Rick Pitino the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals gives instructions to Russ Smith (Getty Images)
Rick Pitino has joked Russ Smith is from another planet. But the potent yet at times erratic Louisville junior gives the coach a nervous breakdown every play.
At the cost of his own sanity, Pitino has given Smith the freedom to express his creativity on the basketball court, a decision that is serving both parties well.
The move at the start of last year shifting Smith from point guard to shooting guard began the Russ Smith phenomenon — from a nondescript bench-warmer who was recruited to serve as a backup into the leading scorer of the fourth-ranked Cardinals.
The legendary coach moved the frenetic 6-foot-1 Smith off the ball, to his natural position in which his athletic gifts could be better utilized and he could make up for his mistakes by doing what was in his DNA from the time he started playing the sport: scoring in bunches.
“I knew what I was capable on the wing. I knew I was unguardable. That’s how I felt,” Smith said. “I got comfortable. That’s all I needed.”
Overlooked in high school despite leading New York City’s famed Catholic league in scoring, Smith has caught the eye of fans nationwide with his unorthodox playing style, oversized personality and catchy “Russdiculous” nickname, given to him by Pitino because of his bouts of uneven play.
The undersized shooting guard from Greenpoint broke out last year in a reserve role, and has picked up his play even further this season, averaging a team-high 20 points per game to go along with 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.6 steals for the 13-1 Cardinals.
“The way basketball is, you just have to end up being lucky,” he said. “You just have to get an opportunity or get lucky to get an opportunity and make something out of it. It’s really crazy where I came from.”
His relationship with Pitino has evolved as well. The two, who clashed at times earlier in Smith’s career, are the Commonwealth’s version of the Odd Couple. Smith gives Pitino hugs when he senses his coach is overly stressed, he impersonates his coach in the locker room before games and he has even messed with Pitino’s well-coiffed hair and given him bunny ears on live television.
“Russ is, from a personality standpoint, everything Coach Pitino is not,” said Manhattan head coach Steve Masiello, who spent several years with Pitino and was Smith’s lead recruiter at Louisville.
Kelvin Jefferson, who coached Smith one year at South Kent, laughs at the relationship between Pitino and his former star player. Jefferson described coaching Smith as an “adventure.” He could not stay mad at Smith, whether he was taking poor shots or committing silly fouls, because of his all-out approach to the game and happy go-lucky attitude.
One night, Jefferson said, encapsulated Smith perfectly. The team had just dropped its opener during a two-game trip in Maine. They were supposed to be in their hotel rooms, when passing through the lobby Jefferson heard an odd rendition of a Diana Ross song. It was Smith singing karaoke with his teammates as backup singers.
“That’s typical Russ,” Jefferson said. “He does it his own way.”
Smith’s recruitment was similarly untraditional. Despite leading the city in scoring his junior and senior seasons at Archbishop Molloy, only mid-major programs were interested. Unsatisfied, he attended prep powerhouse South Kent.
One day, Louisville assistants Steve Masiello and Ralph Willard made the trek to South Kent to see J.J. Moore, a talented forward they were recruiting. Willard was struck by Smith, and he took a visit to Louisville after Pitino came to see him. Before a scholarship offer was extended, as Pitino was detailing their plan for Smith and what was expected of him, he was sold.
“He keeps cutting Coach off, ‘I’m coming, I’m coming,’” Masiello recalled. “Coach says, ‘I haven’t offered you a scholarship yet.’”
His freshman year was a struggle, full of injuries and games spent on the bench. Practice wasn’t much better. Smith would struggle just bringing the ball up, Masiello said. He would call his father every night, wanting to transfer, often breaking down in tears. Russ Smith Sr. wouldn’t let his son leave until he saw the season through.
“We don’t quit, we don’t bail out,” Smith Sr. told his son.
That summer, Smith and his father “went back to the lab,” as Smith Sr. called it. Smith didn’t play in any of the city’s many streetball tournaments. Instead, he spent three hours a day lifting weights, running stairs and working on fundamentals.
Though he returned to Louisville stronger and more confident, his fortunes didn’t truly change until Pitino informed him of the change to shooting guard. Smith led Louisville in scoring during an exhibition trip to the Bahamas and excelled in the Red-White Scrimmage.
Smith still is capable of driving Pitino nuts. He is prone to over-dribbling, mindless turnovers and takes shots that cause his coach’s nervous breakdowns. But Smith is calmer by comparison these days, and part of it stems from his uncertain future.
Before the season, Pitino heard from NBA scouts on several players, but not Smith.
“I’m like, ‘I’m going to try to do things the right way, listen to coach and see where that takes me,’” he said.
zbraziller@nypost.com