Story by Terry Shropshire
Images by Amir Shaw for Steed Media Service
ATLANTA – Much like what’s being proposed for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, Kenny “The Jet” Smith says San Antonio Spurs forward Robert Horry may need to have an asterisk emblazoned behind his career stats.
Now, before you implode from indignation and start spitting verbal darts at Smith’s grill, know that Smith was actually bestowing Horry, one of the most celebrated playoff performers of the modern era, the highest of accolades. Smith, the former crossover connoisseur and ankle-breaking point guard from New York City is now a certified basketball technician for the “NBA on TNT.” The ex-Dean Disciple broke the assist record at North Carolina before going on to win a pair of NBA titles with the Houston Rockets. After a decade in the game, Smith traded in his high-top fade for a tight-cropped dome and tailored threads, and now dissects games with such scientific eloquence that you half expect him to show up in the studio with a lab coat and clipboard. His professorial-like articulations serve as a winning contrast from the shotgun pellets frequently fired off the tongue of bombastic basketball arbiter Charles Barkley.
Smith goes on to say that the greatest story of the NBA season thus far (other than the Boston Celtics’ scorched-earth blaze through the first half of the season), is the shocking play of the Portland Trailblazers, who pieced together a 17-game winning streak sans their skyscraping Sultan of Swat, Greg Oden. Smith also admits that watching former powerhouse, Miami, languish in the bowels of their conference is about as much fun as trying to digest a brick. Smith’s bold pronouncement that Lebron has challenged Kobe for the title of best player, is enough to melt the skin off the skulls of many Lakers fans. Speaking of skulls, Smith’s crown was recently christened with the title of commissioner for a professional basketball league that could soon challenge the conventional play of the current NBA. Smith, the longtime, respected pundit for the Emmy Award-winning “NBA on TNT” opposite Barkley and Ernie Johnson, ruminated and pontificated on a variety of topics preceding the 57th NBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008, at the New Orleans Arena in Louisiana.
rolling out: What is the biggest surprise of the NBA season thus far?
Kenny Smith: The Portland Trailblazers. This is a team that no one expected anything out of. They lost their top draft pick, Greg Oden, who gets hurt. They have all these young players. They reel off 17 games. They are a great pleasant surprise. They play hard, they play smart, and they play together. That’s very hard to do for young guys, because a lot of times they have different agendas, trying to get contracts, trying to get stability, trying to get playing time, but these guys are playing together.
Everybody has already picked the Celtics to take the title. What’s your outlook?
[The] Celtics are probably the team to beat. I don’t think there is anything that they don’t have. The things they don’t have are small. The things they have are glaring and overpowering. Their three players and the guys that come in, off the bench — the complementary [pieces], are great.
Just the thought of Boston winning yet another sports title is enough to make people upchuck their Cheerios. Who poses the greatest threat to derail the Celtics’ championship aspirations?
The team they will have to beat is probably the Detroit Pistons. The thing Detroit has over [the Celtics] is experience. You can go [to] each position and there isn’t that much of an advantage for the Celtics that they have over everyone else. Rasheed Wallace, Tayshawn Prince [and] Chauncey Billups will equal the big three, or come close to their big three.
In previous years, Kobe Bryant was considered the undisputed premier NBA player. Has Lebron James closed the gap this year?
Lebron has closed the gap, but I think his team has made the gap bigger. Kobe always got the rap for being the selfish guy who couldn’t always make his teammates better. And this is the year his teammates are playing better while he’s on the floor. And LeBron’s guys haven’t really [risen] to the occasion [like] they did last year. The gap has close[d] individually, but the Lakers are a better team.
Speaking of LeBron … the Cavs front office personnel are probably nibbling on their fingernails like a bunch of crack addicts, wondering if King James will take his royal cape to a larger market after his contract expires.
Well, the interesting thing [is] there will have to be a couple of moves that the Cavs will have to make to ensure that Lebron stays in Cleveland for the rest of his career. And I think that LeBron understands the game on the floor and he understands the game off the floor. And I think that he wants to be in a situation where there is a great deal of opportunity to win. I don’t know if Cleveland right now is a contending team. And that’s going to be a big ‘if.’ They’d better put on their thinking caps and get the right people.
Looks like Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs got their backsides peeled in public by the upstart Golden State Warriors. Does Dirk need to go on a search expedition for his intestines, or will he rebound?
The Dallas Mavericks, as well as Dirk last year, got the sheets pulled off, and everyone saw it and they were exposed [about] everything that they could not do. Even though there is a weakness, now you have to figure out how to cover that weakness, slightly. Don’t change everything you’ve done. And Dirk has to do the same thing. He realizes that he was an MVP last year and that wasn’t an accident. There are certain things that he does extremely well and certain things he needs to work on. You have to build on those things and not always focus on what was exposed.
Does Robert Horry, who has contributed mightily to championships with Houston, L.A. and San Antonio, and whose playoff heroics are permanently seared into basketball fans’ consciousness like a tattoo, deserve to go into the Hall of Fame?
The other question people ask is, ‘Would you take Robert Horry’s career or Karl Malone’s or Charles Barkley’s?’ Here’s a guy who’s won seven or eight championships. I think the one thing that you have to think about is: there is no accident for success. If the one guy goes from Ford Motors and they have [the] top selling car, then he goes to Jaguar, then they’re the top selling car. Then he goes to BMW, and then they are the top seller, there is something about the guy. He may not be the CEO of the company, but when he goes to the company, they win. Is it the fact that he picks the right team? I don’t believe that. You can do that once, you can do that twice, but not seven or eight times. And maybe [it’s] not a Hall of Fame career, but it’s a career that’s going to have an asterisk, a positive one, for his career.
You recently agreed to be commissioner of a new professional basketball league. Tell us about that.
The Premiere Basketball League. The main thing is [it’s] an avenue [for] guys who love playing basketball, who will never see an NBA floor. And I always felt those guys who have that passion and that love, [should] have an opportunity, not to make millions but [to] have a career. A lot of people work at jobs that don’t make millions of dollars but they have a career. I think there is an outlet for these guys.
I understand the PBL (www.pblproball.com), a 10-team league that’s just underway, has some very interesting and radical twists that distinguish it from the NBA.
In the Premiere Basketball League, making the playoffs and winning is important. Each game that they win, there [are] bonuses. Money is taken away for losing, things of that nature, which makes guys play harder and play for passion. Just some quirky ideas I’ve always had about basketball [that] I tried to implement in this league. It’s a winner take all league. When the playoffs start, there is no second place. Each round you win, you get a certain amount of money. …The one knock I hear about the NBA [is that] the guys make so much [money] that it doesn’t seem like they play with any passion. I switched that whole philosophy. The only way you make money [in this league] is if you play hard and earn it. If you don’t, you could walk away from this league in a month and not really make any money. And so I think that creates a different environment for everyone involved.
It’s interesting that the All-Star Game is in New Orleans. You do major philanthropic work there. Tell us about it. The biggest thing I do when I’m not on camera … is New Orleans. … I raise funds and raise awareness. I put up a benefit basketball game and raised over 2 ½ million dollars that we dispensed throughout New Orleans.
