Chuck Swirsky was the Toronto Raptors’ play-by-play voice on television from 1998-2008.
During that span, Swirsky — who now does play-by-play for the Chicago Bulls — called many ups and downs with the Raptors, including the height of the “Vinsanity” Vince Carter years and even the Kobe Bryant 81-game spectacular.
Sportsnet recently caught up with Swirsky over the phone to chat a little Bulls – who visit Scotiabank Arena Sunday afternoon – Raptors and his memories of the late Bryant.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Sportsnet: The Raptors are taking on the Bulls Sunday. Chicago doesn’t have the best record but is only 3.5 games out of a playoff spot. What have you made of the Bulls’ season so far?
Chuck Swirsky: It’s been disappointing, although they’re playing betting of late. The Bulls are still in the hunt for a playoff spot and they’ve gotta get some players back healthy, but no excuses. Every team in the league is banged up.
They need to close out games better, need to play more consistent basketball. However, there have been a lot of positives coming out from several players.
SN: Who would some of those players be? Zach LaVine and who else?
CS: LaVine’s arrived as a big-time talent. He’s fearless, he loves to have the ball in his hands in crunch time, he’s accountable, he’s everything you’re looking for in a developing star in this league.
And I think, when healthy, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. have a tremendous amount of potential, as does Coby White. I think a guy like Chris Dunn has found his niche, so to speak, as a lockdown defender, a guy that gets after it – very tenacious on the defensive side – and playing better of late on the offensive side of things.
So the Bulls do have talent, and now they need to kind of galvanize that talent and formulate it into a winning ball club.
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SN: Speaking of winning ball clubs, what have you made of the Raptors this season?
CS: I think they’ve been phenomenal, and I think Nick Nurse should be in the hunt for Coach of the Year. I think he’s a tremendous coach, an outstanding coach. He’s taken a ball club without, arguably, a top-three player in the NBA and he’s managed to go 20 games over .500.
He’s losing players left and right. Every game, it seems like, you see players going down but he finds a way to get it done.
It’s not just one man. It’s Masai Ujiri and his scouting staff and his front office, but what Nick has been able to do has been nothing short of brilliant.
SN: The Raptors climbed the mountain last season, winning their first-ever championship and are positioning themselves to possibly repeat this season. When you were doing play-by-play for the team, was there ever a time when you thought they could’ve had this much success?
CS: The only time I really thought they were going to get anywhere near that was if [Tracy] McGrady had stayed. If Tracy McGrady stayed, I’m convinced the Raptors would’ve won at least one Eastern Conference title, and then who knows?
I do think they would’ve won the East in that window had [McGrady and Carter] — at that time very, very young men — stayed and developed together. But we’ll never know. One went their separate ways, the other, of course, was traded, and that’s that.
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SN: Shifting attention to last week’s horrible tragedy, you called many Los Angels Lakers games when Bryant was an active player. Was there a specific memory of him that stood out to you?
CS: Well, other than the 81-point game I called, I was introduced to Kobe by his agent, who’s now the general manager of the Lakers, Rob Pelinka.
I’ve known Rob for many, many years and I remember the year after the 81-point game, I requested Kobe for a pre-game interview and normally he does not do pre-game, but in this case he did because of my friendship with Rob.
And it’s funny, when you look at that place in time, even before the 81-point game, when I met Kobe he was always very gracious. I can’t say I was a deep, personal friend because I was not, so I don’t want to embellish that. It was a professional connection.
But, when I saw him twice a year, either with the Raptors against the Lakers or the Bulls against the Lakers, he always found time to say hello, come by, chat for about 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, whatever, and he was a great people person. In addition to being a basketball player, he was extremely charismatic.
SN: About that 81-point game in 2006, what do you remember of it?
CS: If you think about the game, it was on a sleepy Sunday night with a 6:30 starting time with the Lakers. They really had a lot of marginal players on the roster, with the exception of Lamar Odom.
The Raptors had a huge lead in that game, a big third-quarter lead, and then Kobe took over.
And he didn’t go one-on-five, he went one-on-15. I mean, he took on all-comers on the roster. And he didn’t have a chip on his shoulder, he had a boulder on his shoulder. He was out to prove to everyone that he could not only carry a team and will a team, but he dominated a team, and he dominated the Raptors.
And so, when it became 77 points and then 79 points, then 81 points. It was just crazy.
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SN: How will you remember Bryant?
CS: Kobe, regardless if it was a Sunday night game in January or an NBA Finals game, he played the same way, and that was the beauty, really, of Kobe Bryant, and that’s why, I think, people appreciated his mentality.
He was not only tenacious, he was fierce — he was passionate and he wanted to rip your heart out.
If you were playing against him, he took no prisoners. He got after you. He didn’t care if you were an All-NBA player or a rook trying to make a name [for yourself] or a role player. He played everyone the same. There was no level of significance when it came to guarding another player. He didn’t care at all whether you were making your NBA debut or if you had been in the league 11 years.
When you competed against him you better know going into it you’re not only going to compete, but you’d better rise up to the level of his energy and his basketball IQ.
And that’s why I think so many fans loved him. He was the link between Magic [Johnson], Larry [Bird] and Michael [Jordan] and LeBron [James]. And in that window a lot of players in the league who are playing today looked at Kobe as the generational player of that era and he didn’t disappoint them. I think, because players saw how hard he played, it was infectious.
That’s why a lot of the elite players in the NBA today are so drawn to Kobe and this is why it’s been so very, very difficult over the last few days.
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