The Georgia Swarm executed a couple of trades this week that should help infuse younger talent within the organization over the next few seasons.
In a trade with the Toronto Rock, the Swarm move veteran defender Jason Noble and receive Toronto's 1st round pick in 2021, in addition to their 1st round pick in either 2020 or 2022. Noble has spent 7 seasons with the Swarm after being selected with the 2nd overall pick at the 2013 NLL entry draft, back when the team was still in Minnesota. He was proven to be a reliable and durable defender who was an integral component for the Swarm during their 2017 Championship run, and won the NLL Defensive Player of the Year Award that same year. Jason had served as Assistant Captain with the Swarm since 2016 and will be a nice addition to the Rock defense.
Georgia Swarm defender Jason Noble takes down New England Black Wolves Shawn Evans in a 2017 game, the year that Noble won the NLL Defensive Player of the Year Award (photo credit: www.CoyoteMagicActionShots.com)
Georgia also traded forward Zed Williams and the 24th and 26th picks in the 2020 NLL entry draft to the Colorado Mammoth in exchange for defender Dan Coates and the 6th pick in the 2020 NLL entry draft.
Colorado Mammoth defender Dan Coates does a good job keeping Georgia Swarm forward Zed Wiliams away from the goal during a 2020 game, on Monday the 2 players were traded for each other (photo credit: www.CoyoteMagicActionShots.com)
Williams was drafted 4th overall by the Swarm in the 2017 NLL entry draft and was a major contributor on offense showing no fear getting to the goal and taking physical punishment while attacking the crease often in acrobatic fashion. Georgia enjoys a strong right side offensively with the likes of Lyle and Miles Thompson, as well as Randy Staats getting lots of minutes, so moving Williams won't sting so badly since he was somewhat in the shadows during his 3 years in Atlanta. Zed has plenty of talent and potential and should enjoy much success in Colorado.
Coates was drafted 8th overall by the Mammoth in the 2011 NLL entry draft and enjoyed 9 seasons in Colorado while serving as Team Captain since 2016. The veteran defender takes a teammate first approach which has made him a leader among men. Dan plays maximum minutes including man down and face-offs, in fact he has taken over 1,000 draws in his NLL career so he might have an opportunity to contribute there as well. Swarm Coaches Ed Comeau and Sean Ferris are quite familiar with Coates as they were part of the staff in Colorado that drafted him and also have experience together with Team Canada where Dan has won gold medals at the 2015 and 2019 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship's. It makes you believe that the front office is happy replacing Noble for Coates, which would essentially mean they are adding 3 first round picks and losing Zed Williams and 2 third round picks. Not a bad swap considering Williams is in a logjam on the right side of the offense and 1st round picks are so much less risky in the NLL then the later rounds.
Dan Coates will be expected to replace Jason Noble in Georgia in 2021 where he should log a lot of minutes out of the back door while providing veteran leadership to the team (photo credit: www.CoyoteMagicActionShots.com)
Article written by Larry Palumbo, released on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 @ 10:00 EST
Photo credits: Larry Palumbo @ www.CoyoteMagicActionShots.com
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