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Dirk wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:
Is this where they apologise to you?Gfycat Video - Click to PlayGfycat Video - Click to PlayGfycat Video - Click to PlayGfycat Video - Click to Play
Dirk wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:
Is this where they apologise to you?Gfycat Video - Click to PlayGfycat Video - Click to PlayGfycat Video - Click to PlayGfycat Video - Click to Play
NEW YORK – In a year in which he has had to mourn the death of his stepmother, adjust to being traded from a franchise he once thought drafted him to be its future, seen an intense summer of workouts stunted by a back injury in training camp, and received boos from the home fans of his new team for the unforgivable offense of gutting out that injury, Dennis Smith Jr. doesn’t want to match that negative energy with any of his own. Smith has accepted the challenges and embraced the disruptions, believing they have a purpose.
“I understand nothing happens to me,” Smith said in a conversation with The Athletic, “everything happens for me. You feel what I’m saying? I keep my head up, keep 10 toes on the ground and just keep moving everything. Gratitude is very key to humility. So, I just find something to be grateful for in every situation. Can’t be mad at that. I’m blessed, however you want to look at it.”
With that attitude of gratitude, Smith made his return on Thursday to Madison Square Garden. On this night, the boos were reserved for Kristaps Porzingis, someone New York Knicks fans considered the enemy, a “traitor,” for abandoning them. Smith was the coveted piece the Knicks had received in the seven-player deal on Jan. 31 that sent their once-beloved, supposed franchise cornerstone to the Dallas Mavericks, so he was bound to get the brunt of the fans’ frustrations with a less-than-quality product on the court.
But fans spared him from the jeers; either because they were too focused on spewing venom toward Porzingis to care or being respectful of his loss of a loved one. Smith also gave them plenty of moments to cheer in the Knicks’ 106-103 victory against the Mavericks – a pull-up three that went bottom on his first attempt, some impressive lobs to Mitchell Robinson for dunks that brought the admiring Baron Davis and Spike Lee from out of their courtside seats, and an acrobatic, two-hand, putback slam.
“I was so proud of him. He’s been through more than any of us can imagine,” Knicks Coach David Fizdale said. “I said to him that what I learned in my life is that when you go through real adversity, like losing a loved one, it gives you real perspective and you stop putting so much pressure on the game.”
“I just want to be useful,” Smith said as he walked out of the locker room following the first game this season that he could justifiably claim that he was.
After an offseason in which he worked with assistant Keith Smart to reconstruct his jumper, Smith came into the season with the expectation of “being the best version of me,” whatever that would be. A lower back strain, which Smith said was unrelated to the back injury that limited him at the end of last season, impeded that progress. And the first three games Smith played this season were so forgettable that calling him ineffective would be kind. Smith wasn’t moving right, lacking the burst and explosive first step that made him a player the Knicks were excited about adding as part of a young core last season.
“I worked my ass off, all summer,” Smith said. “But as you know, things happen. You just can’t knock me off my pivot. I’ve got to keep my vision clear with everything. It’s all about shaking back. I put in too much work to really get sad about something. I know the work that I put in. Everybody in this organization knows as well. I just got to keep my head up.”
While dealing with his struggles on the court, Smith’s stepmother died; a doubly distressing tragedy for a soon-to-be 22-year-old whose biological mother abandoned his family when he was an infant. Smith said the loss “put things in perspective for me. A lot of feelings go into that. A lot of emotions. It motivates me.”
Smith was still grieving the loss when he rejoined the Knicks in Dallas last week after an 11-day leave of absence. Unprepared to play against his old team, the timing of his return was significant and coordinated because it would provide him the chance to go back to the place he still considers “a second-home” after Fayetteville, N.C. Back in a place of comfort in Dallas, Smith found time to uplift others while dealing with his own pain.
