FanHouse RobertSwift

Free-agent time should be like Christmas for these under-30 former first-round picks. If they had played better, stayed healthy or fulfilled their potential, they would be cashing in on new contracts or contract extensions. Instead they are fighting for their NBA lives, afterthoughts in free-agent time, hoping to find one interested team for another opportunity to stay in the league.

The alternative might be Europe or perhaps even the NBDL. With each NBA team holding on tight to free-agent dollars because of the economy and the 2010 free-agent class, contracts -- especially lucrative ones -- will be difficult to procure. So while names such as Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Trevor Ariza and Hedo Turkoglu will fill the offseason newswires, these 10 players will be searching for work in virtual obscurity.

Here is the list and their stories:

The Tyson Chandler Derby has been much more muted than the Amare-geddon (credit B-a-B), but the results might be as important. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports that Oklahoma City has landed Chandler for (apparently) Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith, whose contracts happen to expiring this summer. (Just a coincidence, I'm sure.)

Chandler can be considered a defensive version of Stoudemire, with little offensive impact beyond his beautiful and famous alley-oop connection with Chris Paul. If Amare could turn a team without scorers into a good offense, Chandler can potentially make a bad defense (OKC qualifies) respectable.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Troy Murphy: "I'm going to be an event planner - weddings, bar mitzvahs, everything like that. That's my passion. It is. I've just taken it up the last couple of years." -- South Bend Tribune, via Cornrows.

* "[Bruce] Bowen's style of play does not undermine the quality of the game; in fact, it takes basketball (and basketball fandom) to the peak of its dramatic heights." -- 48 Minutes of Hell.

* "[T]here's a reason that no one goes around quoting any of Christian Bale's lines from [The Dark Knight], a reason that [Heath] Ledger is posthumously up for an Oscar and was spoken of a nomination before his passing, a reason that when you think of that film, you think of the Joker. And it's the same reason kids love to dunk, that we like the fastbreak more than the halfcourt, and why Gilbert Arenas is on the All-Star ballot despite not playing a tick [...]" -- Hardwood Paroxysm.

* Amare Stoudemire: "Refs don't like me as much as the cops didn't like Tupac." -- Arizona Republic (last week).

* This week's NBA on TV announcing schedule, the first Basketball Jones of the New Year, and Getting to Know Robert Swift.

After a summer devoid of speculation owing to more important matters, the Thunder has re-signed Robert Swift to a deal of unknown length and girth. (C'mon, OKC media! We need details!) I don't want to suggest there was a chance Swift could have found himself outside the NBA at age 22, but the outlook seemed bleak. Playing only 71 games in four season due to severe knee issues, compounded by playing like crap in most of those 71 games ... that's not reassuring when it's time to extend your career.

Swift's qualifying offer for this season was $3.5 million, but I imagine the sides worked out a short-term deal for less, perhaps something similar to the contract fellow bust Patrick O'Bryant received from Boston. It's an issue with two sides for OKC: it doesn't hurt to sink some spare change into a once-promising project, but you do risk slipping into the hole of sinking money into a mistake you really should exile. The likelihood Swift turns into anything is slim.

Swift's best-case at this point might be Joel Pryzbilla or a Collins twin, which means Bob needs to bulk up. But can he bulk up on that awful knee of his? Overeager strength training ruined his '07-08 season. If he can't, he's stuck in no man's land: a plodding, sort-of thin center without discernible basketball skills. No offense to Swift or his continued recovery, but ... what's the point?

It does not appear Sonic enigma Robert Swift will play again this season. He totaled 99 minutes this year, which is 99 more than he played in 2006-07. In total, the high lottery selection of him has been a disaster of the worst sort. Why? Because not only has he failed to perform (due to injuries and a botched rehab), but also because Seattle knows no more about his potential today than it did in 2004.

P.J. Carlesimo tells the Tacoma News Tribune he expects to see Swift back with the team next fall. Swift's a restricted free agent, in the same boat as fellows like Ben Gordon, Emeka Okafor, and Andre Iguodala. The sensical procedure might be for Swift to sign his one-year qualifying offer ($3.6 million) so that Swift has a shot to rehab his image while Seattle gets 82 more games to figure out if this kid's going to be any good.

Will he turn out to be anything in the NBA? In the only season where he stood upright for enough measurable minutes (2005-06), he was good. He has the tools to be an effective rebounder, and his defense is rumored to be of a fair quality (which is a vital need for this Seattle squad). There's little doubt he could step in immediately and be no worse than Darko Milicic, and probably a good deal better within a few years. But my confidence in this estimate is muted; when you don't play for basically 3-1/2 seasons, people are not going to trust you can ever perform. Swift's going to have to prove it.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
I recently added Robert Swift for $25 in a really, really deep league. Woo, me. No, seriously, what a nightmare. The Supersonics promised to give him some run because he was going to be a restricted FA and they wanted to know what they had. Instead, Swift is likely out for the season. Taking his place? Johan Petro (who I dropped for him, of course). Petro scored seven points, grabbed 10 boards and blocked two shots last night and in he's gonna be available in most leagues. He's not a total gamer, but hey, it's late in the season and if you're in a deep league and need a center, you could do worse. (Rasho NEST-er-o-VIC, anyone?) The other guy to watch? Mickael Gelabale. He's a youngster out of France and he scored 12 points two games ago and 21 with eight boards, an assist and a steal against the Lakers last night. Look, the Sonics are punting on this season. That doesn't mean you can't take advantage. If Gelabale continues to get run, scoop him.

