JR Smith named Academic Athlete of the Year (4.0 GPA)

[shakes0]

impressed with JR's growth and maturation.

if you wanna comment on his gpa i'm gonna have to ask you to disclose your gpa, your major and where you went to college first.

I'm not criticizing him at all, think it's a great accomplishment. But just for fun my first college GPA was 0.00 from University of Oklahoma

I can laugh about it now because I turned it around and became a lawyer, but it sure didn't start out looking good.

Going to Law school so what....


but passing the bar ?


Hope you making enough for good seats at the Miami hawks series and not struggling doing the lords work as a Public defender

only reason I went to law school is so I could join my father in his private practice. That was 25 years ago. he just retired in January so now it's just me and my younger brother running the show. Or, trying not to burn it all down while my father is still alive is probably more accurate.


And public defenders aren't doing lords work. 99% of them are just lazy and don't want to go get a real lawyer job that would require them to work more than 35 hours per week.

[Meat]

What's GPA and how impressive is JR Smith's accomplishment to put some perspective?

People on here like OP think because he's black its shocking that he got a 4.0 and need to point it out.

They look at him like he's a puppy that did a trick that deserves a treat.

Strike: Trolling/Derailment

I'm also black, i think it's impressive more so it's inspirational
1) his age
2) it's jr smith, it's impressive in the same way seth rogen getting a 4.0 in his 40's would be
lets not forget who jr smith was

[shakes0]

I think some of you are looking at this wrong. You're looking at it as if JR Smith needs to pass for some reason. He's not someone looking to make the league and just needs to get through college, he's already a multimillionaire former NBA player who WANTS to be in college and get a degree. That's a powerful difference.

With no knowledge of courses he's taking I'd be willing to bet he's not in basket weaving or underwater knitting or whatever, otherwise why bother? There's no reason for him to be in school other than he wants to learn something so I'm sure he's taking legit classes and doing the work. It would be cheaper and easier for him to just drop out if he was going to have someone else do the work anyway. Not like he needs a degree to get a job and support himself. Guy could do whatever he wants all day for the rest of his life and never run out of money.

Good for JR, glad he's found something else to be passionate about.

this is a great point. JR isn't some athlete going through the motions just to keep his eligibility till its time to go pro. He's an adult who is doing this because he wants a degree. I doubt someone in those shoes is going to go look for the easy way out once he gets there. He's probably taking liberal arts classes that sound appealing to him in terms of subjects he is interested in learning more about. I doubt that is basket weaving or Intro to Basketball (a real class I took in undergrad)

[uberhikari]

It's like all the people who are insecure about their intelligence decided to join this thread all at once.

[makubesu]

Studying what he wants and staying active and competitive with golf. Sounds like the dream. Hopefully more nba guys follow in his path, and we see Lebron play TE in the SEC!

[og15]

Damn, and he looks high in the photo too.

Nice, 4.0 GPA and you're still putting him in a box

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

JR Smith is a grown man with lots of money, doesn't have to worry about working for tuition or about loans or about food in college. He's also likely not going to be interested in hanging out with the college students. Basically all the things that can either occupy your time or distract you in college are not factors for him.

If he's focused on what he's doing, why can't he do well in his classes? He's not trying to be a doctor or something here, lol.

What's GPA and how impressive is JR Smith's accomplishment to put some perspective?

assuming it's on a 4.0 scale that means he got all A's in his classes.

Impossible to really appreciate if we don't know what classes he was taking.

Was he taking real college classes or was he taking basket weaving? But even if he is taking all easy athlete classes it's still a very nice accomplishment and requires work.



He's just proving what I learned during my second try at college after failing out the first time. College is actually really really easy if you go to all the classes and do the assigned work. It's not till grad school that things get hard.

Certainly easier, but of course "easy" depends on what your major is, and what the classes are.

Majors like sciences and engineering, etc are still difficult if you go back and do it, you won't get by just showing up and doing the reading and assignments. Many of those professors are even trying to deliberately trim the herd.

As a science major when I was in college though, all my electives in liberal arts were easy A's. I even took some of the higher level classes in some of them and compared to my science classes, they were easy. The only times I didn't get an A and got an A- or *gulp* a B+ in those classes was because I was too busy studying for my science classes and neglected those classes a bit. Most of the professors were also less interested in making things unnecessarily difficult.

[sikma42]

I'm not criticizing him at all, think it's a great accomplishment. But just for fun my first college GPA was 0.00 from University of Oklahoma

I can laugh about it now because I turned it around and became a lawyer, but it sure didn't start out looking good.

