J. R. Smith talks Knicks' postseason, graduating from North Carolina A&T and more! | NBA Today

0:03 We now welcome in a Garden [music] Great,

0:05 a two-time NBA champion, and a you got a new title here,

0:08 J.R., as of this weekend,

0:10 upcoming graduate from North Carolina A&T State University.

0:14 Welcome to the show.

0:16 I appreciate you having me.

0:17 Thank you.

0:17 Thank you so much.

0:18 ring to it.

0:19 I like the sound [laughter] of that.

0:20 Future graduate, and it's coming up just this weekend.

0:23 You're you're about to walk across the stage this Saturday,

0:25 but can we go back to to when you enrolled in 2021?

0:29 This is such a tremendous accomplishment,

0:31 but what was it that made you decide you wanted to go back to school?

0:35 Uh my fellow peer, Ray Allen, we were on a golf trip together,

0:39 and he I seen him running back and forth to his computer,

0:42 and I was like, "Ray, what the hell what are you doing?" And he was like,

0:45 "Man, I'm I'm [music] submitting papers.

0:47 I'm submitting my assignments." I'm like, "For what?" And he, you know,

0:50 went into his spiel and getting his master's and how important it was

0:54 for us to challenge ourselves outside

0:55 of the basketball court and uh continuously get better.

0:59 And for myself, I took the challenge head-on,

1:02 and I've been loving it ever since.

1:04 But you decided not only that we were going to go back to school,

1:06 you're going to be a student-athlete once again.

1:09 You were going to join the golf team.

1:10 We see all the regalia that you're wearing.

1:13 What made you decide that you wanted to do that?

1:16 So uh another golf situation.

1:18 I was playing with uh Chris Paul's brother, C.J.

1:21 Paul, and they have a strong ties in North Carolina and and you know,

1:25 he's We were playing golf, and he was like, "Man, you pretty good.

1:28 Like, why don't you go back and play college golf?

1:29 You still got, you know,

1:31 uh uh obviously academic eligibility with athletic eligibility.

1:35 So, why not try it out?" And um I met with the golf coach,

1:39 and the rest is history.

1:41 It was pretty It literally came on up as a idea

1:45 as him joking when I said hit my tee shot,

1:47 and I thought he was joking, but it turned out he was dead serious.

1:50 So, it transi- It was a quick transition, though.

1:54 It was a quick transition, and you decided you were going to take it on.

1:57 Student athlete, once again, you see LeBron LeBron's picked up golf.

1:59 Have you seen his his swing?

2:01 What do you think of that?

2:02 Yeah, we we're actually in a group chat now.

2:04 He keeps sending me videos talking about what he can work on in his swing.

2:08 It's funny because we were playing the all those finals against

2:11 the Warriors and I was going to San Francisco Golf Club,

2:15 Cal Club, playing Harding Park, all this.

2:18 He would hit me He would look at me like, "Bro, I need you to save your legs.

2:21 There's no way you can go out there and play golf right now." And now

2:24 I just see him playing every day and just sign going off on my phone.

2:29 Just finished this round.

2:30 Just finished this round.

2:31 I'm just like, "Okay, I love it.

2:32 I love it." Oh, how the tables have turned.

2:34 He gets up there in age and he wants to decide to to pick up another sport.

2:37 But but this really JR this is

2:39 about you and graduating this tremendous accomplishment.

2:43 I was just at my alma mater this past weekend and to see the faces

2:46 on the kids that are graduating it it it just was the best feeling.

2:49 Have you thought about what you want to do with your diploma yet?

2:54 Um I've been thinking about it.

2:55 I gave my championship rings to my dad,

2:57 so I'm thinking about giving my diploma to my mom.

2:59 It was my promise to her when I left high school to go to the NBA that I was

3:04 going to pursue my degree and uh for a long

3:07 time we didn't think it was going to actually happen.

3:09 And uh now it was here, you know,

3:12 and I'm just happy to be able to say I fulfilled that promise to her.

3:16 I love that.

3:16 I love that and I'm sure she is so

3:18 incredibly proud of you and cannot wait to watch

3:21 you walk across the stage and turn the tassel

3:24 this week at left to right or right to left.

3:25 I can't even remember which way it goes.

3:26 But turn the tassel.

3:27 Right to left.

3:28 Right to left.

3:28 See, he's got it and this is why he is a graduate

3:30 and I am I am merely just up here interviewing you.

3:33 JR, while I got you here, can we this is a big week in the NBA as well.

3:37 Can we talk a little bit of hoops because uh you Of course.

3:39 you were at the Knicks win on Monday, right?

