NBA Q&A: Kenny Smith

Courtesy of Dime

Dime: On to the NBA. Assuming the Heat make it to the Finals out of the East, who do you think will make it out of the West?
KS: Wow. The West is wild (laughs). Crazy stuff could happen. There’s not a team in the West that if they lost in the second round I would be surprised. There’s not a team. San Antonio? I could see it. They got a little old, they ran out of gas. Okay. Oklahoma City? You know what they don’t have Harden anymore, they didn’t have that third guy that really made it blah blah blah. So when you look at it, there’s a chink in a lot of people’s armor that could give the excuse as to why they didn’t make it.

Dime: Maybe a better question is who do you think would be the toughest challenge for Miami?
KS: Anyone with size. The Knicks have a lot of size. San Antonio has a lot of size. That gives the Heat problems. It’s hard to win multiple championships without being the best rebounding team.

Dime: Let’s talk about the Clippers. They’ve struggled recently and I wonder what you think is the biggest adjustment they need to make before the playoffs?
KS: The Clippers are great in full-court and not great in the half-court. That’s the adjustment. How do you become a great half-court team? And I don’t know if they can do that right now. That’s been their issue. That’s been their only issue. That’s been a consistent issue. Can they be great in the half-court?

Dime: Staying in L.A., do you think the Lakers will make the playoffs?
KS: My first instinct was to say zero percent chance. However, when the late, great Dr. Buss died and they had that ceremony with all the great Lakers from the past, I said that has to give some type of energy to those players to power through. So, for me, that was the difference to say that they have a chance to get that eighth spot. If that tragic incident doesn’t occur, then I would have given them zero chance.

Dime: If they don’t make the playoffs, what kind of changes do you expect to see to their roster and coaching staff in the offseason?
KS: They have to bring some stability to it. I think the problem is that there’s no stability. Stability brings success and I think the problem is that they don’t have it. So I think the less movement would be the best movement. A tweak, sure, but the less would be better.

Dime: Of the teams not making the playoffs, which team’s future do you like best?
KS: The Cavs have a great future. I think they would probably be one of the leaders of that. Great young big men, great young guards, obviously with Kyrie Irving, so I would say they do.

Dime: How far away do you think they are?
KS: Ah, two years. They should make the playoffs next year. And then they’re two years away from saying, hey, we’re playing hard against you Miami. We’re coming at you. We’re getting older now.

Dime: Final question and it’s a hypothetical. If this summer the 64 best NBA players entered a March Madness style, single elimination one-on-one tournament, who do you think would make it to the Final Four?
KS: Okay. Can I prerequisite this with a statement?

Dime: Of course.
KS: That’s the problem with the NBA now (laughs). Guys are playing too much one-on-one and that’s the part that I hate (laughs). Guys don’t play with a great deal of teamwork and that’s the problem. And for anyone who wants to be in this kind of competition, I would have a different eye towards them. So I want to prerequisite with that. But I think the final four would be Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Dime: That’s fair.
KS: But the problem is … they’re playing too much one-on-one basketball (laughs).