Mike Lee Basketball getting a little ink in Louisville News…Originally post on courier-journal.com
Point guards from each team began the game on the bench when the Reno Bighorns played the Springfield Armor in a mostly forgettable NBA Developmental League game on Feb. 2, 2011.
One former sub crashed the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. His improbable story has been on the tongue of every basketball fan for nearly two weeks. His name is Jeremy Lin. He scored 20 points for Reno that night. He’s been doing better than that for the New York Knicks.
The most recent cover shot of the other backup was on a University of Louisville game program. His name rarely has been mentioned around this town since he finished playing for Rick Pitino in 2010. His name is Jerry Smith. He scored 12 points against Lin for Springfield in Reno that night.
There is no way that Smith’s story will dominate the national conversation like Lin’s has, but he expects U of L fans will blink at the details of what has happened to him in the past two years. He has A) moved to point guard from shooting guard; B) reshaped his 6-foot-2 body while dropping 20 pounds; C) made next week’s D-League All-Star Game; D) drawn praise from New Jersey Nets coach Avery Johnson; and E) positioned himself to earn a legitimate NBA opportunity.
“I don’t think Louisville fans would recognize me as a player,” Smith said. “I honestly don’t think they would. I’ve changed the way I condition and the time I spend in the gym. I’m playing a totally different position. I’m more confident, more explosive.
“When they told me I made the All-Star team, it was kind of surreal. I’ll be down there in Orlando with a chance to meet the NBA All-Stars, the idols, the guys you’ve watched growing up. It’s just exciting.”
Excitement was not the dominant emotion when Smith played his final game — or final season — for U of L. It was a 77-62 loss to California in the Cardinals’ 2010 NCAA Tournament opener. Smith scored five points, missing 6 of 7 three-point shots.
It was a disappointing farewell moment from a puzzling senior season. Smith averaged 8.5 points, two fewer than he had as a sophomore, while making only 28.2 percent of his 3-point shots.
“You put pressure on yourself,” he said. “You really want to do well. You know this is your lifelong dream and you see it slipping away, so you try harder when you don’t really have to. You just have to play ball. I think that’s what happened, and it happens to a lot of guys when they’re seniors.”
What happened next was that Smith earned his degree, returned to his hometown of Milwaukee and trained with Mike Lee. For years Pitino had encouraged Smith to lose weight, with mixed results.
“It really wasn’t good weight that he was losing,” Pitino said. “He was just trying to starve himself before he weighed in every day. That’s not the way to lose weight.”
The new trainer — and the new reality that his basketball career could be ending — forced Smith to lose weight and intensify his training. He asked to move to point guard because of his size. The Milwaukee Bucks added him to their 2010 summer league team but did not invite him to training camp. He was drafted by Springfield and played the 2010-11 season in Massachusetts, splitting time at point guard with former Villanova star Scottie Reynolds.
When the D-League season ended, Smith flew to New Zealand and played three more months. The Armor were purchased by the Nets last summer, and Smith earned a two-week look in training camp with New Jersey in December.
He didn’t make the 15-man roster, but Johnson made certain Smith did not get discouraged by the D-League salaries ($25,000 maximum for the five-month season) or travel (two weeks ago the Armor left for Fort Wayne at 3 a.m. and arrived at 2 p.m., four hours before tipoff).
“I think Avery sees a little of Avery Johnson in him, in terms of Jerry being able to defend and run a team on the NBA level,” Armor coach Bob MacKinnon said. “Coach Johnson really likes him and thinks he has a future in the NBA.”
There’s been a lot to like. Smith leads the Armor in scoring at 18 points per game while averaging 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He was named D-League Player of the Week last week and also was told he’d earned a four-day trip to Orlando for the All-Star Game, which will be shown on NBA TV at 2 p.m. Feb. 25, the day before the NBA All-Star Game.
Like every D-League player, Smith has been energized by Lin’s recent performance.
“That’s huge,” he said. “It’s just reassuring that it can happen if you get the opportunity and go out and make the best of it.”