Robert Leroy Smith (born March 10, 1955) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player and coach.

College career

A 5'11" tall point guard, Smith played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

, where as a member of the fabled "Hardway Eight", that was coached by the legendary

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

, and that took UNLV to its first NCAA Final Four, in 1977. His jersey was honored by UNLV in 2022.

Professional career

Smith was selected by the Denver Nuggets, in the third round of the

1977 NBA Draft The 1977 NBA draft was the 31st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1977, before the 1977–78 season. In this draft, 22 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

, with the 65th overall draft pick. Smith played for seven NBA teams, in as many seasons from, 1977 to 1984. On November 17, 1978, while he was playing with the Denver Nuggets, Smith scored a career-high 19 points, in a game against the Boston Celtics. In October 1979, Smith was traded by the Denver Nuggets to the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

. In November 1979, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

Coaching career

After he finished his pro club basketball playing career, Smith worked as a

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

at the AAU level. He coached at the Bill and Lilly Heinrich YMCA in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, along with his fellow UNLV teammate and lifelong friend, "Sudden" Sam Smith.

Personal life

Smith was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He suffered a stroke in 2019. He is still recovering.

References

External links

NBA statistics
@ basketballreference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Robert 1955 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in France American men's basketball players Arizona Western Matadors men's basketball players AS Monaco Basket players Basketball players from Los Angeles Cleveland Cavaliers players Denver Nuggets draft picks Denver Nuggets players Milwaukee Bucks players Montana Golden Nuggets players New Jersey Nets players Olympique Antibes basketball players Point guards San Antonio Spurs players San Diego Clippers players Toronto Tornados players UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball players Utah Jazz players