Kenny Smith is Not Worried About the Los Angeles Lakers

Kenny Smith has spent twice as much time as one of the NBA's most essential TV analysts as he did as an actual NBA player. Now 53, this is his 20th year working for Inside the NBA, a peerless studio program that owes its success to a loose atmosphere, narrative-shaping conversation, and personalities that don't pull punches. But Smith’s staying power is drawn from his valuable ability to mix personal anecdotes with live analysis in a way that transports viewers into the world's most enjoyable classroom.

Amidst Charles Barkley’s mock proclamations, Shaquille O’Neal’s jest, and Ernie Johnson's steady stewardship, Smith is an NBA professor, simplifying complex basketball concepts by turning them into thought-provoking ideas. Heading into Thursday night’s doubleheader on TNT—Sixers-Bulls at 8 PM EST before LeBron James makes his Lakers debut against the Trail Blazers—we previewed the NBA season with Smith by bouncing all over the league to discuss a variety of topics, teams, and players.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity

VICE Sports: There’s obviously a million things going on throughout the NBA already but Jimmy Butler’s awkward standing in Minnesota remains the news of the day, so I guess we’ll start there. Are you surprised he hasn’t been traded yet?

Kenny Smith: To me, today’s NBA is a little bit different because of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It’s not an era where you trade talent for talent. You’re really trading contract for contract. And sometimes the talent and the contracts don’t always meet. So I’m not surprised in that way, especially since they had that meeting so late in the summer. That would’ve been a meeting I would’ve had in the beginning of the summer. I wouldn’t have gone into the end of the summer not knowing that this guy doesn’t really want to be there. And I think that’s probably, the timing of it, threw everything off.

It's complicated because he’s entering the final year of his contract, but just for a player as talented as he is, if you were the GM of, say, the Knicks, the Clippers, the Nets, would you aggressively go after him?

Yeah! I think anytime you can improve your team, if you think he can improve your team, you take that chance. If you ask Oklahoma City should they have gone after Paul George, knowing that he’s from Los Angeles, he’s talked about being a Laker, possibly wanted to be a Laker, they still went after him and he stayed. So when you have an opportunity to show a great talent what your organization is about, I would never pass that up.

Your former team, the Houston Rockets, made some surprising moves over the summer, losing guys like Trevor Ariza and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute who allowed them to go as far as they did. What are your thoughts on their offseason?

I think overall they’ve redefined [how to succeed]…and it honestly started with Kevin McHale, the way he used James Harden, initially, and then kind of carried on into the MVP system that [Mike] D’Antoni implemented. The Rockets have changed the thought process of how you win in the NBA, which, before they really took it to this level, no one said "We need to take that many three-point shots." So they reconstructed and reconfigured the way basketball is today because a lot of teams are now following suit, or trying to follow suit with that kind of thought process.

Carmelo Anthony was Houston's big, headline-grabbing addition. Are you a fan of that move? There’s almost no financial risk, but what do you think of his playing style fitting into what Harden and Chris Paul already have going?

I think, overall, they just have the ability to spread the floor. And when you can spread the floor, you can get threes and layups, because you have guys who’re actually threats in different areas of the floor, and that’s important. If you can do that, you’re gonna be successful. They have the ability to do that. They have an ability to get threes and layups, and they’re great at it.

In the context of matching up against the Golden State Warriors, what are your views on Houston's summer?

I think you also have to look at the offseason that Golden State had [laughs]. You know, adding Boogie Cousins to the mix took it to a whole 'nother level of how you have to guard them. I think the one thing that you used to be able to do against the Warriors were, you could either make them turn it over—because at times they were loose with the ball—or you could pound them on the glass when they went small. Well, you add Boogie Cousins to the mix, if he’s healthy, he can play small ball at seven feet, because he shoots the three and handles the basketball and passes, and you can’t pound them on the glass. It changes the whole dynamic of everything.

I don’t think I saw your reaction to LeBron signing in L.A. Did it surprise you?

Yeah it did surprise me because typically he’s gone places where there were veteran players around him, or that were coming. He did have a young team, particularly in Cleveland when he actually signed. Everyone says "Oh well he had Kevin Love…" he didn’t actually have Kevin Love when he signed there. He had Andrew Wiggins and Kyrie Irving. And then they became an older team by doing the trade. But this was kind of like he started in Cleveland, and 16 years in the league, that’s a little surprising that you’d kind of start there.

But I always say, Portland was a three seed. If you look at their best player, [LeBron] is better than him, and they pretty much have the same supporting cast that he has around them. [Portland] has more experience for sure, but in terms of talent…if you look at Portland, would you say LeBron James is a better player than Damian Lillard? And the supporting cast around them is about the same. So why can’t this guy be in the top three, four, five seeds, behind nobody but Houston and Golden State? Why not? Denver, their best player, take whoever it is and then look at the supporting cast. It’s about the same!

