NBA Draft: Caleb Wilson’s Trainer On Why He Can Play like Magic Johnson, Paul George, and Kevin Garnett
After marveling at Caleb Wilson’s coachability, positional versatility and increasing height as just an eighth grader, Robert Swain already projected he would become a coveted NBA prospect.
Swain, who trained Wilson since he was 10 years old at Swain Basketball Academy in Hapeville, Georgia, has become clairvoyant again. In an interview with R.org, Swain predicted that Wilson can mimic Magic Johnson’s playmaking, Paul George’s mid-range game and Kevin Garnett’s rebounding. Wilson has become a projected top-5 pick after thriving at University of North Carolina during his freshman season with his positional versatility. Swain expects Willson will carry over those qualities into the pros just fine.
“He’s going to explode,” Swain told R.org. “He’s going to be a great teammate. He’s going to be able to provide whatever the coach wants him to do. He’ll be able to do it at a high level.”
Swain spoke extensively about Wilson’s development, how he handled staying sidelined during the NCAA tournament with a broken right thumb and more.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one interview has been edited and condensed.
Interview with Caleb Wilson’s Trainer, Robert Swain
You’ve worked with Caleb for a while now. But what has the last few weeks of work been like with him as he gets ready for the Draft?
Swain: “It’s been amazing. It’s been a lot of hard work. He’s been with me for a week-and-a-half. Then he has gone out to Los Angeles to work with his agency [Klutch Sports]. He’ll be back in about four days. Then we’re going to work out for four straight days prior to the Draft. The preparation has been outstanding. It’s been a lot of hard work and focus-driven.”
With it being focus-driven, what has that looked like?
Swain: “A lot of 3-point shots, a lot of pull-up jumpers off the dribble and a lot of faceups. There are different moves from 18 feet in.”
What’s the thought process with focusing on those areas before whoever drafts him?
Swain: “As he makes the transition into the NBA, he’s going to have to be a floor spacer. So it’s about knocking down that corner 3, knocking down that mid-range shot and creating mismatches in transition or in the half-court setting.”
Caleb has so much versatility. How do you see him carrying that into the league?
Swain: “I think it’ll transfer with a good tempo and a good pace. So I think it will translate very well. He’s 6-10, 6-11, man. So he can shoot the basketball. He can handle the basketball. He makes decisions like a 6’2” point guard with the basketball. So I think his level of IQ is definitely going to transfer to the game.”
What player-comps do you think Caleb has?
Swain: “It’s a little bit of a mixture of some Paul George, Magic Johnson and some Kevin Garnett.”
How have you seen Caleb incorporate their games into his?
Swain: “With Magic Johnson, I can see Caleb getting a rebound and taking it coast-to-coast, whether he’s scoring for himself, creating for a teammate to score or creating for a teammate to create for another teammate. So I see him making those quick decisions with the basketball in his hands. With Paul George, you can see him spacing up and taking the elbow jumper and getting into his one-two dribble pullup. As far as Garnett, you can see Caleb scoring 18 feet in, grabbing defensive and offensive rebounds and blocking shots.”
You started working with Caleb since he was 10 years old. Since then and now, what have been the major turning points with all the work you’ve done together?
Swain: “His body, man. He has strong legs, strong arms and strong shoulders. He grew into his own and he grew into his body. Once he was able to work on a lot of guard skills, he took a leap. We didn’t want to limit him. We knew that he would be tall. His Mom, Dad and sister are all tall. So we didn’t want to just work on post moves. We wanted him to work on guard skills so he could be that much more valuable on a basketball court to the coach.”
When did the turning point take place for him with his strength?
Swain: “It kicked in toward the 11th-grade year. It kicked in. He was lifting weights and working out every single day, and sometimes twice a day. He was always in the weight room.”
Even before then, you talked up Caleb as an eighth-grader to Episcopal School coach Mario Mays that you were about to bring him a gift because he can already play 1 through 5. How did he show that to you?
