Click here to read the full story
Mirin Fader of the Orange County Register takes a look at Cal State Fullerton associate head coach John Smith and his son, guard Jamal Smith and the role basketball has played in their family's life.
By Mirin Fader | Click here to read the full story
Cal State Fullerton needed a bucket. The Titans swung the ball around the perimeter, trailing Portland State by three points in double overtime earlier this month.
Freshman guard Jamal Smith waited on the wing — legs bent, palms open — ready to catch the ball.
Jamal's father, John Smith, the Titans' associate head coach, prepares the team for moments like this, often sharing a lesson he learned from his father, the late former NBA point guard Lucky Smith:
You've got a carrot, an egg and a coffee bean. If you boil a big bowl of hot water, which represents adversity, and you put the carrot in there, it gets soft and mushy. You don't want to be the carrot. If you put an egg in there, it gets stiff. You don't want to be the egg. But when you put a coffee bean in there?
"It changes the aroma," John said. "That sweet-smelling aroma. It changes your mentality to get through whatever challenge is in front of you."
Jamal has heard this analogy all his life. That's why when the ball flew into his hands against Portland State, he didn't hesitate to release a high-arc three in the corner.
Swish.
Jamal held his follow-through, tying the game at 94, as he sprinted past his team's bench, past his father, and maybe, somewhere up in the rafters, past his grandpa Lucky, too.