice". The Pure Hooper. Whatever way you would like to phrase it, there is a beauty to watching a player hit his defender with a hesi-cross...
May 24, 2023
Floor and Ceiling “How is he going to stick in the league?” is a question you hear every draft season as scouts, teams and fans alike begin the inexact science...
May 20, 2023
The Los Angeles Lakers taking Anthony Davis off of Nikola Jokic and instead put a smaller yet sturdy forward on him, like LeBron James or Rui Hachimura, allowing AD to...
May 19, 2023
We have finally made it. After a three-month weekly series to catch fans up on each team, the WNBA season is finally here. For the 27th time, fans will be...
May 18, 2023
Scoot Henderson is the next _______________! How quickly did your brain fill in that blank and with which star's name? Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, two MVPs, often come up...
May 16, 2023
A rematch of the 2020 “Bubble” Playoffs. A duel between the #1 playoff offense vs the #1 playoff defense. A heavyweight bout between two of the league's best big men,...
May 15, 2023
On May 16, 2023 around 8:30 PM EST, we will find out where Victor Wembanyama, the best prospect in a generation, will spend at least the first few seasons of...
May 14, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. With the draft complete, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
May 9, 2023
Concept The sample for NBA draft prospects is tiny. Even if we have perfect data for a player’s prep and pro careers, the top draft prospects are typically aged 18-22,...
May 7, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. With the draft complete, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
May 5, 2023
Fast like fox.Strong like bull.Slippery like snake. Paolo Banchero stepped into the league a walking mismatch. A 6’10” 250lb tank in transition and North-South force of nature has the tight...
May 5, 2023
If an alien with a baseline understanding of basketball had descended from the heavens just in time for the 4th quarter of Monday’s playoff bout between Phoenix and Denver, they...
May 4, 2023
Anthony Davis is undeniable. That it seems possible, if not likely, that he will end his career without a Defensive Player of the Year award is solely made tolerable by...
May 3, 2023
Evaluating the NBA draft is in many ways an impossible task. The league is constantly shifting beneath the surface, the tectonic plates of scheme and skill crushing themselves against one...
May 2, 2023
Few good ideas come from conversations in the back of a Lyft post-midnight. A few weeks ago, while going from bar to apartment to inevitably discuss cryptids and antigravity technology,...
May 2, 2023
Western Conference Semifinals Preview Stephen Curry vs LeBron James. A rivalry that defines this generation of the NBA will potentially have its last dance and like the infamous football/soccer coach,...
April 30, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. With the draft complete, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
April 26, 2023
Just like they were as Kentucky Wildcats, six years ago. In the present day, their Sacramento Kings are tied 2-2 with the Golden State Warriors in a vigorous, nationally broadcasted,...
April 25, 2023
Click here to see guidelines, full team write-ups and strategies! Conference Semifinals East Round 2, Series 1: Team Gannon vs. Team Josh A. #1 Seed - Team Gannon The pitch:...
April 24, 2023
Every season during the NBA playoffs, from April to June, we argue. All of us do. Not just who's the best team, but who is responsible for their team's flaws,...
April 22, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. With the draft now complete, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will...
April 20, 2023
Following the Los Angeles Clippers’ shocking 115-110 Game 1 win over the Phoenix Suns, Clips head coach Ty Lue was…giddy. When asked about starting big man Ivica Zubac’s performance guarding...
April 20, 2023
I don't want to take anything away from the Kings, who are incredibly talented and play a beautiful brand of winning basketball. But the first two games felt like the...
April 20, 2023
I want to start this article with a quick thank you to the staff who made this event possible. The event was a great experience and it wouldn't have been...
April 18, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
April 17, 2023
As the season comes to an end, plenty of people look to hand out grades. However, that rarely truly conveys how the season was for a given player. Expectations are...
April 17, 2023
In a much-anticipated matchup between the new-look Lakers and the two-seed Memphis Grizzlies, the purple and gold had rough patches in between but were mostly dominant, surging to a 128-112...
April 15, 2023
Does that thought scare you? It should. The Warriors will play the Kings in their first-ever playoff matchup between division rivals. Both sides are laden with stars: Sacramento boasts one...
April 13, 2023
A Scheme and Strategy Breakdown of the Cavaliers Offense and New York Knicks Defense The upcoming series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks is projected to be...
April 12, 2023
What's in a Title? A General Manager in the NBA is a subtly complex title, with an array of duties that are much deeper than they appear at first glance....
April 9, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
April 4, 2023
A Development Story from defensive instincts, shooting touch, and two-way versatility to NBA Superstar “A boat's a boat, but a mystery box could be anything; it could even be a...
April 1, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
March 31, 2023
Everyone has their own pet archetypes of players they target for their platonic ideal of a basketball team, especially as you move beyond the superstars and into role players, with...
