Balling on a Budget

I see you — sitting on the sidelines, but daydreaming about getting in the Swoops game. Maybe you want to dive in but don’t know where to start. I’m here to help.

All you need to play is one Swoops NFT — a Swoopster. You can fill out your roster with up to four Free Agents (from a pool of an available 50 to choose from), but with Free Agents being worse than low end Swoopsters, chances are you won’t win a high percentage of your games this way.

My goal is to show you how feasible it is to build a (hopefully competitive) team from scratch using currently listed players on the market, and I’ve set up the budget for this article at 0.7 ETH.

While I fully recognize everyone in Web3 comes from a different set of circumstances, this exercise is meant to be educational. If you can only buy one Swoopster at this time (and feel compelled to do so), I’ll be covering several types of players that might be appealing to build around, and with the ability to rent out Swoopsters being on the horizon for future seasons, there’s a possibility that player could be useful to others and earn you passive income down the road.

If you are new to Swoops, this article may include bits of information that need further explanation. I’ll do my best to link to some previous articles, but I encourage you to jump in the Swoops discord and ask questions or reach out to me via DMs on Twitter. I typically just leave this as a disclaimer at the end of the article, but I’m just going to throw this out there: this is not financial advice, and I encourage you to do your own research using the player database.

Also, OpenSea isn’t the only place to find Swoopsters! Check the other marketplaces and you may actually find some lower listings.

Let’s dive in.

0.7 ETH SQUAD

If you see yourself as landing in this category, building out a full roster of 5 may not be the right route for you at this time given the current thin floor below .1 (only six Swoopsters available). Rather than trying to stretch your dollars, you could grab a proven quality player at a higher price point, then sit back and wait to see what future players hit the market (or see if some prices fall). Then you can also try to mint a rookie Swoopster ahead of Season 1 and hope you land a great player (the price will be 0.05 ETH, but the downside is that these players will only have one attribute rating revealed. The supply is currently unknown but said to be small).

To fill out a lineup in Swoops, you need two Guards (G), two Forwards (F), and one Center (C) — some players are capable of playing multiple positions, and those combinations are Guard/Forward (G/F) and Forward/Center (F/C). We are looking at the marketplace prices, player attributes, and available game data to try and solve a pretty difficult puzzle while also staying under budget. Player chemistry matters, and since these Swoopsters likely haven’t been on the same team, this is like flying blind as we try to determine what would make would a solid lineup, so there are no guarantees this potential team would win at a high rate.

My first choice for this team is Swoopster-1414, a 1-star Guard in his third season. His top three rated attributes (in order) are Physicality, Free Throw shooting (88), and Longevity. With a ton of games played already, we can trust our eyes on the data. He’s currently priced at 0.19 ETH (~$316). See his player card below. (EDIT: I believe the listing has ended and may no longer be available, but I’ve listed another Guard in the bonus section at the the end. I still think it’s very important to read and learn from the breakdown, but didn’t want you to be disappointed when you went to OpenSea)

Don’t think of these ratings like you would think of NBA 2K — ratings are combinations of certain aspects. Shooting attributes like 3PT, 2PT-Interior, 2PT-Mid Range, and Free Throw are a combination of their frequency (shot volume) and efficiency (shooting percentage). His Free Throw rating is in the top 2% of revealed ratings for that category — only 9 Swoopsters have a revealed FT rating above 82. He’s currently on a really good team (Unchained Web) and plays alongside some high volume shooters (multiple players averaging over 15 shot attempts), so I could actually see his 6.36 Free Throw Attempts per game balloon to closer to 9 or 10 on a team where he doesn’t have so much scoring competition, and he’s an 82% shooter from the line.

Through 74 games, he currently averages 14.8 points on 10.5 shots per game (7.31 from 2PT range on 47% shooting, and 3.22 from 3PT range on 28% shooting). While he doesn’t offer much rebounding help, he adds 3.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1 block per game while only committing 2 fouls and turning over the ball 1.5 times. His career high in points was a 37 point outburst were he shot 13/17, including 6/8 from deep, so he’s definitely capable of big numbers, but he just hasn’t been asked to lead a team yet, as his career high attempts is only 18 shots.

He’s young, but he’s already a very capable defender and could grow into an effective scorer thanks to his mid range and free throw strengths. With his longevity and youth, he should experience some decent continued progression starting after Season 0 wraps, and maybe he is able to raise his 3PT% to be above 30%. He’s also unnamed at the moment, so the new owner would have the opportunity to build his brand from the ground up.

Next up is Steve Perry, a 1-star Guard/Forward in his 5th season with a small sample size of only 4 games played. His top three attributes are IQ (89), Interior Defense (69), and Perimeter Defense. He’s currently listed at 0.082 ETH (~$137).

