Sonics size-up Swift

SEATTLE — The moment the kid walked in, he looked too young and too lean. Surely, the centers of the Western Conference will treat him like veal.

Robert Swift, just 18, met the press Monday afternoon. The Seattle Sonics plucked the high school senior in the first round of the recent NBA draft.

The fact that he someday will be expected to play center for the Sonics carries the historical imperative that his career will fall somewhere between dubious and doomed.

But that’s a weighty and unfair legacy to cinch onto such a young man. Let’s just say that he’ll not have to play at an all-star level to surpass the efforts of recent Sonics big men.

He was the 12th player chosen, as was last year’s first pick, Nick Collison of Kansas, who showed up in need of surgery on both shoulders. Collison may turn into a fabulous player, but the unstable shoulders meant that he provided the Sonics with nothing but medical bills as a rookie.

The first question to Swift, then, should have been whether his shoulders work.

He was spared pointed inquiry, and he acquitted himself well for a teen fresh out of school. He didn’t have much to say, of course, and his voice cracked a few times as his throat grew dry. Who could expect more?

Mostly, Swift looked like a nice kid, who is a legitimate 7-footer, who cannot be expected to make the Sonics a better team for some time.

This is not Kevin Garnett or Tracy McGrady or LeBron James. This is a project.

Coach Nate McMillan assessed this as the “youngest” draft in NBA history, which meant that teams were “basically drafting on potential.”

OK, they’re guessing.

The Sonics considered trading the pick for a veteran who might help immediately, or picking a more mature player who had been seasoned through a college career.

But Swift, McMillan said, “had the most upside.”

Yes, there is a considerable “up” side. And Swift understands that. When asked of his strength as a player, he simply pointed to the obvious: “My size.”

But first impressions hint of more substance than a mere vertical measurement.

McMillan pointed out that as soon as Swift got off the plane Sunday night, he wanted to get to a gym to work out.

“I was really happy with what I saw … a kid with a lot of class, a kid who was hungry to be in this league, who has talked about nothing but basketball,” McMillan said. “He wanted to get off the plane and go work out.”

When outlining what he’d seen of Swift on tapes, McMillan used a term not frequently uttered around the Sonics: “… he defends the post.”

He has good feet, plays with his hands up, and rotates to the ball, McMillan said.

And, yes, he defends the post.

Youth or not, that puts him ahead of the existing 21 feet and 18 fouls the Sonics have at the center position at the moment: Jerome James, Vitaly Potapenko and Calvin Booth.

James is frustrating in the way his flashes of potential are so quickly followed by flurries of fouls. Potapenko is gritty but limited. And Booth is a mistake.

They have some positive qualities, but they’re counterbalanced by shortcomings. James is semi-skilled but soft. Vitaly is rugged but raw. And Booth is still mostly a mistake.

So, heck, why not get this slender rookie a bunch of minutes this season? Let him take his lumps, of which there will be vast multitudes. The sooner he gets over the beatings, the sooner he’ll be able to contribute to the franchise.

Swift’s parents, Bruce and Rhonda, watched the press conference with obvious parental pride. If they had worries over their son’s speedy ascension to the NBA, they didn’t voice them.

“It’s a physical game, no doubt about it,” said Bruce, an air-conditioner mechanic. But he added that “Robert has done a lot of work to get here, and this is his reward.”’

On the issue of size, they offered that Robert still might be growing. “He was wearing size 18 shoes two months ago, now he’s in 19s,” Bruce said.

Despite the lack of post-man heritage in this franchise, Swift has a few things going for him. The teammates he’ll be compared against have spent seasons convincing fans they can’t excel. And he’s a legit 7 feet with more on the way.

Further, although his shoulders aren’t particularly broad, they both appeared to be attached and functional, which already puts him ahead of last year’s top draft pick.