Two weeks ago, we played a very depressing game of Where Are They Now? with Robert Swift, the big man who in 2004 jumped right out of high school to the Sonics at 12th overall. Beset by injury and ineffectiveness, Swift never put it together. In 2009, released by the Thunder, he refused a D-League assignment, then played in Japan for a while, and as of last month was squatting in his former home in Sammamish, outside of Seattle.
Swift ignored the fact that his house had been foreclosed on, despite new owners who just wanted him out so they could move in. The house was in disrepair; bullet holes in windows, trash and non-functioning cars in the yard, cans of Four Loko strewn about. The new owners, a young married couple, were about to enlist the sheriff to evict Swift and his girlfriend. Now there's no need. Sometime over the weekend, Swift moved out, leaving only the memories and the garbage behind.
Animal feces clogs the deck. Walls are punched out on different levels of the house. One even has an autograph. Pizza boxes and beer bottles stack in piles on the kitchen granite.
Multiple guns were seen in the home. Some appear to be air guns, but live ammo was also found. Dalzell said a handgun was found inside.
A makeshift shooting range is in the basement storage area. Eric Dalzell said load-bearing beams have graze marks from bullets. Part of the foundation appeared to stop some of the slugs.
If you'd like to see what an athlete who made more than $10 million over his career is capable of, here's the KOMO report:
It gets sadder, if you can believe that. Swift left everything behind, even the things that once must have been special to him. The house's new owners found autographs, framed photos, and a box of letters, addressed to Swift from various big time college programs like UCLA, Kentucky, and Kansas, dating from his high school playing days. They contained scholarship offers, and many of them had never been opened.
No one knows where Swift is living now, but it's safe to assume he's not in a good place.
Trash, bullets and feces found in former Sonic Swift's squalid home [KOMO]