Chinanu Onuaku – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Chinanu Onuaku
C – 6’9, 250lbs – Born 1st November 1996
Greensboro Swarm
Salary dumped by the Rockets onto the Mavericks at the start of this past summer, Onuaku was the first between he and Zhou Qi to lose their job as the Rockets’ prospect centre due to the arrival of Isaiah Hartenstein. Two consecutive years in the G-League on assignment to Rio Grande Valley has not seen Onuaku improve his output any; indeed, it even took a slight backwards …
Tyler Nelson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Tyler Nelson
SG – 6’3, 180lbs – Born 9th August 1995
Greensboro Swarm
Nelson was the third overall pick in last year’s G-League draft, beginning his first season as a professional after a four-year career at Fairfield in which he averaged greater than 20 points per game across his two upperclassmen seasons. The draft does not draw in the calibre of player that it once did for reasons not worth going into in this space, yet in Nelson, the Swarm …
John Gillon – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
John Gillon
PG – 6’0, 178lbs – Born 31st March 1994
Greensboro Swarm
Gillon began the year with the Erie BayHawks, and was acquired by the Swarm in trade in exchange for Cat Barber. The Swarm had been using Barber as a sixth man type off the bench, and clearly felt as though they needed a more traditional type of point guard in their line-up instead. Enter the incredibly solid all-around Gillon, who is exactly that.
Gillon’s small size caps …
John Dawson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
John Dawson
PG – 6’2, 205lbs – Born 12th April 1995
Greensboro Swarm
Dawson made the Swarm roster as a local tryout player in 2017, and after returning for this past season has now spent two complete years with the team. He has however played only 66 regular season games in that time, and averages only 13.8 minutes per contest. He is the backup point guard behind the starter of the moment, and his role is to provide some stability. …
Roscoe Smith – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Roscoe Smith
PF – 6’8, 215lbs – Born 1st August 1991
Greensboro Swarm
Smith joined the Swarm to begin the season as a returning player, and appeared in 23 games, averaging 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, before being waived by the team in January. It is not clear whether that was due to injury, or simply whether they decided they would rather have Malik Pope, acquired in the corresponding move. Those averages are nevertheless less than half of …
Sam Thompson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Sam Thompson
SF – 6’7, 200lbs – Born 11th November 1992
Greensboro Swarm
The hope when Thompson joined Ohio State way back in the day was that he would develop the offensive and playmaking skills required to maximise his excellent physical profile. With good size for a wing, Thompson has the length, frame, athleticism and leaping ability to play anywhere, including at the very top level.
What he hasn’t done is add much to that. Thompson has developed some skills, …
Isaiah Wilkins – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Isaiah Wilkins
SF/PF – 6’8, 205lbs – Born 23rd September 1995
Greensboro Swarm
In Zach Smith’s profile two pages ago, I mentioned that he plays some technically precise defence. I stand by it. But no one plays as technically precise of defence on this Swarm team as Wilkins does.
Raised in the endlessly disciplined defence of the Virginia Cavaliers’ Pack Line, Dominique’s nephew is a testament to the value of advanced statistics. Were you to look at his rebounding numbers …
Zach Smith – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Zach Smith
SF/PF – 6’8, 216lbs – Born 5th January 1996
Greensboro Swarm
Zhaire Smith got all the plaudits and the NBA first-round draft selection last summer; he was younger, more athletic, was able to play more positions and was already better in terms of his basketball skill set than Zach. Yet there were two Z. Smiths that the Texas Tech Red Raiders rode the defence of all the way to the 2018 Elite Eight, and now that he too …
Malik Pope – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Malik Pope
PF – 6’10, 220lbs – Born 25th July 1996
Greensboro Swarm
With his height, length, versatility, perimeter inclinations and very memorable name, Pope has been on the NBA radar since his San Diego State career began, if not before. He developed a bit in his years with the Aztecs, but perhaps never lived up to the lofty billing, and now finds himself in the G-League rather than the NBA.
Pope’s first professional season did start on the L.A. …
Luke Petrasek – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Luke Petrasek
PF/C – 6’10, 215lbs – Born 17th August 1995
Greensboro Swarm
The Hornets have had their eye on Petrasek since he left Columbia back in 2017. They signed him for training camp that first year, have now allocated him to Greensboro for two consecutive seasons, and snuck in a summer league stint in between them. What they see in him is quite clear – they see a 6’10 player with a sweet corner jump shot, and they are …
Jaylen Barford – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jaylen Barford
SG – 6’3, 202lbs – Born 23rd January 1996
Greensboro Swarm
This was Barford’s first professional season, and as with so many G-Leaguers, it started with the summer league/training camp/allocation cycle, all via the Charlotte Hornets. What the Hornets will have seen in him at Arkansas was a level of versatility that belied his height.
Due to his height, Barford is listed as a combo guard generally, but it is hard to identify his game as such. Not …
