Russ Smith frustrated by NBA draft, ready to start

Russ Smith started with defiance.

The 20 minutes he spent with reporters late Thursday night, just moments after he'd been selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 47th pick in the NBA draft and then traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, revolved around his searing frustration.

The ex-Louisville star who won a national title and was a consensus All-American over his four-year college career turned the stack of chips on his shoulder into a sack of potatoes.

He was frustrated by some draft analysts questioning his efficiency. He was frustrated by teams waffling over his ability to play point guard at the NBA level. He was frustrated that several unnamed big-time NBA draft prospects avoided workouts with him in the two-month build-up to the draft.

"Everyone knows what went on in those workouts. Everyone knows," he said. "There's a reason behind all the madness. I wanted those matchups but there are certain protocols that wouldn't allow that. It's no secret about me as a basketball player. That's all I have to say.

"What do I have to do? I don't know what I have to do to gain the respect of the people I need to gain the respect from."

The 6-foot-1, 165-pound guard from Brooklyn referred to players avoiding workouts involving Smith as the "elephant in the room," insisting that "no one wants to sit there and acknowledge it."

He listed his accomplishments at U of L: His title; his two Final Fours; his conference championships; his improved statistics in every category his senior year; his head-to-head success against players taken ahead of him.

The list rattled off his tongue like he'd said it before – because he has.

It was a familiar refrain for those who know Smith, a player whose game is built on guile and craft, an ability to climb into crevices and find a way to a layup through the big men surrounding him.

He was hardly recruited out of high school, at one point lying to Louisville coach Rick Pitino about his scholarship offers just to get the Hall of Famer to recruit him.

He almost left Louisville after a dicey freshman year. But each season he got better, and after his junior year, he nearly entered the draft.

That decision was discouraged, and the reaction to his announcement drenched his game in criticism. He was too small to play shooting guard and too inefficient to play point, the common skeptic said. He shot too much and needed the ball in his hands.

So he returned to school on a mission.

In his final home game at Louisville's KFC Yum! Center, a day after a Sports Illustrated article quoted an anonymous NBA front-office source who said Smith was too selfish to make it as an NBA point guard, Smith doled out a career-high 13 assists.

Louisville won that game 81-48 against 24th pick Shabazz Napier and the eventual national champion Connecticut. Smith attempted two shots, even as Pitino pleaded with him to shoot more. Smith rejected any suspicion that his performance had anything to do with the SI article, but he didn't need to.

His motivation is always right under the surface, regularly coming out in various ways. He doesn't attempt to hide it, either, in interviews or on social media. He's quick to use #positive in his Twitter or Instragram posts, almost as regularly as he mentions his "haters."

In January, Smith abruptly left an interview with me after 10 minutes because he had practice, and players would never risk running late to a Pitino practice.

A few hours later, he called me. We spoke for another 45 minutes about everything that meant something to him – fashion, video games, the NBA, basketball sneakers, basketball itself, Pitino, his family, his high school friends.

Yet the conversation kept going back to one word, the word that irked him the most.

"Don't ever call me selfish," he said that day. "That word really makes me mad when you apply it to me."

Two months later, he was named the nation's most efficient player by KenPom.com, a popular metrics site for college basketball fans.

He'd improved in every statistical category, and he cited those numbers on Thursday night, at one point saying he averaged the most assists per minute of any player in the American Athletic Conference last season.

He turned the conversation to his critics the day before his senior day, again promising to prove them wrong. And on Thursday, he rang the same bell.

Smith struggled mightily watching the draft, leaving his mom and girlfriend and friends who'd gathered so that he could watch YouTube and clear his head.

"Watching battle raps," he explained.

At one point, amid the text messages that buzzed his phone, Smith checked out again, this time escaping to his car to listen to music.

Once he'd collected his thoughts, he came back into the U of L basketball facility where his inner circle had gathered. The 37th pick was up on the screen, and it wasn't him.

He'd worked out for each team with a pick between No. 26 and No. 40, yet none of those teams chose him despite the media and Smith consensus that he'd done well at their sessions.

"When I got into these workouts, and they wanted me to go by my man every time, I went by my man every time," he started. "You want me to make 60 percent of my shots, 70 percent of my shots? I made 60 or 70 percent of my shots. You want me to finish at the rim? I finish over the rim.

"You want me to get guys involved with assists? I get guys involved with assists. You want me to defend and not let people in the lane? I defend and I don't let people in the lane. What more do you want me to do?"

When the 47th pick came, Smith's name was called. Moments after that, he was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, home of former Kentucky star Anthony Davis, a close friend of Smith's U of L teammate Wayne Blackshear.

Smith was befuddled. He didn't work out for them, a peculiarity that confused him after he had what he called "one of his best interviews" with the Pelicans during a stop in Chicago.

"When I didn't get a workout, I didn't understand," Smith said. "I almost forgot about that team, and that I actually interviewed with them, until I saw them on the screen.

"I got the call (from Pelicans GM Dell Demps) that I was going, and I was like, 'Wow, I feel almost at home.' When we interviewed, I felt like I was talking to my dad, (Pitino), my friends or all my former coaches. It was very homely. I'm glad to be a part of that organization. I'm ready to work."

And that's where Smith left things on Thursday night.

"It may seem like I'm angry but I'm very happy," he said. "I'm totally happy. If you saw how that interview went, you'd see why I'm happy. I can't let a group of guys like that down."

But the frustration was clear. The defiance in Russ had again come to the surface, and he talked through it with his usual insistence, a calm, measured ambush of the criticism that continues to baffle him.

The two-star high school prospect, the college freshman who almost gave up, the junior who was too selfish, the senior who wanted to silence his critics … The simmering turned to a boil on Thursday night. A hot flash of frustration and, even if he wouldn't admit it, anger.

He never raised his voice. He never broke down. But he did stop himself a few times during answers, a pause in his cadence to catch his breath. When he talks, even when he's upset, Smith speaks with an optimistic tone to his voice.

That optimism was still there Thursday, but it was nearly edged out by the frustration and the fatigue that came with this draft process.

He asserted going 47th in the draft, 23 spots behind Napier, wouldn't motivate him to once again battle his critics. The way he talked Thursday night, it was hard to believe him. But he persisted like he always does, saying all he needed for motivation is a basketball. That's it.

"As far as proving myself again: People know," Smith said. "The whole country knows what I'm capable of. Everybody knows about Russ Smith and everybody I've matched up against the past 2-3 years. There's no secret to that.

"There's no secret that, in these workouts, I didn't get certain people I wanted to get. Everybody knows. It's the elephant in the room that nobody talks about, but … it's going to be no surprise when I get started."

Reach Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_CJ).