Swain: “I knew the kid was going to be a pro. First off, it was his will power, the things that I teach and that I knew he would be 6’10 or 6’11. So I knew the kid was going to be a pro with consistent work. He didn’t have a choice but to do consistent work. His Dad is very strict on him. So between me and his Dad and allowing me to work with his son, I knew how it was going to turn out. He just had to stay the course. I was intrigued and impressed by his size. I knew he was going to be 6’10 or 6’11.”
What are the things that you and Caleb’s pops did to try to mold him?
Swain: “His Dad made sure that he ate the proper foods every day. His Dad made sure that he worked out twice a day. His Dad made sure that he was in the gym lifting weights every day. The things that I was strict on was about Caleb listening to his Dad about what the kid needed to work on after he comes back from different AAU tournaments. I would execute those things along with what I would assume he would need to work on. He was very, very coachable. It’s all about his offseason and his preparation. He was always in the gym, focused and ready. That’s all he spoke about his senior year. He was ready to come in and make a splash right away.”
I also read your daughter (Hailee) grew up playing against Caleb. What did they work on together?
Swain: “Yeah, she’s the starting point guard for Stanford, man. She was on the All-ACC Freshman team this year. They worked on a lot of guard skills and a lot of ball-handling work. They worked on change of pace and change of direction. It’s things like that. It’s done a lot for their games. It helps Caleb. When I used to go over guard-skills work, he was already doing it as well with his ball-handling. That has also helped Hailee because she has learned the different footwork from 18 feet in as a point guard.”
What were the head-to-heads like?
Swain: “Very, very competitive. She gets mad if he beats her in a dribbling contest or a 3-point contest. She gets angry. One thing about Caleb is he doesn’t care. He’s trying to kill you. He’s trying to destroy you. I remember over the years they would have some 3-point contests they would do together. Caleb would beat her in a 3-point contest. They used to go back and forth at it. It was funny.”
Has Hailee ever gotten the best of him?
Swain: “Every blue moon. Every now and then. But Caleb isn’t going to let that happen (laughs). She would get mad. She would get angry as if she’s playing in a real game. She would shoot half floaters so he couldn’t block it. Then sometimes, he would back up and say, ‘I bet you can’t make that.’ She would make a deep 3. But it’s hard to score on Caleb. His wingspan is so long. Caleb didn’t care about that, though. He knew he would beat her the next time.”
How did you see Caleb deal with his injuries and having to miss the NCAA tournament?
Swain: “I’m not going to say he became better. But he became at least a better teammate because he became a cheerleader. He was cheering on his teammates. At the same time, he was reading a lot, motivating himself and staying positive.”
What stuff was he reading?
Swain: “He was reading motivational books. He was playing his videogames a lot with NBA2K. I’m not sure exactly what books he was reading, but he would talk to me about it a lot.”
What did he say the books did for him?
Swain: “He said it calmed his mind and strengthened him mentally. It prepared him for what’s to come. He knew it wasn’t over. He then took advantage of the opportunity and was able to rest his body.”
When you combine his game, the work he’s put in with you and his resilience during his injuries, what do you expect he will do in the league?
Swain: “He’s going to be awesome, man. He’s going to be awesome. He’s going to explode. He’s going to be a great teammate. He’s going to be able to provide whatever the coach wants him to do.
He’ll be able to do it at a high level. He’ll knock down shots. He’s a 3-point maker. He’s not a 3-point taker. But he’s a 3-point maker. He can defend. And he can be an extra point guard out on the floor because of his decision-making. The world has only seen maybe 45% or 50% of what he can do.”
Oh really? What else can he show?
Swain: “He can really shoot the 3. He can really shoot the 3 off the dribble and off the catch. He’s so skilled that he was able to produce what Carolina needed for him at that time. But when he’s in the NBA, if he’s playing at the 2 or the 3, he’s going to be able to display those skills at a high level. He’ll be able to push the ball in transition, He can pull up from 3. He can go off the dribble into his midrange. He can play out of the pick-and-roll. He can make a lot of reads and passes out of the pick-and-roll.”