Kenny Smith would draft Hakeem Olajuwon over Shaq

NBA on TNT host and two-time NBA champion Kenny “The Jet” Smith would draft his former teammate Hakeem Olajuwon over Shaq.

Kenny Smith played with one of the greatest centers in NBA history in Hakeem Olajuwon, winning back-to-back championships with the Houston Rockets. He currently works with one the most powerful and best talents to ever play the center position in Shaquille O’Neal. So who would Smith take if they were both coming out of college at the same time?

“In my era and this era I’m going with the guy who got me two rings, I’m going with Hakeem,” Smith said. “Because I know Hakeem would have moved out and shot the 3 ’cause he had the nice jumper. So even in this era he would have probably started shooting 3s. He would have been like Clint Capela on steroids. He would have been something different.”

Smith is getting ready to go back to work with Shaq, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson. The NBA restart is set for July 30 — a TNT doubleheader highlighted by the Los Angeles Lakers facing the LA Clippers. Does Smith think players should be playing now and risk taking attention away from the Black Lives Matter movement?

“I think strategically if you do it correctly (playing), you could help the awareness just as much as you can by not playing,” Smith said.  “I understand not playing, that makes a lot of sense, but I also understand that playing there are microphones in guys’ faces that typically there haven’t been in the last three months and they get to voice their opinion.”

As for how the rest of the season goes, Smith has little idea how it will turn out on the court.

“This is so different,” Smith said. “Guys who are typically workout guys, they had no access to a gym for two months. If you lived in New York City you couldn’t do anything. The playing field is not level anymore. Certain guys were able to more and it’s interesting to see who comes back and looks different.”

Off the court, Smith recently launched “The Jet Academy,” an online basketball camp with NBA and WNBA stars Kemba Walker, Trae Young and Sue Bird working as coaches. He also got a special contribution from Shaq.

“He [Shaq] calls me up, ‘Hey Kenny, that’s a great idea. Why don’t we do a thing where kids get 35 dollars off from me?’ I’m like, Shaq, how are we going to do that? He’s like, ‘Do a discount code and say BigShaq’. And he hangs up. That was the whole conversation.”

You can listen to the entire Kenny “The Jet” Smith conversation on Da Windy City podcast.