March 26, 2023
With Andrew Wiggins bound to miss his 19th straight game tonight, questions abound in Golden State as the playoffs close in. What is going on in his life is clearly...
March 25, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
March 23, 2023
The damning loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder on LeBron’s record-breaking night brought forward the trade that has changed the Lakers’ trajectory in a snap of a finger. The bulk...
March 18, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
March 11, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
March 4, 2023
We are back for another week of WNBA season previews. Aside from the draft, the rosters are set. So once a week until the season is back, I will be...
February 24, 2023
With just under three months left until the seasons return, it is time to get prepared for the 2023 WNBA season. Free agency has all but wrapped up. Aside from...
February 20, 2023
Why the Chicago Bulls owe Patrick Williams a legitimate chance at being more than a role player. In 2020, the Chicago Bulls selected Patrick Williams as the fourth overall pick...
February 15, 2023
James Wiseman was a smart gamble for the Detroit Pistons. It needed to be said because media and fans alike have done plenty of joking and stressing about the move...
February 11, 2023
With the trade dust finally settled, things are looking up in Golden State. The rocky, possibly suspicious, return of Gary Payton II (which I covered here) all but solidifies their...
February 9, 2023
The prodigal son returns. Minutes before the deadline, the Warriors finalized a trade to bring Gary Payton II back to the Bay. This was made possible by moving James Wiseman...
February 7, 2023
It's been nearly ten years since the Golden State Warriors flirted with trading for Kevin Love, stopping short of including Klay Thompson in a potential deal, leading to his move...
January 28, 2023
WHERE HE AT?? WHERE HE AT?? WHERE HE AT?? https://twitter.com/kendra__andrews/status/1618694239126437888?s=20&t=TX9KlRsrFKVUKRpvoNosZw NOW THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO!!! (sorry, I really couldn't help it.) Terrible jokes aside, it...
January 13, 2023
In November, I set out to explore what's been happening to Klay Thompson's shot post-injury. I had my hunches and needed the data to tell me what my eyes were...
January 13, 2023
The biggest storyline of the NBA season entering into the near year is its parity. The clarity at the top is unusually muddled: while the Boston Celtics lead the league...
January 5, 2023
This is the third part of a monthly recap covering all rookie-scale deal Warriors players, looking at the stats, film, and everything in between. To catch up on the first...
December 31, 2022
Why This Series? When a great player becomes great, there is often the narrative of inevitability tied into the fabric. While there may be some truth to that – no...
December 20, 2022
The Sunday matinee showdown of the Warriors and Raptors felt like two cars swerving off the road into each others' paths. Toronto was reeling, on a four-game skid and 2-6...
December 2, 2022
This is the second part of a monthly recap covering all rookie-scale deal Warriors players, looking at the stats, film, and everything in between. To catch up on the first...
November 26, 2022
So much has been made of the Golden State Warriors' bench unit and "youth movement," as the two are largely synonymous. Figuring out who gets a nightly rotation spot beyond...
November 23, 2022
The Unheralded Heroes of Basketball When focusing on player development, many look at the programs players have been a part of: high schools, colleges, and even NBA teams get critiqued...
November 18, 2022
NBA Draft analysis is a major focus of many Swish Theory writers. But we aim to not evaluate players and their skills in a vacuum, but also assess attributes with...
November 16, 2022
We're now 43 games into the post-Achilles/ACL tears-era of Klay Thompson's career and he has yet to find his legs, both literally and figuratively. The time off and physical changes...
November 15, 2022
Why San Antonio Should Keep Their Veteran Big Through the Rebuild Heading into the season, few knew what to expect from the San Antonio Spurs. A Gregg Popovich-coached team is...
November 8, 2022
The 2023 NBA Draft is chock-full of talented and versatile wings with unfavorable shooting projections. Let’s take a look at some historical examples of non-shooting wings who stuck in the...
November 3, 2022
How G League Ignite Are Revolutionizing the Pre-Draft Space In Henderson, Nevada, the G League Ignite team looks to enter its third season as an organization. The development program has...
November 2, 2022
This will be the first part of a monthly recap covering all rookie-scale deal Warriors players, looking at the stats, film, and everything in between. Keep an eye out for...
October 19, 2022
The 2022-2023 NBA season has arrived with every team emerging from the offseason after looking for ways to improve and adding new wrinkles on both sides of the ball. As...
October 18, 2022
Swish Theory's strongest asset is its people. All from different locations, professions, academic backgrounds and rooting for teams across the league, but all thinking critically about the sport they love....
October 17, 2022
The Process of Building the Next Great Spurs Team The date is October 31st, 1986. The Oprah Winfrey Show had just begun its first season on television, gas was $0.89/gallon,...
October 17, 2022
How some teams have mastered the art of the NBA draft and player development The NBA draft may be over, but for teams across the league, the development process has...