Going to Law school so what....


but passing the bar ?


Hope you making enough for good seats at the Miami hawks series and not struggling doing the lords work as a Public defender

only reason I went to law school is so I could join my father in his private practice. That was 25 years ago. he just retired in January so now it's just me and my younger brother running the show. Or, trying not to burn it all down while my father is still alive is probably more accurate.


And public defenders aren't doing lords work. 99% of them are just lazy and don't want to go get a real lawyer job that would require them to work more than 35 hours per week.

Based on this take, it doesn’t sound like you’re an attorney. Public defenders, at least here in NY, work way way more than 35 hours per week. Also pretty hilarious that you calling someone lazy while you safely worked for daddy.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[shakes0]

Nice, 4.0 GPA and you're still putting him in a box

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

JR Smith is a grown man with lots of money, doesn't have to worry about working for tuition or about loans or about food in college. He's also likely not going to be interested in hanging out with the college students. Basically all the things that can either occupy your time or distract you in college are not factors for him.

If he's focused on what he's doing, why can't he do well in his classes? He's not trying to be a doctor or something here, lol.

What's GPA and how impressive is JR Smith's accomplishment to put some perspective?

assuming it's on a 4.0 scale that means he got all A's in his classes.

Impossible to really appreciate if we don't know what classes he was taking.

Was he taking real college classes or was he taking basket weaving? But even if he is taking all easy athlete classes it's still a very nice accomplishment and requires work.



He's just proving what I learned during my second try at college after failing out the first time. College is actually really really easy if you go to all the classes and do the assigned work. It's not till grad school that things get hard.

Certainly easier, but of course "easy" depends on what your major is, and what the classes are.

Majors like sciences and engineering, etc are still difficult if you go back and do it, you won't get by just showing up and doing the reading and assignments. Many of those professors are even trying to deliberately trim the herd.

As a science major when I was in college though, all my electives in liberal arts were easy A's. I even took some of the higher level classes in some of them and compared to my science classes, they were easy. The only times I didn't get an A and got an A- or *gulp* a B+ in those classes was because I was too busy studying for my science classes and neglected those classes a bit. Most of the professors were also less interested in making things unnecessarily difficult.

Good point. I didn't realize the sciences were so difficult, but that's from my ignorance of actively avoiding all such classes because I knew they would be too difficult for me

My only frame of reference are the liberal arts classes. I honestly believe you can get just as good of a liberal arts education if you skip college and instead invest in a basic cable subscription.

[tripa]

Going to Law school so what....


but passing the bar ?


Hope you making enough for good seats at the Miami hawks series and not struggling doing the lords work as a Public defender

only reason I went to law school is so I could join my father in his private practice. That was 25 years ago. he just retired in January so now it's just me and my younger brother running the show. Or, trying not to burn it all down while my father is still alive is probably more accurate.


And public defenders aren't doing lords work. 99% of them are just lazy and don't want to go get a real lawyer job that would require them to work more than 35 hours per week.

Based on this take, it doesn’t sound like you’re an attorney. Public defenders, at least here in NY, work way way more than 35 hours per week. Also pretty hilarious that you calling someone lazy while you safely worked for daddy.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

Buddy said "I turned it around and became a lawyer"

Yeah, a real struggle story

[dhsilv2]

Uh yeah UMD ain’t let us just show up and get a grade...or maybe I’m stupid and shouldn’t picked comp sci as a major...grad school was a breeze...

Comparing comp science to 90% of degree isn't a fair comp lol.

But I’m gonna take the school at their word that JR is a 4.0 student and he did the work...this like asking Brown-Jackson for her LSAT...we all have dumb friends that get good grades—-and smart friends that struggle in school...

I'm sure he did the work. But comparing a CS degree to a liberal studies degree is night and day in terms of what the GPA means. All GPA's aren't the same.

[bbalnation]

Nice, 4.0 GPA and you're still putting him in a box

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

JR Smith is a grown man with lots of money, doesn't have to worry about working for tuition or about loans or about food in college. He's also likely not going to be interested in hanging out with the college students. Basically all the things that can either occupy your time or distract you in college are not factors for him.

If he's focused on what he's doing, why can't he do well in his classes? He's not trying to be a doctor or something here, lol.

What's GPA and how impressive is JR Smith's accomplishment to put some perspective?

assuming it's on a 4.0 scale that means he got all A's in his classes.

Impossible to really appreciate if we don't know what classes he was taking.

Was he taking real college classes or was he taking basket weaving? But even if he is taking all easy athlete classes it's still a very nice accomplishment and requires work.



