[StarLedder] Emotional night for Smith as St. Benedict's star i
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Emotional night for Smith as St. Benedict's star is taken 18th by Hornets
Friday, June 25, 2004
BY PETE IORIZZO
Star-Ledger Staff
"With the 18th selection in the NBA Draft ..."
They tensed.
"... the New Orleans Hornets select J.R. ..."
Flashbulbs. Rings. Screams.
"... Smith."
Hugs. Tears. More screams. It was chaos.
J.R. Smith buried his head in his aunt Katy Smith's shoulder.
Tears trickled from his closed eyes. The best high school
basketball player in New Jersey this year, the newest member
of the New Orleans Hornets, the seventh high school player
selected in the 2004 NBA Draft, cried.
"Give me a hug," nine or 10 people seemed to say at once.
They filed in from the living room, which is down the hall
from the master bedroom, where Smith, stretched out across
the queen-sized bed, had just watched himself selected. He
hugged all of them, about 30 friends and relatives, and
thanked them, too.
"It was a huge relief," he said.
Indeed, it had been a pressure-filled day. All afternoon, the
phone rang. Until the start of the draft at 7:30 p.m., people
packed into Smith's Clarksburg home, grazing the buffet of
fried chicken, barbecued ribs, macaroni salad and rolls, and
perusing the mock drafts being passed around the room.
Before the Draft, Smith seemed relaxed. In the evening, he played
basketball in the backyard with some friends. Then, in the moments
leading up to the Orlando Magic's first pick, he tussled on the
living-room floor with his young siblings and cousins.
But by the fifth pick, he had moved to the master bedroom, where
he avoided the cramped, hot living room and watched ESPN with his
former AAU coaches, Jimmy Salmon and Jerome Smart. He tensed
before every pick and exhaled after.
"Will they call before I'm picked?" he wondered.
Nope. When he was selected, Smith was lying on the bed while
Salmon tried to reach Nets coach Lawrence Frank on his cell phone.
As NBA commissioner David Stern called Smith's name, Salmon hung up.
"Who's the Hornets coach?" Salmon asked frantically. "Oh, Byron
Scott! I'll call him."
He raced away to find a phone as the family piled in. They came
to celebrate the crowning achievement of a superb high school
basketball career.
His senior year at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, Smith averaged
23.3 points, earning The Star-Ledger Prep Player of the Year. He
flashed the talents that made him a first-round pick: terrific
spot-up shooting, exceptional athleticism and decent rebounding
ability.
Smith had wanted to attend the University of North Carolina, and
even showed off a Tar Heel-blue suit during the draft. But after
excelling in postseason all-star games (most notably the McDonald's
All-American game, of which he was co-MVP), he changed his mind.
He signed with agent Arn Tellem in May and declared for the Draft.
"It was the right thing to do," Smith said. "I was ready. My family
was ready."
Originally, Smith planned to be at Madison Square Garden last night
but he was left off the invitee list, which is generally reserved
for top 15 picks. Projections had Smith going as high as No. 17 and
as low as No. 21.
"Wherever I would have gone I would have been happy," Smith said.
Earlier in the first round, the Phoenix Suns selected Duke freshman
Luol Deng seventh overall, then traded him to the Chicago Bulls.
Deng was born in the Sudan, raised in Egypt and then London before
playing his high school ball at Blair Academy in Blairstown. He
averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists as a Blair
Academy senior.
At Blair, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound Deng played all five positions.
He settled in as a small forward at Duke, where his shooting
accuracy separated him from other available small forwards.
For Deng and Smith, who leaves at 9:10 this morning on a flight
to New Orleans, the chaos has only begun.
"This is crazy," Smith said. "I'll remember this day for the rest
of my life."
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