Northeastern Junior College All-America guard Tyler Smith gets all the exposure he wants to the NBA lifestyle through his close friend, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony.
What Smith really needs is exposure to NBA scouts, and he knows he will get it playing for Colorado State with 7-foot center Jason Smith.
Tyler Smith, 6-3, 200 pounds, signed a letter of intent Thursday to play for Rams this season, turning down an offer from Texas Tech.
“I thought it was the best situation for me,” Smith said. “I want to keep it going in the state of Colorado. I made my name here.”
Jason Smith attracted at least half a dozen scouts to every game and recently announced he would play for CSU as a junior despite speculation he might enter the draft this summer.
“I know he’s a good player,” Tyler Smith said of Jason Smith. “I know he has NBA potential. I want to be in a situation where I’ll be looked at.”
In one season at Northeastern, the guard earned Region IX player of the year honors, averaging 20.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
“He’s versatile. He can play all three perimeter (both guards and swing forward) positions,” CSU coach Dale Layer said. “I’m thrilled he’ll be around. He’s an unselfish player and he has size.”
The Rams struggled during the Mountain West season on both their own outside shooting and defending others’. Signing Smith addresses those needs.
After playing for Baltimore’s Douglass High School – Anthony was at nearby Oak Hill Academy – Smith went to Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia to work on the academics needed for a Division I scholarship. He was on the list of top 100 prospects in the 2003 class headed by LeBron James.
After a frustrating freshman year at DePaul, Smith moved to Denver to hang around with Anthony. They had been teammates in youth football and basketball.
“We played football. It was our favorite sport. Melo was the quarterback and running back. I was the receiver,” Smith said. He said Anthony was the point guard on their youth basketball teams.