Steve is far from the greatest Swoopster out there, but I like his positional flexibility and defense as he can fill up to four positions in a lineup and is apt at defending both in the paint and out by the 3 point line. Like Swoopster-1414, he’s able to draw fouls and convert from the line at around a 70% rate on 5.5 FTA. He’s surprisingly effective at scoring inside the 3PT line, where he shoots 63% on 5.75 attempts. He’s averaging 9.5 field goal attempts per game, but that is comprised of two 14 shot games and two 5 shots games, so he truly can go one way or the other.

He’s not a tremendous rebounder and that average is bolstered by a 10 rebound game (2, 3, and 2 in the others), but with only 6 Swoopsters available below .1 ETH, I like Steve’s defense (only 3.3 fouls but 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks) and low turnovers (1.5) while also being an effective scorer in the paint and from the foul line. Given his 3PT rating of 60, I would hold out hope that better days are ahead and he’s working his way out of a slump — he went 0/0, 0/1, 3/6 and 1/8. If you take out that last game, he’s a very respectable 3/7 so far!

At the first frontcourt position, I’m rolling with Gary Payload — a 1-star Forward in his 5th season. This is another player with a very small sample size (7 games) so buyer beware, but I like what I see. His top three traits are Leadership, Passing, and Hustle. He’s currently listed for 0.16 ETH (~$266).

Why do I like Gary? He appears to be another low volume shooter as he has only taken over 10 shots 3 times in 7 games, and that was while playing alongside 3 Free Agents (if he wanted to shoot, they would’ve let him). He’s currently averaging 13.7 points on less than 10 field goal attempts and 5 of those are from 3PT range, where is making 1.86 per game (don’t let that percentage fool you — he’s made at least 2 3s in 5 of his 7 games). He adds wracks up about 9 rebounds a game, including 2.6 on the offensive end.

The real key here is his passing. It’s an extremely rare trait to have in the top 3 (only 70 Swoopsters have it in their top 3–1.56%), and he’s averaging 5.4 assists. I actually think that number could be higher as he was playing alongside 3 Free Agents, but he was setting up the lone Swoopster in his lineup quite well (maybe he opens things up for 1414 and Steve Perry to shoot better?). He’s had no fewer than 3 dimes in a game has a current game high of 9. More impressively, he’s managed to post fewer turnovers than assists in each game.

He does foul at a decently high rate and is averaging 5.4, but he does bring in 0.9 steals and 1.6 blocks. At his core, he’s a distributor that should be a triple double threat given his rebounding, and he’s going to provide you with help doing the little things (hustle points — grabbing loose balls, offensive rebounds, that can lead to wins). Did I mention he’s an 80% free throw shooter on over 5 attempts per game? This lineup could do some serious damage from the charity stripe.

At the second Forward position, I’ve chosen Swoopster-946. If you were frustrated by the small sample sizes of the last two players, you’ll hate this selection because he has zero games played — a true blank canvas! A 1-star, 5th year Forward, the top attributes are Longevity (93), Hustle, and Defensive Rebounding (73). He’s listed at 0.078 ETH (~$130).

With no game data, I’m having to do a lot of projecting here. The Longevity means he could be a staple on your team for many seasons to come, and the hustle paired with defensive rebounding means he will gobble up missed shots (defensive rebounding only appears in the top 3 of 2.51% of Swoopsters, and less than 25% have a DREB rating above 62.5). Players with a DREB rating of 70–75 and a minimum of 50 games played are averaging a minimum of 7.88 defensive rebounds. Between he and Gary Payload, they more than make up for the lack of rebounding by 1414 and Steve Perry.

He doesn’t have great defensive ratings, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean he fouls often, I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Payload averaged a combined 10 per game. This really is where it helps that the Guards are low in fouls per game!

We don’t know much about his scoring prowess as each trait is unrevealed and outside his top three. All we know is that each is below 73 since he third highest rating is DREB. He could be excellent, or he could be not much help. But as the second lowest priced Swoopster and only 0.004 ETH above the absolute floor, he looks worth a shot.

Center is currently a tricky position to fill as it is the scarcest position on the market. Only 375 Swoopsters are currently able to play the Center position. True Centers can be hard to come by, and that’s why I like the flexibility of Forward/Centers (and Guards/Forwards). Considering our budget, I feel like Swoopster-538 is the right move here.

He’s a 2-star, 4th year Forward/Center with IQ, Hustle, and Perimeter Defense (92) as his top three attributes. He’s listed at 0.15 ETH (~$250).