I think you just answered my next question: Do you think the Lakers are more likely to miss the playoff or go to the Finals?

It would be closer to the Finals than the playoffs. They’re not gonna miss the playoffs. No, they’re not gonna miss the playoffs. Anthony Davis, great player, his talent around him, maybe excepting Jrue Holiday, but after that everybody is the same as the Lakers. No one has, other than Golden State and Houston—{which have] players around James Harden, Durant, Curry, and Thompson—those guys have talent around them that don’t equal what the Lakers have. But everybody else pretty much does. And if they make the right trade between now and All-Star Weekend, all of a sudden they become real players in the mix.

So you’re not concerned at all about the lack of shooting in L.A.?

No because what happens is LeBron doesn’t make you have to shoot fast. Because he draws so much attention you have more space to take your time and knock down shots. It’s not the fact that you get them, you have more time to get them. You know what I mean? And no disrespect, but I wouldn’t say the reason [Cleveland] won was because they have Kyle Korver. You know what I mean? I think the reason they won is they have experience, they had Kyrie Irving who could take people one-on-one and let LeBron rest. It wasn’t really just because they could space the floor and had shooting. That was part of it, but I don’t know if that’s the component that made them win. I don’t think that. I just don’t believe that. I think it’s the fact that he gives you the opportunity to have the extra second to line it up.

Going over to the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers had so much success last year, particularly towards the end of the season. Are you surprised Brett Brown has decided to break up their starting lineup by moving JJ Redick to the bench?

I think at one point you would have to make that decision. And I think that the functionality of what JJ Redick can do, I think he can do that coming off the bench or starting. So, JJ Redick is going to play about the same amount of minutes, and he can come into the game and do the same things that he does. He’s had that role coming off the bench at one point in his career. So he understands what that means, he understands how to move in that environment, where I’m not sure Markelle Fultz at this stage in his…really his rookie year, understands how to do that. Because he really didn’t play enough last year to consider that a rookie year.

Who’s your favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference?

You know, obviously there’s Philadelphia and Boston, but Milwaukee is so close in that mix because of Giannis and his ability to create everything he does on the floor. They just keep getting better and better. So, man, those are the three, and I’m gonna go with a wild card and say Milwaukee comes out.

Wow! I have to bring them up because their fans will go insane if I don’t, but what are your thoughts about the Raptors?

I think the Raptors are really good and, you know, the trade [for Kawhi Leonard]. But I just think the speculation of having one foot in the door and one foot out the door, I think kind of like with what Paul George had, it only lets you play up to a certain level. I don’t think you can reach your maximum potential.

You picked Milwaukee to come out of the East, so I assume Giannis is your MVP?

He and Kyrie are my top two because I think it’s gonna come out of the East. I think the West is too loaded. I think someone in the Eastern Conference will have some astronomical numbers and take their team to a height that maybe no one has seen before. Last year, James [Harden] took Houston to a height we didn’t expect. This year, if he does it again, well, we expected that. But if Giannis takes his team to a two seed, we’re gonna be like "wow, we didn’t expect that."

Giannis is awesome but is there another reason you’re so high on the Bucks? Is it Mike Budenholzer coming in and implementing a different offensive system?

I think it’s a combination, because a lot of these new teams, even Toronto, there’s no experience on the [coaching] bench, so I don’t know what that looks like. I know Bud’s been in the Eastern Conference Finals, he’s been in playoff series, and he has the best player arguably in the Eastern Conference. So you put all those things together and it doesn’t feel as new. But when you look at Toronto, moving those six feet, from one seat to the other, that’s different! That’s a different perspective, you know? And I still think Philly is searching to figure out what their whole identity is.

I assume the Warriors are your pick to three peat? Or do you think someone else can knock them off?

Um…Warriors [laughs]. The addition of Boogie Cousins, like I said, the weaknesses that they used to have are now their strengths. They used to turn the ball over with multiple guys playing at the five. And if Boogie Cousins is healthy at any point, they will without question three peat, in my opinion.

Just quickly switching gears to Inside the NBA…

I’ve done 20 years. I’ve got my cup. I’ve got my 20-year cup!

What’s your favorite part about being on the show after all these years, and what are you most excited for heading into this season?

It’s like family. And it’s like family arguing about basketball. That’s what makes it fun. You know, it’s an environment that’s a family atmosphere, where you get to argue with your cousins all day about who’s the best player, who’s the best team, and everything else that comes inside of sports. And so I just love that atmosphere and that’s what makes it fun.