Turns out there's another Stromile Swift card collector on this planet. Well, actually, I should say there was another. He's in the process of selling his collection, so it's just me now. Pictured above are the first five auctions' worth of cards I've obtained from this former collector.
My favorite from these 12 cards is the one on which Stromile shares real estate with Tarence Kinsey, especially the one with the gold trim and lettering. That one is rare -- serial numbered out of 50 -- and it has also got a zigzaggy, multicolor, multilayer piece of Stromile's jersey on it. I'm a total nerd, so such things excite me. But the real reason I made this post is to speak briefly on Tarence Kinsey.
Kinsey's NBA career was basically a 59-game cup of coffee with the Memphis Grizzlies around 2007, which means I witnessed almost every minute of it. From time to time, I still consider how impressive he was. He was skinny but athletic and assertive, and an asset on defense. He could be described as everyone's favorite basketball player adjective, long, and he had a stoic composure about him that exuded confidence. He also had a cool chin beard and just generally seemed like a likeable fellow. The Grizzlies' redneck commentators loved him. Especially the time he hammered a real banger on Andrei Kirilenko.
Actually those are Utah's commentators. See, they were impressed, too.
Kinsey, in 20 MPG over 49 games, averaged a respectable 7.7 PPG on 46% from the floor in '06/07. Then he appeared in just 11 games the next season, rode the bench in Cleveland for a minute, and was off to Europe. I'm not sure whether he chose for monetary reasons to leave for Europe or was simply unable to catch on with another NBA squad, but I felt he was plenty good enough to make it in the league. Kinsey's '06/07 PER (I never cite PER because I think it's pretty stupid, but for the sake of comparison, I'm kind of stuck with it) was 13, which is better than many of his peers who have played around a decade in the NBA, such as JJ Redick, Mickael Pietrus, Carlos Delfino, John Salmons, and Marvin Williams.
Kinsey could ball, man, and I'm glad they put him on a Stromile Swift basketball card.
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