Hot Cakes
Tyrus Thomas went for 18 points, six boards, five dimes, two blocks and a steal last night. Maybe we can stop calling him an "enigma" or some-such-honkey, and just admit that Scott Skiles didn't know how to use him. Everyone else fine with that? If your trade deadline hasn't passed, trade for him -- could be a monster second half.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
We know that Devin Harris will start (we do know that, right?) for New Jersey once he returns from injury. But you best believe that in the meantime, and probably after, the Nets are going to give Marcus Williams plenty of run. He got it in overtime last night, scoring 25 points with four boards and four assists. And yeah, his team won and he awkwardly outplayed Jason Kidd as well. If Williams is floating around or is on your bench, grab him/get him active; he should be a great source of points and light assists over the next week or so.

Hot Cakes
The word out of Milwaukee is that Charlie Villanueva will start for the rest of the season. He's been beasty when motivated before, so make him a priority add this morning if he's available. (Yes, I am aware that he only got eight points and three boards last night ... doesn't matter.)

Robert Swift will also be seeing a big bump in playing time, as the Sonics see what they've got in the soon-to-be restricted free agent. Kurt Thomas is now out of town, so Swift should be a great source for blocks and boards the rest of the way home -- pre-injury he had shown some serious fantasy potential and was always a pre-season sleeper fave.

With the NBA trade deadline looming, Trade Machinations rounds up real rumors (and creates fake ones) of moves that'd make the NBA a better, brighter place.

What does Orlando want? "In trade talks with various teams, the Magic have been looking to add a defensive-minded power forward, mostly using a variety of their players with expiring contracts as bait." What has Seattle got? Kurt Thomas. Now, yes, you can argue that Thomas has a monster 8 million dollar expiring contract. But I can argue that Orlando has a package -- James Augustine, Pat Garrity and Carlos Arroyo -- that makes more expiring contract money than Thomas. So the Sonics pick up a little extra cap room next year, and Orlando lobs them a second round draft pick as well for their effort. Or not lobs.

Thomas provides the Magic with the defensive power forward they want, Seattle gets to add to it's future cap space and Thomas, who is apparently expendable now that Robert Swift will be stealing his playing time, gets to not be an eight million dollar waste on a non-contender.

Will it happen? Yes. Yes it will. The only hold up here -- I would imagine -- is whether the Sonics and Magic want to consider anything that might involve either J.J. Redick or Chris Wilcox. Well, that and the full compensation for the swap: draft picks, etc.

This has not been a good season for comebacks. Allan Houston's attempt to make a roster fizzled. Penny Hardaway has scored in double-digits only once despite averaging 20 minutes a night. Gilbert Arenas lost at least several months by apparently coming back too fast. Nenad Krstic, who missed most of last year, got shelved again.

Now Robert Swift, recovering from knee surgery which kept him out of the entire 2006-07 season, will sit out at least another month. Last spring, I'd pegged Swift for the fictional '2008 Comeback Player of the Year,' assuming Seattle wouldn't get the #2 pick and blow up the roster. But even if they hadn't, Swift would be lost in the shuffle of the oddly underwhelming and overachieving Seattle front line.

Think about it: Nick Collison, Chris Wilcox, Johan Petro. Not a murderer's row but not bad altogether. Wilcox has been out of his gourd, Collison has been solid and unspectacular as always and Petro... well, Petro sucks. Kurt Thomas has come back and done a fine job doing what Kurt Thomas does. Were Swift healthy and playing well, Collison's minutes would suffer, so unless Swift was playing much, much better than he ever has, it'd be a net downgrade.

Recently, we've spent much ink many pixels on the body sculpting ways of Greg Oden. Unable to work out in normal fashion whilst recovering from the microfracture, Oden took to the weight bench, gaining roughly 30 pounds of upper body muscle in a month or so. The Blazers got nervous about the extra weight's impact on his recovery and shut him down a little bit.

Seattle's Robert Swift was not so lucky to have suits breathing down his neck over the summer. The once-gangly Sonic spent last season on the shelf with a jacked knee suffered in preseason; he added 40 pounds of muscle (and possibly a gallon of ink). Now, all the bodybuilding is being blamed for Swift's incomplete knee recovery, according to a Percy Allen story in the Seattle Times.

"He might be too big," the Sonics coach [P.J. Carlesimo] said after a brief practice Thursday morning. "He worked hard in the summer ... but right now the additional weight is a little bit of a challenge and he's working on shedding a few pounds and that will help him out with the rehab."

The continuing knee problems have helped limit Bob to 81 minutes of playing time this year. My question: How much can you blame the problems on the recent turmoil the Sonics franchise has seen? From April 19 to July 3 -- almost three months -- Swift didn't have a coach. I can't find corroboration the strength and conditioning staff remained in place in Seattle during that span, though I doubt it -- KeyArena was mostly abandoned all summer. Did Swift add all the bulk only after Carlesimo came to town? Not likely -- by the middle of August Seattle journalists were already reporting on Bob's new bod. I'm not saying Clay Bennett's lack of... zest to fill key franchise openings in the spring could cost Swift's year and/or career. But I'm guessing having someone to pay attention to your 21-year-old . I'm not saying insecure center would help in such situations.