THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605120278
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 148 lines
Joe Smith is bi-coastal now, having recently bought a spacious, well-appointed home for himself in the hills of Oakland and one for his mother on the waterfront in Norfolk. He has a Mercedes in the garage and a Toyota Land Cruiser in the driveway, while his mother tools around in her Lexus. And he has big plans of one day building a recreation center where kids in his home town can go play and get off the streets.
At 20, Smith is not too far removed from being a kid himself.
``Sometimes I forget myself that just three years ago I was in high school at this time, trying to make a decision which college I would go to,'' Smith says while relaxing at his mother's house on Lake Whitehurst near the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. ``And now I've completed one year in the NBA. Sometimes I sit back and think how quickly things have turned around for me, and sometimes I still don't believe it.''
He couldn't believe it the night Magic Johnson came out of retirement. Who should be guarding the legend but Joe himself, Golden State's rookie forward.
Growing up on the playgrounds, when kids would call out ``I'm Michael Jordan'' and ``I'm Larry Bird,'' Smith had dibs on ``I'm Magic.'' He has always worn number 32, Magic's number. Suddenly Magic reappeared after his hiatus from basketball, and instead of pretending to be Magic, Smith was checking Magic.
``When he walked on the floor, I wanted to clap,'' Smith says, flashing his beacon-like smile.
When he first faced Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns, Smith was slapped with three quick fouls and had to take a seat.
``I was sitting on the bench thinking, ``Man, I was just guarding Charles Barkley; I was watching him play when I was 10, and now I'm out here guarding him,' '' Smith says.
Smith on Thursday returned to Norfolk to spend his summer, take classes at Norfolk State and work on his game. Same Norfolk he grew up in. Same affable, approachable Joe he's always been, people close to him would tell you.
But after a year in the NBA and indications of many more to follow, Joe Smith now lives in a different world.
Playing against Magic in his comeback game was the highlight of Smith's rookie year. He's hoping that changes Wednesday.
The rookie-of-the-year award is about to be announced. Smith thinks he deserves it.
Toronto's Damon Stoudamire (19 points per game) and Philadelphia's Jerry Stackhouse (19.2) averaged more points than Smith (15.3). But Smith led rookies in rebounding (8.7) and shot-blocking (1.6) and was among the top three NBA newcomers in several statistical categories. He produced consistently and was the only rookie in the league to start all 82 games.
Smith, the top pick in last year's draft, has been nervously awaiting the announcement. Winning the award would not only retain his position as the best player in the rookie crop, it also would produce a nice little perk from Nike: Smith's promotional contract with the shoe and apparel giant calls for a $100,000 bonus and the starring role in a commercial if he wins Rookie of the Year.
Regardless, Smith's debut season was impressive and his numbers compared favorably to those of perennial All-Stars Barkley and Karl Malone and as rookies.
``He's going to continue to get better,'' Warriors coach Rick Adelman said during the season. ``You can see his potential is unlimited.''
Even his Airness was impressed by Smith.
``He's certainly going to be a quality star in this game,'' Chicago's Michael Jordan said during the season. ``He seems to have his head on right and works hard.''
Smith knows what he needs to work hardest on in the offseason. At 6-foot-10, 225 pounds, he's a power forward who often lacks the power to bang with players who outweigh him sometimes by 40 or 50 pounds.
``It looked like the transition to the NBA was smooth, but there were some trying times,'' says Letha Smith, who lived with her son during his first NBA season. ``Nothing I could put my finger on specifically, but a mama could tell. He'd come in and I'd say ``You're tired, right? They beat you up out there?' and he'd say `Yeah, it was tough.' ''
Smith says after every game he soaked in a hot tub or jacuzzi, and was always sore the next day. He intends to beef up during the offseason, working with Old Dominion strength coach Andy Zucker in the weight room while also playing pickup games at ODU and appearing in the Hampton Roads Pro-Am Summer League.
Smith just completed an educational year in the NBA, but he'll be back in class working on his college education this week. He's taking sociology and African-American studies at Norfolk State for six hours of credit he says will transfer to Maryland. Eventually he will go back to College Park for classes and may take some correspondence courses to earn his degree. However long it takes, he vows he will graduate.
Letha Smith has threatened to sue him if he doesn't.
``I've been out of school almost a year,'' says Smith, who left Maryland after his sophomore year. ``My life has changed, I'm going back to school different this time. The last time I was struggling to get through and trying to be able to afford to buy a meal. It's going to be different now.''
Smith has purchase power, thanks to his three-year, $8.53 million contract. That contract - the maximum allowed under the NBA's rookie salary cap - is apt to seem piddly-squat once Smith signs his next one. After he signs a big-time contract Smith intends to build his own house on the water somewhere in Hampton Roads, the house he hopes to someday share with a wife and kids.
``I'm the same person I was four years ago when I didn't have anything,'' Smith says. ``If it weren't for the cars and houses I bought, everything else pretty much is the same.''
Well, not quite everything. He's a star athlete now, and that has its trappings.
Today, Smith will play in the Bruce Smith Charity Golf Classic softball game at Harbor Park along with other professional athletes. Then he will attend the gala auction.
During the basketball season, Smith and Jerome Kersey were two of the Warriors' most visible personalities in the community. Golden State has 29 different community outreach programs, and Smith was involved in a host of them, speaking to the after school drug free program, delivering toys to homeless shelters at Christmas and visiting classrooms.
``I try to do as much in the community as I can,'' Smith says. ``That leaves a lasting impression on kids.''
He's conscious of the impression he makes and image he projects. During the season, Smith hired an Oakland-based public relations firm to look into endorsement and appearance opportunities, while in Norfolk a company was formed by two of his sisters and an uncle to do the same thing. Smith is working on his Q rating, and hopes to one day be an all-star pitch man as well as an All-Star post man.
``Take Grant Hill, great guy and good player and look, he's all over TV right now endorsing certain things,'' Smith says. ``That's how important that image is to you.''
Letha Smith has counseled her son ad nauseam about the importance of discretion and staying away from people and situations where image-tainting trouble may lurk. She was outside the locker room after every home game, and saw the type of folks waiting for a chance to glom onto her son, the second-youngest player in the league last season.
``I screened everybody,'' Letha Smith says. ``I've never seen the likes of these girls around these NBA players.
``There are a lot of people out there after people who are in the NBA or movies or anything like that. When you're making money, there are a lot of people with their hand out and you have to decide who you can help and who you can't help.''
One season in the NBA, and Joe Smith feels like he's only dreamed a little of the dream.
He has so much more planned: All-Star Game appearances; at least one MVP award; a championship ring; an Olympic gold medal around his neck as a member of the Dream Team in 2000, or maybe 2004; a framed diploma for his wall; a successful business career.
And then there's that house he wants to build on the water for his own kids, and the rec center for other people's kids.
``I still have a few things I want to accomplish,'' Smith says wistfully.
It's good to have something to look forward to at age 20. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JOE SMITH, Norfolk native and NBA millionaire
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY BASKETBALL NBA by CNB