Kenny “The Jet” Smith likes the Chicago Bulls over the Cleveland Cavaliers, thinks an age restriction is unfair and doesn’t want any changes made to the college basketball shot clock.
Kenny Smith is all over the place this time of year working with CBS during the NCAA tournament before heading back to TNT for his NBA duties. “The Jet” is working with Enterprise Rent-A-Car March Madness program. He sat down with us and covered a variety of topics from Kentucky’s potential historic run to who his favorite is to win the NBA title. I was surprised his answer was not the Cleveland Cavaliers.
On where this Kentucky team ranks is if they run the table:
“It ranks about where it would have if Wichita State had done it the year before. People forget how close they were. You wouldn’t put Cleanthony Early in the same category as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at UCLA. It would be a great accomplishment, but in the modern era we have had a couple of teams flirt with this now.”
How he would change college basketball’s rules:
“I wouldn’t make it mandatory for you to have to be in college for a year. I would think you should have the free choice to do what you want. As far as the game, I’m not a proponent of a shorter shot clock. College players are not as skilled so they need longer time to figure things out. College basketball players are not pro players, they have class the next day, so they have rules that will help them play better.”
On North Carolina’s chances versus Wisconsin:
“Marcus Paige may be the only player who has a clear advantage at his position. The rest of them are going to have to play a phenomenal game and really be laser focused in.”
Who would he take Charles Barkley or Karl Malone?
“I would take Charles Barkley. Not only is he going to get you the same amount of wins, but you are going to get a different fan support, a different engagement. Charles has become an icon far beyond just basketball. The skill level and the wins are going to be the same.”
Why he prefers Hakeem to Shaq:
“I am always biased to Hakeem. Shaq is moving up since I’m working with him, but the main reason I’m at TNT is because of the two championships we won and the main if not sole reason we won was because of Hakeem.”
Who will win the NBA championship this year:
“It will all depend on match-ups in the Western Conference. No one is a clear cut favorite. In the East, I still like the Chicago Bulls as they get healthy.”
You can listen to the entire interview here which includes some of the work preparation habits of “The Jet”, Charles Barkley and Shaq at TNT.
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