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Jabari Smith Jr. says he used to dream about playing for John Calipari and Kentucky, before ultimately heading to another SEC program: Auburn.
During an interview with Bleacher Report‘s Taylor Rooks, Smith said that he wanted to be a Wildcat after watching stars like Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns come through Calipari’s program. However, Kentucky was slow to recruit him, and he opted for Auburn, a school that spent more time making him feel wanted.
“When I grew up, I was always watching Kentucky, like Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk. All of those people, I was always watching them. That is where I wanted to go. When I was younger, I always said, ‘I want to go to Kentucky…’
“When I got older and teams started recruiting me, I had offers from Georgia, Auburn, LSU. When I started getting offers like that, I’m like, ‘Kentucky, where you at?’ They haven’t offered me yet but people telling me, ‘Blue Bloods come in late, they really don’t offer this early,’ and I’m like, ‘Why? What are y’all not seeing?’ So when my decision came it was like, I’m going to go for someone who saw my potential early and really, really want me. I don’t want someone who just saw my ranking and saw all of this and was like, ‘We’re going to recruit him now.’ Nah, I want somebody that’s been watching me since I was in 10th grade, ninth grade, so the loyalty part came into it a little bit.”
The decision certainly worked out for Smith, who wound up being a top-10 recruit in his class. In one year under Bruce Pearl at Auburn, he averaged 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, shooting an impressive 42% from three-point range at 6'10". Last month, he was selected No. 3 in the NBA draft by the Rockets after his All-American freshman season.
After a few rough offensive outings to start Summer League play for Houston, he flashed in the team’s third game on Monday, with 19 points and nine rebounds. He and the Rockets are back in action on Thursday against the Trail Blazers.
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