Chris Smith has heard the whispers and read the taunting tweets that suggest the only reason he’s on the Knicks training camp roster again is to babysit his big brother, J.R. It’s something that’s both frustrating and motivating.
“Everybody just thinks I’m here because of J.R. But I’m here because [the Knicks] see potential me,” Smith said. “It’s very tough dealing with that. But at the same time I have to keep it moving. I have to focus on what I have to do, lock in and get the job done and be determined.”
Chris Smith has been all that during training camp as he tries to overcome long odds and land a spot on the roster. A member of Louisville’s Final Four team in 2012, Chris Smith was around the Knicks all last year following patella tendon surgery last October after playing on the team’s summer league team.
The surgery was needed to remove bone fragments that threatened to end his professional career before it had a chance to start.
“They removed two big chunks of bone and I wasn’t able to do anything on it for about four months,” Smith said. “After that it was pretty much learning how to walk again. Some of the doctors said there was a chance of never playing again. But my thing is, nothing for me has ever really come easy.”
Smith, like his brother, attended St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark after growing up in Lakewood, N.J. He then went to Manhattan College for two years before transferring to Louisville. He went undrafted in 2012 then caught on with the Knicks summer league team last year before the injury.
Now he’s looking to land a spot as one of the backup point guards behind Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni. Beno Udrih of Slovenia, Tim Hardaway Jr., Tour’e Murry and Chris Douglas-Roberts are the other guards elbowing for a roster spot.
Smith ran the second team offense during an intense scrimmage session Monday, trying to look good while teamed with Hardaway and matched against Felton and Iman Shumpert.
For Smith, being on the floor is a relief after spending all of last year watching practice from the sidelines.
“The whole time I was trying to get myself mentally stable after my injury,” Smith said of last season. “Everything I took in was just about learning: learning spots on the floor; learning the pace of the game; learning to be on time and learning to stay away from certain types of people.”
He also got to know his big brother again. The two were like “the two stooges,” he said, as they lived together and spent nearly all their time off the court with each other. “He pretty much took me under his wing,” Chris Smith said. “I was in college for a long time and we were away from each other for a while. Last year was a chance for us to rekindle things and this year hopefully we can play together.”
Chris Smith has his own apartment now and knows he’s on his own in trying to make the Knicks roster. He tries to be the first player in the building, arriving at 7:30 a.m., and doesn’t mind being the last to leave.
“I like my chances,” Smith said. “I’m fully confident I’ll be playing here. But if it doesn’t happen, maybe it’s overseas or the D-League.”
J.R. Smith is suspended for the first five games of the season for violating the league’s drug policy. And while he’s not his “brother’s keeper,” Chris Smith said, he remains supportive. He expects J.R. to have a big year despite the suspension.
“It’s was a blessing watching him play last year,” he said, “but this year he has a lot of energy and a lot of vendettas to settle.”
Chris Smith has a few things to prove to people, too.