| | ESPN.com news services
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Stromile Swift said Wednesday he would
skip his junior year at LSU to enter the NBA draft, as previously reported by ESPN.com's Andy Katz. Swift said he expects to be among the top five picks in the June 28 draft.
|  | | Stromile Swift knows he'll go early in the NBA draft. |
"This decision was a difficult one because of the experience I
had at LSU. The opportunity in the NBA is great and I feel this is
the best time to take it," Swift said at a news conference.
The 6-foot-9 Swift is a legitimate shot-blocking and rebounding power forward. He led the SEC with 2.8 blocks per game and averaged 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds for the SEC West champion Tigers, who reached the Sweet 16.
Swift has worked out for Vancouver (which holds the No. 2 pick), Chicago (Nos. 4, 7 and 24) and Orlando (Nos. 5, 10 and 13). ESPN.com's mock draft has Swift going to the Grizzlies at No. 2, but if they pass on him, the No. 3 Clippers are expected to grab him.
If he joins the Grizzlies, Swift is hoping Shareef Abdur-Rahim will stay with the team. But, whatever happens with Abdur-Rahim, Swift will be content landing at either No. 2 or No. 3 in the draft.
"Vancouver is a nice place, and people have misconceptions of the weather and taxes," the 19-year-old Swift said. "I heard rumors that it wasn't a nice place to live. But it is. The Clippers have nice young players. They just don't have enough veterans to motivate the younger players. Eventually they will, and they'll turn their program around."
Swift said earlier this year that he loves LSU and wanted to
stay for at least one more year to work on his game. But when he
applied to enter his name in the draft, Swift said he felt he
should find out what teams might draft him and in what spot before
making the decision to stay or go.
Once he declared, Swift said he needed to be assured he would be in the top five in the draft. On June 10 at the pre-draft camp in Chicago, Swift said he was convinced he'll be drafted in that range. "I didn't want to make a mistake, and I heard a lot of rumors that I could be in the top five, but I wanted to hear it for myself," Swift said.
Swift entered his name in the draft May 14, but did not retain
an agent, allowing him keep his amateur status and collegiate
eligibility while having time to gather more accurate information
about where he would likely be selected.
LSU coach John Brady denied that Swift was leaving because of
academic problems. "He had an excellent semester at school," Brady said.
Brady added that Swift and his mother approached his possible
move to the NBA wisely. "I applaud him and his mother for how they've gone about this
process of gathering information and knowledge," Brady said.
The deadline to withdraw from the draft is Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET, a week before the two-round draft.
ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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