3:42 Against the 76ers.

3:43 But after the game you got knocked to the ground.

3:47 Yeah, it was a mosh pit.

3:49 Oh man, it was a mosh pit and you know, for me I love New York.

3:53 I love New York fans.

3:54 I love the the spirit of that they have and I

3:58 was literally walking out the side door and my hotel was

4:02 to the left and then I looked to my right and this big

4:05 ass crowd was just going crazy [laughter] and I was like,

4:07 well, I got a option to go left or I go right and that time I just went right.

4:12 I just try to enjoy it with the with the fans

4:15 and let them see that I'm part of the you know, part of the community.

4:19 Absolutely and feel the love because there is nothing like walking out

4:22 on 6th Avenue after a Knicks win and seeing the fans going absolutely crazy.

4:26 What do you think?

4:27 I mean, when you look at the Eastern Conference,

4:29 there's a lot of opportunity here for the New York Knicks.

4:31 Is this the year that they go back to the NBA Finals?

4:35 I think this is the best opportunity that we've had in a long time.

4:39 I think we have all the pieces to the puzzle.

4:41 We just got to you know,

4:42 everybody has to do their part and which I mean, they did the [music] you know,

4:46 game one against the Sixers which I think was a tougher game than people

4:50 realize for the Sixers after playing that first

4:53 tough series like that in seven games.

4:55 So the comeback [music] you know,

4:58 tonight game two and and show what we made of is is going to be big.

5:03 So we thought before we let you go,

5:05 we wanted to run through some of our favorite

5:07 plays of your career to celebrate your graduation this weekend,

5:09 the awesome career that you had

5:12 [music]

5:11 and everything that's coming up.

5:12 This is the top of the top.

5:13 These are your highlights brought to you by Ortho.

5:15 This is the J.R.

5:16 Smith mixtape.

5:17 So we're going to start [music] J.R.

5:19 with the top alley-oop so we're going to go all the way back to 2010.

5:22 This is Nuggets Wolves.

5:23 Check out this 360.

5:26 Oh yeah, shout out to my man Big Shot.

5:29 Making sure to get you the get to the lob there and then 2013,

5:32 [music] this is when you were in New York.

5:35 Low reverse.

5:37 That was the that was one of the best plays we got from D'Antoni's offense.

5:41 I loved that play.

5:42 That was a good one.

5:42 [music] And then against the Spurs.

5:44 Not too bad.

5:46 How about some top razzle dazzle that we got here for you?

5:50 This is 2014.

5:51 This is at the garden.

5:52 You dropped our friend Tristan Thompson.

5:55 Did you apologize?

5:58 [laughter] That's my boy, too, man.

5:58 I've known Tristan since he was a young kid in high school, man.

6:01 That's That's my boy.

6:02 He always tell me he stepped on somebody's foot.

6:04 I don't know where he heard that.

6:05 Yeah, slide to the left.

6:07 Ooh, the 360 [music] and then the lay-in.

6:09 When did you know you were going up for the 360?

6:12 Uh I didn't, honestly.

6:13 I didn't know until I I I kind of planned it.

6:17 Driving past Oh, up and under?

6:20 Yeah, this is a long time ago, Kristen.

6:24 [laughter] Yeah, but come on.

6:25 You still You still got it.

6:26 You still could do [music] it.

6:27 Let's shift over to some some rim wreckers here.

6:29 This is 2014.

6:30 This is against the Cavs.

6:34 Switched hands.

6:36 Can you still get up like that?

6:38 no, absolutely not.

6:40 I can't jump over my textbooks.

6:43 [laughter] You said ironically what?

6:43 Oh!

6:44 Uh ironically, I had some good highlights against

6:46 the Cavs and against the Knicks playing for vice versa,

6:49 so it's it kind of creeps me out still.

6:52 Ooh!

6:53 Okay, poor Gary Neal, man.

6:56 [laughter] Wow.

6:59 That's when I really could fly.

7:01 It's over there.

7:02 I think I feel like 2 years after that my hops just dwindled.

7:05 Well, this weekend you were going to be flying across the stage.

7:08 Again, J.R., congratulations.

7:10 It takes It takes so much resolve to decide that you

7:12 were going to go back to school to try something new,

7:15 to put in that investment into your education.

7:17 And all of us here on NBA Today, we're so excited for you.

7:19 So, huge congrats and thank you for the time.

7:22 Thank you so much.

7:22 I appreciate y'all.

7:23 We will be seeing you soon and down the road.

7:26 Soon and down the road.

7:28 Appreciate it, J.R.