The man in the middle at UCLA freshman Joshua SmithGOLD: UCLA freshman center Smith happy to be less of a big man
By Jon Gold, columnist
The Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 01/08/2011 01:13:40 AM PST
Updated: 01/08/2011 01:14:17 AM PST
Joshua Smith, I feel his pain. And his pang.
He and I, we're cut from the same cloth, and in our case, that's a lot of cloth.
Like, XXL cloth, though I might be selling Smith a couple X's short.
See, we're blubbers-in-arms, and I told my editors that if I wrote this column, I was going to go all the way. I was going to supersize it, not leave any Cold Stone unturned.
Look, it's hard to ignore the elephant in the room when the elephant in the room is the elephant in the room.
Smith is a big guy, listed at 6-foot-10, 305 pounds. He can't hide it, the height nor the width.
But the attention Smith's size received over the summer was altogether overwhelming.
We focused on his jowls and soft midsection, and not his quick feet and soft hands. It was always about the size and not the skill, the tub and not the talent. We know how Smith got so big. Most people probably don't know why.
Smith says he fell into a funk after suffering his first major injury, a torn patellar tendon in his knee during his senior year at Kentwood (Wash.) High, an injury that cost him most of the season. His massive knee in a splint, Smith could barely walk, certainly couldn't run and definitely could not play basketball.
"It was shocking to me," said Smith, who averages 10 points and 6.9 rebounds for UCLA (9-5). "I thought I was untouchable. I could get hit by a car and still be able to play. But that's when things got out of hand. We'd go on trips, and guys are in their rooms getting ready for the game, and I'm sitting there snacking, my knee up, saying 'Hey man, you better not get dunked on."'
Smith won't get into specifics, partially on mandate from UCLA head coach Ben Howland, but he admits to putting on the pounds during his time away from the game.
"I was in high school basketball shape, not college," Smith said. "If I would've come here and not lost any weight, I would not be here. I was not in shape for college basketball. The court is longer, the guys are faster, stronger, smarter. I'm not playing against Thomas Jefferson High in my league anymore; this is D-1 competition, guys who worked their asses off to get where they're at."
So that's what he did.
A hurt knee might have robbed Smith of basketball in high school, but Howland took his turn during the summer.
When the top-rated center on the West Coast arrived in Westwood in June, Howland and the UCLA strength and conditioning staff put him on a strict regimen, both in dietary and basketball restrictions. No more cakes, cookies, chips or basketballs.
Smith started to shed pound after pound - "All my teammates are out here playing ball, playing pick-up with NBA guys, getting shots up, and the only time I get to touch the ball is during a running drill where I had to run up and down the court and dunk" - and his body began to take a shape that wasn't round. Problem was, the word got out, and Smith's interview requests turned into Weight Watchers meetings. He felt like he was getting grilled, which now come to think of it, is probably a good thing.
Better than fried, right?
"It gets annoying a lot of time, going to do interviews and instead of guys asking about the game, it's, `How's your conditioning? How's your wind? How many pounds have you lost?' Smith said. "I can understand, `How's your wind?', but it's just, `Hey, Josh, how much have you dropped? How many times did you work out today? What were you doing?'
"Look, I'm not Jared from Subway, man, I'm not some inspirational story."
But to his family, he is.
Smith's father, Josh Sr., has Type 2 diabetes, and has tried to warn his son about its difficulties. Smith's grandfather also had Type 2 diabetes before passing away two years ago from a massive heart attack, according to Josh Smith Sr.
"He just said, `You don't ever want to go through this,"' Smith said. "'I'm happy now, I'm healthy, I'm living a good life, but ... you don't want to have to needle yourself every day. You don't want to have to take pills, to check blood sugar."'
And the elder Smith has seen a change in his son, particularly during the younger Smith's two extended visits home from college.
"Two times he came home, he didn't go out to one fast-food joint, I kid you not," the elder Smith said. "Since he's been gone, we've been eating healthier here. When he comes home, we don't ever talk about his weight. But I tell all my kids, you have to change your eating habits. Diabetes is no joke. I tell them all the time, it's not about losing all this weight to play basketball. I'm talking about when basketball is all said and done. Three, four years, 15 years. Basketball is temporary, his health is forever."
For the first time, the UCLA freshman center realizes that.
The rigorous training in the preseason has been shelved, but Smith still maintains a steady gaze at his caloric intake. He eats smaller, leaner meals now and in smaller intervals. He's cut out most of the vices, though he was honest about his biggest albatross - "This summer, I'm not going to lie to you, Brisk had this peach tea, I couldn't resist" - and his struggle to eliminate that from his diet.
But most important, he's learned that he's not losing basketball weight, he's getting healthy.
"I feel like I'm never going to be satisfied," Smith said. "I feel like I can still keep going. Unless I'm just skinny as a stick, I can't stop. But that's not going to happen. I'm a naturally big guy. People need to realize, I'm not going to be Tyler Honeycutt or Malcolm Lee skinny."
No, he won't, but like Jared from Subway, Smith has done something about his weight, and we huskies should stand and give a round of applause.
And I say huskies - not Huskies - because Washington fans are still angry he spurned them, and he's learned that the hard way, including last Friday in the Bruins' 74-63 loss to Washington at Pauley Pavilion.
Ready, big guys?
One, two ...
Oh, never mind.
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