Once upon a not-so-remarkable time, Stromile Swift and Andre Emmett were NBA teammates. As a Grizzly, Emmett appeared in eight games in early 2005, playing a total of 28 minutes; Swift made regular appearances off the bench, averaging 10 PPG. That summer, Emmett was traded to Miami, where he was waived, and Swift departed for Houston, only to be traded back to Memphis a year later. The two never played another NBA game together. Despite this, Upper Deck deemed Swift and Emmett a "winning combo" and slapped their likenesses on the above trading card, complete with game-used jersey swatches, leaving us with this relic of an obscure partnership.
In fall 2009, Swift was cut by the 76ers during training camp. Having exhausted all NBA opportunities, he sought employment overseas. The Chinese Basketball Association's Shandong Lions were in the market for a center and signed Swift to a one-year contract. Coincidentally, the Lions had already recruited Andre Emmett, who'd become an international basketball vagabond following his release from the Heat. Roughly five years after their appearance on a trading card, Swift and Emmett would have an actual chance to become a "winning combo," albeit in a much lesser league.
Broken down into its constituent parts, the Andre-Stromile combo was indeed winning. Emmett, always an explosive scorer, casually led the CBA in bucket-getting ---in one game he recorded a then-record 71 points (since surpassed by the spindly Quincy Douby). Meanwhile, Swift averaged about 20/10 and paced the association in slam dunks. He thoroughly dominated such NBA washouts as David Harrison, and it was a great deal of fun. I never enjoyed watching Swift play so much as I did when he played in China, where he performed like the second coming of Shawn Kemp.
But despite all its spectacular capability, the combo was not winning in the standings. Shandong missed the playoffs and, as tensions between player and coach soured Swift on the Chinese experience, he elected to skip the All-Star Game and return to the States. He hasn't played professional basketball since, inspiring me to sometimes wonder how badly it really went in Shandong. With his outstanding stats, I figure Swift could've secured another international deal and continued his career. I wish he had.
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