He's just proving what I learned during my second try at college after failing out the first time. College is actually really really easy if you go to all the classes and do the assigned work. It's not till grad school that things get hard.

Certainly easier, but of course "easy" depends on what your major is, and what the classes are.

Majors like sciences and engineering, etc are still difficult if you go back and do it, you won't get by just showing up and doing the reading and assignments. Many of those professors are even trying to deliberately trim the herd.

As a science major when I was in college though, all my electives in liberal arts were easy A's. I even took some of the higher level classes in some of them and compared to my science classes, they were easy. The only times I didn't get an A and got an A- or *gulp* a B+ in those classes was because I was too busy studying for my science classes and neglected those classes a bit. Most of the professors were also less interested in making things unnecessarily difficult.

Some notes:

In this podcast, JR mentions having a tutor for his trigonometry course (though it sounds like an intro). Thats not a bird or easy course, at least to me, lol.

Watch on YouTube

Other notes:

Its true that as a grown man, and former successful male athlete with money saved, JR has access to things some students don't.

But some students have those privileges anyway, regardless of age, or what stage of life they're in.

Their families are paying for their education, tutors, food, needs, wants, allowances, etc. I think thats great. Other students don't have access to those things though (and may not have, growing up).

All that to say: imo, what JR is doing is intersectionally breaking down quite a few systemic barriers: in education, sports and business. I hope he's continuing to take care of himself and his loved ones along the way.

[dhsilv2]

Damn, is the American education system lenient in grading? A 4.0 would be the equivalent of straight A's here, and only 2 people in my class did that. A lot of the smartest people come out of the US system, so I'm kind of surprised how they rise to the top if straight A's are that simple to get. Would be helpful to know his major I suppose.

a 4.0 is straight A's and to do that for 4 years is pretty impressive in most majors. But if he's in his first 2 years, most of those classes are designed to have most people 3.5 or better GPAs. As it's hard to get a job out of school without well over a 3.0...so schools inflate grades to assure that happens.

Grades and IQ I doubt have any real correlation. MAJORS and IQ's likely have a HUGE correlation. Good grades means you picked a major you're smart enough to complete and you put in the work.

One way to achieve a 4.0 in any curriculum is to take subjects you already know, and when that's not the case monitor the course before taking it for real, or otherwise invest yourself in the subject beyond what's presented in lectures.

At the better universities where certain professors may pride themselves on their class having a 'C' average; they achieve that by asking exam questions meant to trip you up, waste your time, or that explore areas that were not explicitly discussed and at best can only be inferred.

Grades open doors in certain areas, but they are not the end all be all in the US. Having a passion for your major and a true feel for the subject is a lot more important IMO.

Colleges are graded on things like income out of school. So they intentionally have inflated grades. Professors trying to target C averages outside of STIMS are going to get a talking too. Though I certainly can recall one such teacher who prided himself on nobody getting even an 80 on his exams...that was a fun class...

[SkyBill40]

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

This is anecdote and nothing more. Your experience or that of the other poster isn't an analogue for everyone else. I can speak from my experience in that things weren't that easy (just showing up, giving minimal effort, passing tests) to get a 4.0. I, too, graduated with honors after having served in the military and returning to school when I was 28. It was a whole different experience being a functioning adult rather than a jaded and coasting late teen who was there more to party and mess around. No slight to you as that's not what is intended, but I'm sure you saw those types on campus or in your classes.

[Capn'O]

lets not forget who jr smith was

I mean... was he wrong?




He did a lot of ridiculous stuff for sure. Very infuriating but very talented player.

[shakes0]

Going to Law school so what....


but passing the bar ?


Hope you making enough for good seats at the Miami hawks series and not struggling doing the lords work as a Public defender

only reason I went to law school is so I could join my father in his private practice. That was 25 years ago. he just retired in January so now it's just me and my younger brother running the show. Or, trying not to burn it all down while my father is still alive is probably more accurate.


And public defenders aren't doing lords work. 99% of them are just lazy and don't want to go get a real lawyer job that would require them to work more than 35 hours per week.

Based on this take, it doesn’t sound like you’re an attorney. Public defenders, at least here in NY, work way way more than 35 hours per week. Also pretty hilarious that you calling someone lazy while you safely worked for daddy.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

working for family means you are lazy? Ok. I guess I'll stop working 6 days per week then.


I haven't been around any public defenders in over 20 years, but when we were coming out of law school the PD office was for all the people who didn't want to work over 40 hours, didn't want the pressure of having to produce results and generally weren't even sure they wanted to be a lawyer. They were always first to the bar at the end of the day.

