James Swindell Jr. played basketball at Limestone College in South Carolina, which plays at the NCAA Division II level.

He thinks his son, James “J3” Swindell III, has the potential to play at an even higher level in five years.

J3 is an eighth-grader at Russell Christian Academy who plays combo guard and splits time between the junior varsity and varsity boys basketball squads. He also competes at the AAU level on the Meridian Cougars, which his father coaches. When he’s not practicing with the high school or the AAU team, Swindell and his son can sometimes be found at the Anderson Health and Fitness Center practicing together on the basketball court.

Swindell said his son is already showing signs as an eighth-grader that he has a basketball future. J3 is currently 6-foot-2, and Swindell said he thinks he’ll grow to be at least 6-foot-6.

“I believe he’ll be good enough to play in college, and I have a belief he can play Division I,” Swindell said. “From there, who knows?”

Pretty much as soon as he was able to, Swindell said his son began playing basketball. As J3 has grown, his father has noticed one particular trait that bodes well for his basketball future.

“His basketball knowledge,” Swindell said. “He has a high basketball IQ. He has the ability to see the floor and make plays before they happen, and he understands how the game is supposed to be played and makes others better.”

That knowledge, J3 said, comes from more than simply playing basketball a lot.

“It comes from studying the game,” J3 said. “I watch games, because you get more out of watching than you do playing.”

Most of his attention goes to NBA games, not only because it’s the highest level of basketball, but also because his favorite player, LeBron James, is on track to be an all-time great.

“I’ve watched him probably my whole life,” J3 said. “He’s just very talented. He came from nothing, and his mom had to take him out of his neighborhood, and his coaches took him in, and that’s how he became a great player.”

In watching James play, J3 said he’s gotten a good idea of what it takes to play basketball at a high level.

“You have to have size, strength and some skills, because when you’re out there on the court, there are going to be guys who are just as strong and fast as you, or maybe faster and stronger,” J3 said.

That’s why J3 and his father spend so much time practicing against each other, Swindell said. The one-on-one sessions at Anderson happen five days a week on average, either after school or in the morning on weekends. As much as J3 loves the sport, Swindell admitted it’s sometimes difficult to get his son up there on weekends.

“He is a kid,” Swindell said with a chuckle. “He sometimes say he doesn’t want to, and I’ll say we’re going anyway. Just the other day he said, ‘I’m glad I went because I feel a whole lot better.’ But I think he understands the value of doing this.”

Said J3, “I get a lot out of this. Most of the moves he teaches me are what he did in high school and college, so he wants me to imitate him in the games.”

Swindell’s coaching isn’t just limited to one-on-one practices or AAU games. He’ll be in the stands during RCA basketball games giving his son pointers. Swindell said he enjoys watching J3 play, especially considering the hard work he puts in, but it’s difficult not to take on the role of a coach even when he’s just a spectator.

“There is a balance,” Swindell said. “I’ve been coaching him so long between AAU and city youth league, sometimes I have to back off. Sometimes I push him hard because I know he can do more. When the dust clears, he knows it’s basketball, and we go back to a father-son relationship.”

J3 doesn’t mind coaching pointers even if it’s during RCA games.

“If I miss a free throw, he’ll tell me to take my time, because a lot of times on free throws I rush it,” J3 said. “It’s nothing, really, because after every game we’ll talk, and he’ll talk to me after the JV games before the varsity games start.”

The younger Swindell’s dreams include playing in college like his father, and he hopes the fact that his father is coaching him will make him an even better player than his father was in his prime.

“He showed me in the newspapers where he had some big games, and he had colleges coaches coming to look at jim, and that’s what I want one day,” J3 said of his father. “He had to teach himself as he was growing up, whereas I get to learn from him, and he thinks I have a better chance than he did since I have a teacher.”