Sam Smith (born January 8, 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

College career

A 6'4" tall

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

, Smith played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at the

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

, during the 1970s. He helped the Runnin' Rebels reach their first ever NCAA Final Four in 1977, as a member of the fabled " Hardway Eight", that was coached by

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' Reb ...

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. In 2012, they rose to prominence when they featured on Disclosure (band), Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch (song), Latch", which peaked at number eleven on ...

.
Taxing dilemma for NBA's 2010 free agents
. bulls.com. July 27, 2009. Retrieved on October 11, 2009.

Professional career

Smith played two seasons (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

–

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

) in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, as a member of the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

and

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

. He averaged 6.8 points per game during his NBA career. Smith completed the first

four-point play In basketball, a four-point play is the rare occasion when an offensive player shoots and makes a three-point field goal while simultaneously being fouled by a defensive player, resulting in a shooting foul and one free throw attempt, or a two- ...

in the NBA's history, on October 21, 1979.

Personal life

Smith was born in

Ferriday, Louisiana Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Concordia Parish, which borders the Mississippi River and is located on the central eastern border of Louisiana, United States. With a population of 3,511 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ...

. He is now living in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and working as an AAU basketball trainer and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

at the Bill and Lilly Heinrich YMCA. Where he worked with his fellow UNLV legend and teammate, Robert Smith.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, 16 , , 7.8 , , .404 , , , , .750 , , .6 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .4 , , 3.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, 30 , , 16.5 , , .422 , , .229 , , .905 , , 1.8 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , .2 , , 8.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 46 , , 13.5 , , .419 , , .229 , , .862 , , 1.4 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , .3 , , 6.8

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sam 1955 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Basketball players from Louisiana Chicago Bulls players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Milwaukee Bucks players People from Ferriday, Louisiana Seminole State College of Florida alumni Shooting guards UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball players 20th-century African-American sportsmen