Soon after the Knicks arrived, Smith visited with the family of Shavon Randle, a 13-year-old seventh-grader who, in June 2017, was kidnapped and slain. Upon hearing about their situation, Smith had taken Randle’s parents and siblings on a surprise Christmas shopping spree last December and formed an immediate, lasting bond. Smith picked up Randle’s brother and sister from school last week, and took them to play at a nearby Boys and Girls Club. He returned the next morning to take them to school before accompanying the team for the morning shootaround. He left tickets to the game for the family.
“They like family to me. So if I go to the city, I just hang out with them, catch up. [I] just really enjoy the company. I’m sure they do the same thing with me. We have a good time,” Smith said. “You know what they went through, I could never relate to that, but in terms of how they are, that’s relatable because I was brought up the same way. We helped each other out. I was glad to see them and they were glad to see me, so it was great for both of us.”
Smith felt ready to return to the court when the Knicks played in Chicago on Tuesday but his performance was a continuation of the miserable start to this season. Frank Ntilikina has replaced Smith as the team’s starting point guard and will continue to get the opportunity if he hounds perimeter players as he did Luka Doncic in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s win. But Smith plans to continue to compete and find a way to contribute.
“I’m working hard. I’m staying patient. I’m trusting the process. I’m staying patient with the process,” Smith said. “I done had a lot of stuff happen in my life, way bigger than basketball, you know what I’m saying? The older I get, I’m gaining more perspective on things. I look at things a lot differently now. And even when the trade happened earlier, I look at things differently now.”
While Porzingis was the main attraction Thursday, Smith was facing the team that traded him away for the first time. Smith thought that he, not Porzingis, would be the one sharing the marquee with Doncic. Instead, Smith was placed on the trade block, awkwardly shut down and brought back, then moved so that the ball could be in Doncic’s hands more. No one would question that decision, with Doncic routinely putting up 30-point triple-doubles and carrying the Mavericks while Porzingis attempts to regain his rhythm after missing all of last season from a torn ACL. Fizdale said Doncic is “definitely going to push Dirk for the greatest European to ever play when it’s all said and done.”
“I love it,” Smith said with a smile when asked about Doncic’s play this season. “I’m a big Luka fan and that ain’t changing. Business is business. We brothers. I had a good relationship with all of my teammates. Whenever I see them now, I’m excited and they’re excited to see me. It’s all smiles and hugs. It’s a lot of love.”
The 2017 draft class of point guards was supposedly good enough to tank for, with an unprecedented five of the first nine picks being floor generals. Only De’Aaron Fox has emerged as a player who has been entrusted to be a leader and foundational piece. Three have already been traded (Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Smith) and the other (Ntilikina) has either been misused or an afterthought. Smith was the last one taken — oddly enough sent to the team with the guy who went one spot ahead of him — and now he’s trying to show that he’s more than just an acrobatic dunker at this level. He doesn’t measure himself against the others.
“I didn’t do that in high school,” said Smith, who was considered the top prospect in his class before suffering an ACL tear that wiped out his senior season. “They say, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ I don’t really bother with comparing too much. I got to right my own ship. Focus on my own path. That’s how I try to move.”
Despite the eye-popping elevation on that putback dunk, Smith stresses that his legs aren’t all the way back, cracking a smile when reminded that Damyean Dotson beat him in a foot race this week. Smith needs those hops to complete the leap he’d hoped to make this season. He’ll also need more moments, more games, more wins, to make his name relevant again.
“You just drop. Everybody forgets about you. I’m used to it. Ain’t nothing new to me. My family believed in me and I believed in myself, so that’s all the support I need right there,” Smith said. “I’m thankful to be alive. My stepmom passed. But I’m in this position where I can take care of our family. Especially financially, that’s major. I’ve got to be thankful for that. Because sometimes you lose sight of it. I’m blessed. I ain’t going to dwell on it. Things happen. It is what it is.”
Jimmit79 wrote:I'm not going to believe Dsjr is the answer at pg until he can shoot and isn't playing against a soft team like Dallas right now he's backup at best.
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Dirk wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:
Is this where they apologise to you?
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Thugger HBC wrote:Gotta stop with these one game jerk offs...lol.
