Stromile Swift- Stifled...or Lazy?

Jonathan Feigen and Fran Blinebury co-op a blog on Chron.com, an excellent resource for Rockets fans, and as a fan of Yao, I am therefore a Rockets fan.

In a recent post, they talked about Stromile Swift, who has recently been a very controversial topic for Rockets fans.

Was he really an overhyped player, that deserved no more playing time than he got, or was his natural talent simply stifled by the Jeff Van Gundy and his peculiar (even unique) system of play?

The comments on this article were very ranged. Some said he was "D O N E" (emphasis not mine), and others said he was "good" or at least had "potential." However, the general consensus was that Stromile had the skills, but not the heart (or passion or dedication,).

The sad fact of the matter is that there are many, many guys who come from the dark ghetto, and get to the bright lights of the NBA only because they have more God-given talents than any of the other dudes from the hood. And once they get there, they quit. They stop working hard, and simply rest on their laurels and money (Swift- 5.4 million in the upcoming year).

Stromile is one of those average guys (for the NBA) who could have been so un-average. Basketball is a game of discipline from an early age, a game where you have to practice hours and hours to get to the top. Yao Ming has no talent, no natural talent anyway, but he made himself the best by practicing and working and practing and working and then practicing some more. Kobe Bryant is immensely talented, but 95% of that came from the hours and hours he spent on his game, and the even more hours he spent exercising, running, weightlifting. Stromile is not a Kobe or Yao. He's, quite bluntly, lazy.

So, what's next for Stromile? He's back to the same city again, after an unsuccessful venture for a year. Will he succeed, or will he, after his career, simply become on of those tall black guys who used to play in the pros? Frankly, he won't be. Some people said he had potential, but potential is no more than a chance to get better if you work hard. And unless Stromile changes very fast, his actions have shown that he simply refuses to work hard.