I meant to give them credit earlier but never got around to it. In their first season under a new regime at the big ball club, the Greensboro Swarm made the G League playoffs for the first time in their ninth season of existence. Prior to this season, the Swarm’s best finish was in their third campaign; they went 24-26 and finished three games out of a wildcard spot. The team had seemingly been neglected since around that time.
This season, they finished the regular season with a 20-14 record, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference. In the G League, six teams from each team make the conference with the top two seeds getting a first round bye in the single elimination tournament. The Finals are a best of three.
The Swarm played the four seed Indiana Mad Ants and fell 120-110. Keyontae Johnson and Jaylen Sims scored 27 and 25 points respectively, but the Swarm couldn’t stop Indiana’s Quenton Johnson, who went off for 34 points on just 18 shots. Reggie Perry, who was second among regular Swarm members in scoring during the regular season, went just 2-of-16 from the field.
It’s a disappointing end to the season, but again, it’s the best season the Swarm have ever had. They were mediocre offensively but boasted the G League’s third best defense. Jaylen Sims led the regulars in scoring, though KJ Simpson had him beat in the 15 games he appeared for Greensboro. Keyontae Johnson averaged an absurdly efficient 17.7 points per game.
G League teams can change a lot from year to year, so who knows if this means anything long term. If anything, it shows that there are a few guys potentially in the pipeline that could step up if they level up a little bit. The defensive rating illustrates how much the organization is prioritizing that end of the floor and how good they are at identifying defensive talent. Hopefully that translates to the big club in the near future.
### _Related_