Swoopster-538 has played 259 games for Unchained Web (and he actually ran games with Swoopster-1414!) so I feel like we have a good picture of what he is at this point. He’s another low volume shooter (9 shots per game), that manages to get fouled a decent amount (5.36 FTA— the problem is he’s a 44% free throw shooter).

His average stat line is 10.87 points, 9.58 rebounds (6.26 defensive, 3.32 offensive), 3.23 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1 block. That’s a really nice stat line (and nearly a double double machine) that seems to point towards victories, but his career win percentage is only slightly above 50% (52.5%). He shoots 45% inside the arc (7 attempts) and 36% from 3 but only attempts 2 per game, so most games he won’t make one.

I love the perimeter defense aspect here. There’s potential that if Swoopster-946 doesn’t work out, you could move Swoopster-538 to the other Forward position and find another Center, but averaging 1 block per game and only 4 fouls tells me he can hold his own in the paint, as well.

Of this lineup, he is the highest prospect rating, but don’t expect him to morph into an All-Star. He’s absolutely capable of scoring 20+ points in a given game, but he’s also just as likely to have single digits. He’s got just under a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio, so that is a huge bonus as he helps with playmaking — which is great because with Swoopster-946 being a complete unknown, the four with game stats are already averaging around 14 combined assists, so they hopefully can continue to create easy buckets for each other.

At the current price pints, the total for this lineup comes out to 0.66 ETH (~$1,102), so that’s almost enough left over to mint a rookie in the Season 1 mint! Just need to scrounge up 0.01 ETH and you’ll be able to add a sixth member to your squad.

The biggest expense was the first, 0.19 ETH for Swoopster-1414. I did splurge there, because I felt like he had the makings of a proven scorer, and the rest of the squad is certainly missing that. As it is, I’m honestly counting on Swoopster-946 to somehow be the second or third best scorer even though we have no idea about his scoring abilities — everyone else is such a low volume shooter. But maybe that just means more opportunities for 1414 and hopefully lots of free throw attempts for the others (except 538).

As far as a team identity, this is a scrappy group that aims to punch above their weight by specializing in different areas, and together they combine to cover some important skill areas. Each member of the frontcourt (946, Payload, and 538) has hustle in their top 3 — 538’s rating is going to be at least 92, 946 will be anywhere between 73–93, and Payload will be at least a 64. Two players specialize in perimeter defense (538 and Steve Perry), one in interior defense (Steve Perry), one in passing (Gary Payload), one in free throws (1414), one in defensive rebounds (946), one in physicality (1414), two in longevity (1414 and 946), two in IQ (Steve Perry and 538), and one in Leadership (Gary Payload). Guaranteed 3PT shooting is a hole, but Steve Perry and Gary Payload seem to be serviceable, and 946 is an unknown. This team gets to the free throw line and should convert at a great clip outside of 538. This is something I love because there’s unlimited fouling in Swoops, so if the defense gets too handsy, it’s an easy way to keep games close, and your players will give you a shot to hold on to leads in late game situations when the opponent is in desperation mode and hacking. Maybe the hardest gap to fill in Swoops is playmaking, and Payload has you covered!

Other potential players to consider are IP Freely (yes, I get it) at 0.15 ETH (only 1.75 fouls, he’s another 2-star Forward/Center that specializes in interior scoring (third attribute, 80 rating) and has a perimeter defense rating of 75; 12.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 steals, 1.7 blocks in 20 games played), Rizz at 0.16 ETH (3rd year, 3-star Forward with 68 games played — 16.81 points, 9.59 rebounds, 2.69 assists and an 82% FT shooter on 6.57 attempts per game), Flash McGlueguy at 0.139 ETH (3-star Forward in his 6th year; 7.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.2 steals, 1 block, and only 1.4 turnovers and 2.8 fouls, so he stuff the stat sheet but just doesn’t look to score for himself), Heaven Love at 0.08 ETH (1-star Forward in his 7th season with a very high coachability rating; 16 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals in 52 games while averaging only 1.5 turnovers but 4.8 fouls), and Demon Lillard at 0.08 ETH (2-star Guard in his 3rd year; 12.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1 steal, and 1.2 blocks with only 1.7 turnovers and 3.9 fouls).

The Center position is currently very scarce on the market and that played into the need for a higher budget, so the best move might be to build at other positions until more are available or a super player becomes available at the right price point for you.

While I’m not guaranteeing this team can combine to win a lot of games, I hope this has been helpful in showing a way to look at the market and evaluate how potential players could pair together to form a seemingly cohesive unit!

(Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. The goal of this column is to help General Managers entering the Swoopsverse to parse through 1,500 currently minted NFTs in order to identify Swoopsters that could potentially be useful to their team. No one is encouraging or paying me to write this column or highlight their players, nor do I own any of the highlighted NFTs.)

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