Craig Sword says his relationship with former Sydney coach Chase Buford is what first drew his eye to the NBL.
Chase Buford has been public enemy number one in Tasmania since he led the Kings to their NBL22 title win over the JackJumpers. Now, though, the Ant Army can give thanks to the former NBL head coach for his role in their recruitment of import guard Craig Sword.
Sword was confirmed as the third and final import on the JackJumpers’ NBL25 roster, and will join Milton Doyle, Jordon Crawford and Sean Macdonald in a stacked Tasmania backcourt. However, unlike incoming imports in years past, he has extensive knowledge of both the competition as a whole, and his new club.
The 30-year-old former Washington Wizard crossed paths with Buford during their time at NBA G-League side Eerie, where Buford kicked off his coaching career as an assistant.
Sword spent two years with the BayHawks, while Buford moved on to Delaware after one season together, but he says he followed Buford’s progress with Sydney after he was named the Kings’ head coach ahead of NBL22.
“I’ve been following the league for the past four or five years. The first year I started watching was when Chase Buford was head coach of Sydney,” Sword said.
“Chase coached me in the G-League one year with the Hawks, and I’ve been interested in it ever since. I have a great relationship with Chase, so I was always calling him saying ‘do you need me to come and help you?’. Of course they were winning championships but I was always calling and checking on him and telling him he was doing a great job.
“Tasmania came across me because I remember playing against Milton Doyle, I always played against him and he was one of the guys I liked to guard in the G in those years, so I just followed him because I like the way he plays, so I watched them play a lot and they got on my radar.
“This will be the first time I’ve played with him, but I’ve played against him a lot. I’m a defending guy so I always like to look up my opponent before I actually play against them, and Doyle is one of my tougher matchups. I love the way he scores, the way he just picks the game apart, and it’s going to be great playing with him and I’ll be able to help him get better every day.”
Tasmania has bucked a recent trend of ensuring at least one contracted import is capable of playing in the frontcourt, which is an indication of faith in not only the side’s existing core of bigs, but a display of how the team sees Sword as a potential point of difference in its guard rotation.
Sword is a noted point of attack defender, and will likely earn the matchup on the likes of Bryce Cotton, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Matthew Dellavedova next season.
JackJumpers GM of Basketball Operations Mika Vukona says Sword will add a new element to the restructured roster that will be looking to defend its NBL24 title.
“Any time you’re bringing back a new team you’re always trying to add to it and not try and go away from what your bread and butter is – and that’s the grit and grind of what the JackJumpers are,” Vukona said.
“In terms of what Craig brings to the table, that’s something we don’t have. His energy, his athleticism, his ability to bring it day in, day out fits in with what everybody is doing but he does it in his own flair.
“The process of how we went about that was we put out a list and then we got a list back and Craig’s name really popped for us. That’s the beauty of having contacts and communication throughout the global network of what basketball is. There are a lot of people who know how the JackJumpers work and play, and Craig’s name was on the top of that list.
“We had a brief look at him and if you asked all the coaches across the board, it was an easy ‘yes’ as soon as we saw him.
“We’re all really excited to have him on board and we can’t wait to get him in market.”
