Roth calls for more Sword discipline

After falling to 2-5 with back-to-back losses in Round 5, Tasmania JackJumpers coach Scott Roth has called for import guard Craig Sword to “be more disciplined”.

In Friday’s loss to the Sydney Kings, Sword collected three fouls in 4:52 minutes of play, while he had two fouls in Sunday’s loss to the Adelaide 36ers. He is averaging 3.2 fouls per game and Roth explained Sword is experiencing some growing pains.

“He’s got to get disciplined in areas defensively to allow him to stay on the floor. He picks up some fouls that are really unnecessary that far out on the floor,” Roth said.

“He’s had a little bit of trouble picking up our offence, to be quite honest with you. It is a big change coming from the G-League and he’s been a role player his entire career, and we brought him in here to be a role player for us with the roster we thought we would have at the start of the season.”

With Jack McVeigh in the NBA and Sean Macdonald sidelined, Sword has had to take on a heavier load on both ends and Roth is committed to getting the best out of the 30-year-old.

“I need to use him. When we brought him in, we thought he’d play 15-to-20 minutes and get 7, 8, 9 points by just being scrappy and flying around,” Roth said.

“We are going to continue to go down that road with him, he’s a worker and the guys love being around him.”

The JackJumpers take on the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday at 8pm AEDT live on ESPN.