Himmelsbach | It's Russ Smith's time, but can he watch?

When the NBA draft begins Thursday night in Brooklyn, N.Y., players across the nation will watch closely and hope to hear their names called. Some will be in the Barclays Center, some will be with their families. But former University of Louisville guard Russ Smith isn't entirely sure where he'll be, and he isn't entirely sure he'll follow it at all.

"It's hard for me to watch the draft," he said. "I've actually never watched the draft."

Wait a minute. This Brooklyn-born star who loves basketball, who needs basketball, whose life in many ways has been defined by basketball, has never watched the NBA draft? Ever?

"I'm too competitive," Smith explained. "As a player who's been successful on many levels, I mean, I'm happy for everybody who's picked, but as a competitor, it's rough to kind of accept certain things."

It's rough to accept that he was a first-team All-American, a talented blur, an oftentimes unstoppable force, and yet some experts predict he will be selected late in the second round. It's tough for him to accept that players he can outplay could become lottery picks and make instant millions while he sits and waits for someone, anyone, to take a chance on him.

So, he said, he's never watched. He can't watch. Last year was especially difficult, because two of his teammates and best friends — Gorgui Dieng and Peyton Siva — were chosen. Of course, Smith was happy for them. Goodness, he was so happy for them.

But he also felt like he was good enough to have been drafted with them. Minutes after U of L won the NCAA championship, Russ Smith Sr. told reporters that his son would leave school for the NBA. Although the announcement was premature, Russ Jr. did intend to forgo his final season of eligibility. He was 22 and had won a title, and what was left to prove, anyway?

The family didn't receive the feedback it was hoping for, however, and Smith stayed in school. That 2013 draft brought feelings of hurt. He really had no interest in watching other players get picked on that June night in Brooklyn.

"To be in this situation, I just wish I could have the effect on certain teams or GMs that some of the other guys have," Smith said. "It's just tough for me."

So the family is understandably hesitant to plan a big party or anything like that this Thursday. Smith said he probably will be in Louisville, possibly just playing video games while his friends track the picks for him. Or maybe, if a team brought him in for a last-minute workout, he will be in a hotel somewhere.

Russ Sr. plans to be at his Brooklyn barber shop, which is just a short subway ride from the Barclays Center. He described it as a kind of cautious optimism. He would prefer to wait until his son is picked, then next week he would decorate his shop with paraphernalia of his new team, his new beginning. Then he would bring in Russ Jr. to show off to all his friends, because there would finally be certainty in this uncertain process.

In recent weeks, though, Smith seems to have reshaped the narrative. By most accounts, he has thrived in workouts. He feels more confident than ever about his chances, and now he is considering doing something he has never done before.

"If I feel like I've performed well enough," he said, "maybe I'll watch the draft for the first time ever."

Even though there is a chance for a letdown, it would seem this is a moment Russ Smith has worked too hard for to miss.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at 502-582-4372 by email ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com and on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach