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Keith Smart will coach No. 1 draft pick candidate AJ Dybantsa at Utah Prep
Utah Prep has a new head coach who has NBA coaching in his background. The high school in Hurricane, Utah, announced that Keith Smart would be their head coach moving forward, which means he will be coaching up BYU signees AJ Dybantsa and Xavion Staton.
Smart is a former head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Sacramento Kings. Most recently, Smart was an assistant coach at Arkansas under former Razorback head coach Eric Musselman.
Marc Stein: Former Rockets coach Stephen Silas is @usabasketball ’s new head coach for the final two windows of FIBA AmeriCup qualifying … with Knicks legend and two-time Olympic gold medalist Patrick Ewing and Keith Smart named as assistant coaches.
But in the early stages of Curry's Warriors career, the revolution he would spearhead – and the way he was trying to do it – were not always received well by his then-coach, Keith Smart. Lin remembers well how their basketball ideologies failed to marry up. "I was with him my rookie year. The coach that we had didn't believe that much in Steph and would bench him a lot, get on him, yell at him a lot, was just really tough on him," Lin, who is now Global Ambassador for education technology company LingoAce, told Sky Sports.
"It almost became normal that every fourth quarter, he would get benched for a certain stretch. I felt that would shake any player to some degree and even though his confidence would kind of waver a little bit – because of the way that he was being coached – he had a deep, deep, very strong belief that he was a great player and that he would become a great player, and that the way things were going at that time was not how they were always going to go.
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"The next day he'd come in and he never tried to change his game too much. He tried to stay aggressive. There's just this aura that he had of 'There's no shot I can't hit. I can hit and I can catch fire at any point. If you give me one shot and it goes in, you might be in trouble the rest of the night'. "He was always believing in who he was and how he could play, and the shots he can make, and sticking to it. Sometimes it would get him benched, but other times it allowed him to take over the game – as long as he stuck with it and didn't change who he was as a player. He felt like over time people would understand, 'Hey, I'm great and I will develop the freedom and trust that I deserve as a player'."
Marcus Smart on DPOY: 'Guards not winning it, that's some BS'
Keith Smart: Marcus Smart on guards not winning Defensive Player of the Year in a long time: "I don't understand why it's so hard for guards to win it....Guards not winning it, that's some BS. You got me and Rob not even in the discussion for it. On the best defensive team in the league."
Fizdale also didn’t integrate his coaching staff well enough, exclusively talking to Keith Smart during games while excluding others. (Smart also got the ax). That’s one item which Miller has amended, getting input from all. He went out of his way to credit his “great staff” the other day — Pat Sullivan, Jud Buechler and Kaleb Canales.
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Chris Iseman: Statement from the Knicks: "Today, head coach David Fizdale and assistant coach Keith Smart were relieved of their coaching duties. Assistant coach Mike Miller has been named interim head coach.”
Adrian Wojnarowski: Knicks also dismissed assistant Keith Smart, league source tells ESPN.
According to a league source, if the Knicks made an in-season coaching move one of two assistants – Mike Miller or Pat Sullivan – would likely be promoted. Miller coached the Knicks G League affiliate. Coincidentally, assistant coaches Keith Smart and Kaleb Canales all have head coaching experience. Royal Ivey, who has drawn interest around the league over the summer, and Jud Buechler would not be under consideration.
The Knicks had to really sink south for a coaching change to be made by Game 20. Indications are it was far-fetched for a change to be made this early anyway. Was owner James Dolan, who has given Fizdale private reassurances, really going to let president Mills hire a new coach from the outside on a long-term deal with Fizdale still having at least one season fully guaranteed on his pact for 2020-21? Sources indicated the major deterrent to making a change at Thanksgiving was the sketchy alternative of promoting one of the assistants – Jud Buechler, Keith Smart or Kaleb Canales.
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