Former Supersonic Robert Swift’s high school coach on the player before foreclosure
Mar 12, 2013, 6:56 AM | Updated: 10:05 am
Robert Swift (left) first refused to vacate his foreclosed house, and when he did it appeared he'd been living in filfth. (AP Photo/File/Ted S. Warren)
(left)
After his foreclosed home riddled with trash took over headlines just a week ago, many are asking, what happened to former Seattle Sonic Robert Swift?
When he was growing up, Swift’s former high school basketball coach said he was the first guy in the gym and the last to leave.
Gino Lacava speculated on Seattle’s Morning News, that Swift may have been pushed into basketball because of his height. He stands at 7-feet 1-inch. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t love the sport.
Lacava said Swift had a younger brother and sister, and his dad was in the air conditioner industry. They lived just a few miles from campus, where Swift was friends with all the kids around.
“His family was behind him 100 percent,” said Lacava. Swift would join travel teams, and the family would follow to see all his games.
But Lacava said he worries that perhaps skipping college and heading straight into the NBA in 2004 may have been too dramatic a lifestyle change. “The commitment it takes at that level […] maybe he was too young or not prepared enough for it.”
Hindsight is 20-20, admitted Lacava. “It’s different when you’re 15 years old and someone is throwing money at you.”
It’s not often that Lacava finds himself coaching a high schooler who is ready to jump into the NBA, but he encourages his kids to get a degree, because in professional sports, the money goes quick.