[dhsilv2]

Nice, 4.0 GPA and you're still putting him in a box

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

JR Smith is a grown man with lots of money, doesn't have to worry about working for tuition or about loans or about food in college. He's also likely not going to be interested in hanging out with the college students. Basically all the things that can either occupy your time or distract you in college are not factors for him.

If he's focused on what he's doing, why can't he do well in his classes? He's not trying to be a doctor or something here, lol.

No man attends college and doesn't want to hang out with CERTAIN college students

[uberhikari]

Going to Law school so what....


but passing the bar ?


Hope you making enough for good seats at the Miami hawks series and not struggling doing the lords work as a Public defender

only reason I went to law school is so I could join my father in his private practice. That was 25 years ago. he just retired in January so now it's just me and my younger brother running the show. Or, trying not to burn it all down while my father is still alive is probably more accurate.


And public defenders aren't doing lords work. 99% of them are just lazy and don't want to go get a real lawyer job that would require them to work more than 35 hours per week.

Based on this take, it doesn’t sound like you’re an attorney. Public defenders, at least here in NY, work way way more than 35 hours per week. Also pretty hilarious that you calling someone lazy while you safely worked for daddy.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

Public defenders' offices in every state are massively underfunded. Public defenders are usually working on 20+ cases at a time. And if you're a public defender in a really **** state (anywhere in the south) you could have more than 100+ cases at a time.

[shakes0]

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

This is anecdote and nothing more. Your experience or that of the other poster isn't an analogue for everyone else. I can speak from my experience in that things weren't that easy (just showing up, giving minimal effort, passing tests) to get a 4.0. I, too, graduated with honors after having served in the military and returning to school when I was 28. It was a whole different experience being a functioning adult rather than a jaded and coasting late teen who was there more to party and mess around. No slight to you as that's not what is intended, but I'm sure you saw those types on campus or in your classes.

oh yea 100%. Major difference between 20 year olds who are in college for the full experience vs adults who come back for degrees. Adults aren't just looking for grades, they actually care more about learning the stuff in the classes they paid to attend. And of course they get good grades because their maturity doesn't allow them to fall into the same traps that the 20 year olds fall in.

[dhsilv2]

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

This is anecdote and nothing more. Your experience or that of the other poster isn't an analogue for everyone else. I can speak from my experience in that things weren't that easy (just showing up, giving minimal effort, passing tests) to get a 4.0. I, too, graduated with honors after having served in the military and returning to school when I was 28. It was a whole different experience being a functioning adult rather than a jaded and coasting late teen who was there more to party and mess around. No slight to you as that's not what is intended, but I'm sure you saw those types on campus or in your classes.

I did NOT say you can get a 4.0 from just showing up and passing tests. I stated that I DID have classes that is all I did. I got B's doing that, A's are considerably harder and require, SHOWING UP AND DOING THE WORK! This is however something the vast majority of college students don't CONSISTENTLY do.

[SkyBill40]

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

This is anecdote and nothing more. Your experience or that of the other poster isn't an analogue for everyone else. I can speak from my experience in that things weren't that easy (just showing up, giving minimal effort, passing tests) to get a 4.0. I, too, graduated with honors after having served in the military and returning to school when I was 28. It was a whole different experience being a functioning adult rather than a jaded and coasting late teen who was there more to party and mess around. No slight to you as that's not what is intended, but I'm sure you saw those types on campus or in your classes.

oh yea 100%. Major difference between 20 year olds who are in college for the full experience vs adults who come back for degrees. Adults aren't just looking for grades, they actually care more about learning the stuff in the classes they paid to attend. And of course they get good grades because their maturity doesn't allow them to fall into the same traps that the 20 year olds fall in.

For certain. I do remember a couple of particularly attractive girls who liked to sit close to the front, wear attire that was.. well.. more associated with things you'd NOT see at school, and flirted with the professors and TA's. Let's say that they weren't all that bright but their grades were stellar. That said, it pissed me off to know I was working hard because I wanted to prove it to myself and people like that get a pass. It doesn't matter what the major is, either. Maybe it's less in some of the truly challenging classes, but you know it's going on with regularity.

Back to the point of the story: Good on Smith for actually going back and following through on something he felt important. Better still that he's actually putting in work to be successful. Does he get a break because of who he is? Maybe. If he's serious about all this, I'm sure he's spoken to every one of those educators to let them all know he's there on his own merits and expects to be treated as a regular person.