Kenny Smith Deserved His Nickname

Matt Caputo has a good interview with Kenny Smith over at SLAM. Caputo asks Smith if it’s true that he used to be able to travel the length of the court with three dribbles.

Smith replies:

“Being from New York, I used to do a lot of ball-handling tricks and whatnot. I still used to tell people that the best ball handlers don’t use their dribble to get to places as much; you use it less.

“I would take the ball and start at the top of the key, take one dribble and dunk it. I would start at half-court, take two dribbles and dunk it. Then, I would go full-court with three dribbles and dunk it. Granted, I was taking off one step inside the free-throw line to dunk, but you can do it! You can take a long layup from there. My whole point was that you don’t need 20 dribbles to get to the rim; I’m going full-court with three dribbles.”

An NBA and NCAA court is 94 feet long. The free throw line is 15 feet from the backboard. Even if we assume that Smith took off a step or two inside the free throw line, he still had to travel roughly 75 feet with only three dribbles.

The following video is a highlight clip from Smith’s playing days at North Carolina. At about the 30 second mark, Smith steals the ball at halfcourt and takes two dribbles before taking flight.

No wonder they called him “The Jet.”