In the Miami Heat’s preseason win over the Charlotte Hornets last night, 113-109, there were a ton of bright spots, but no one stood out more than Cole Swider.
Cole Swider scored 17 points as he made five three-point shots out of his nine attempts, and those deep balls came in significant moments where the Heat needed to get on a run after being down in the second half. The 24-year-old started 1-4 from three-point range, but quickly turned that around.
While this was a great performance for Swider, he’s still on a two-way contract with the team as he’s still not guaranteed a spot on the roster yet. It’s an aspect that he does think about which puts a chip on his shoulder.
“I’m not on a contract still so there’s nothing to be really excited about. If you get to this level, you expect a certain level out of yourself. I think before I might have gotten ahead of myself,” Swider said. “But I just want to keep on stacking one day at a time. Keep on trying to help myself and help this team get to a point where where I’m in the rotation and I help this team win.”
For head coach Erik Spoelstra, he was not shocked to see a performance like this from Swider from deep, citing that he’s seen this in the G-League.
“He played like this or some fact-simile of this kind of role in the G League. Maybe not like springing off screens and handoffs, but certainly in space, he shot the ball really well last year,” Spoelstra said. “Look, if you come into an environment like this, and then you have role models or you have a vision of what it could look like and you add the work ethic, you add the environment where everybody is being pushed, it probably inspires him.”
At the collegiate level, Swider started at Villanova for two seasons and then transferred to Syracuse. He went unselected in the 2022 NBA draft where he was later signed by the Los Angeles Lakers on a two-way contract.
Funny enough, his Summer League debut came in a win against the Miami Heat where he scored 13 points. However, the Lakers cut him in July of this year. Under a month later, he signed with the Heat. Spoelstra admired his perseverance of staying on the path rather than giving up.
“He’s just stayed the course. You know, he’s also had some tough shooting moments in the last month or so,” Spoelstra said. “And you have to have that kind of grit to be able to stay the course and eventually the shots go for you and they certainly did when they mattered.”
During training camp, Swider was seen working with Duncan Robinson in developing his game, which could prove to be wonders since the latter has been a productive three-point shooter for the Heat. Only time will tell if it does, but Swider’s next chance to impress will be Friday as the Heat will take on the San Antonio Spurs.