Trail Blazers select Caleb Swanigan with No. 26 pick

With the 26th pick in Thursday's NBA draft, the Portland Trail Blazers selected Purdue forward Caleb Swanigan.

Swanigan is coming off one of the most impressive seasons in all of college basketball, in which he averaged 18.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, and three assists on his way to being named a First-Team All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year.

His physical profile, however, gives him a foggy NBA projection. Swanigan has thrived as a post-scorer who can abuse smaller defenders on the block, but he lacks the quickness and athleticism required to match up with power forwards, and would be undersized for a center.

Swanigan mitigated those offensive issues to a degree by turning himself into a reliable 3-point shooter, hitting 44.7 percent of his shots from deep on 2.4 attempts per game as a sophomore. But without the mobility to switch onto guards or the hops to be an impact rim-protector, major questions remain about his ability to defend at the NBA level.