As much as I can be annoyed by his arrogance on TNT, this interview is great and when he's not doing his whole late night show act, I'm sure he's a pretty cool guy:
He is a really underrated part of the TNT crew--they can't all be goofballs, you need another straight man to go with Ernie. Kenny was my favorite roleplayer on the championship squads, will always have a lot of love for the guy.
Kenny will always get a free pass and legend status because of what he did in Game 1 of the 1995 Finals. But let’s face it, he was the 5th or 6th best player on the Championship teams at best. His time on TNT has the kids thinking he was part of a “Big 3” with Clyde and Hakeem, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Kenny’s a pretty good studio straight man with Barkley, but he’s also a “legend in his own mind.”
One of my favorite Barkley roasts. Kenny: “You know, I remember Hakeem once told me…” Chuck: “‘Hey Kenny, get me some water.’”
[Factoid] Kenny Smith is the only pro athlete to get a nickname after retirement -- bonus -- JET is actually an acronym: Jelly Eating Turkey.
I was in the upper deck at the Summit for game 7 vs the Knicks:with a close friend. His parents had season tix down low. After the game was over we walked down to catch up with his parents and we stayed around for like an hour I’d say. Players would come and go from the court back to the locker room. Kenny walked out and the building had pretty well cleared out. I jumped on a chair and screamed something like let’s go Kenny! He was right around halfcourt near the logo. He had a towel in one hand and he started waving it around and pointed at me and cheered back. That was a good moment. and my God he was NAILS in game 1 in Orlando go Rockets
I was on Team Sam as a kid, but watching those interviews about how intense and competitive those practices were, you could say that whole first and second lineup made each other better. I don't think Kenny or Sam would've accomplished as much without fighting for the best minutes.
I was up there for for game 6 and we somehow worked our way down and managed to find a great spot for the end of the game and the legendary block from Hakeem.
Make no mistake….if CF was a thing then, the fight over SAM SHOULD BE STARTING would make all this Jalen stuff look like nothing.
Kenny was definitely not just a role player he was a solid starting PG -- Cassell coming in was a perfect fit especially when we needed a spark.
Definitely! I bet many like to forget or do not know Kenny threw fits, openly on the bench frustrated with Rudy T mid-1995. Not sure if his fit lead to Sam starting in the 2nd half or if his play lead to Sam starting and then throwing a fit.
Oh yeah that whole 95 regular season was a lot of drama and crap. It wasn’t until a little while after the Clyde trade that all of a sudden they started figuring it out. Kenny himself has said they didn’t approach that season to repeat. They were fat and happy. And it didn’t work. Thank God for that trade.
Kenny and Horry's comments (1:40) always give me a chuckle because Drexler definitely wasn't having the drama -- dude was on a mission.
That regular season was one marvelous **** show. Clyde made it his team with injuries, suspensions and Dream's anemia. Felt like we had a flight of CBA all stars showing up every other week until Chucky Brown and Sam Mack were signed for rest of the season. I wonder if there were any interviews about who were scouting the CBA that season. Wasn't normal, but it worked great for that year.
True, good to add that for context. Everyone thought they were hot ****. Clyde brought that hunger back, but man I still do not like that trade because it was OT. He was our work horse for 5 years and then he's the one traded?! Man...Also given your nickname I have to mention one of my favorite players of all time still, but that 94-95 season he was just begging to be replaced. Just kept chucking threes, didn't learn nothing from game 3 against Phoenix. Max had lightning quick speed, but somehow decided to just be a shooter for 90% of the time and I really cannot figure out why. I think it was because he was lazy to a degree and only reason he didn't get fat was genes. Bullard & Kenny both had stories of how he never worked out during the summer, eating burgers and then came in with low body fat and being completely ripped.
When Kenny is out on his own without Chuck and Shaq to check him he can get so arrogant -- he was insufferable during the dunk contest. He's catching a lot of flack for his performance Saturday -- Chuck and Shaq need to have a heart to heart with him. _______ TNT’s Kenny Smith slammed for Sabrina Ionescu comments in 3-point contest vs. Steph Curry: ‘Why are you putting those boundaries on her?’ https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/02/18/kenny-smith-sabrina-ionescu-steph-curry-nba-all-star/amp/
