http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-4/1088147430105160.xml Emotional night for Smith as St. Benedict's star is taken 18th by Hornets Friday, June 25, 2004 BY PETE IORIZZO Star-Ledger Staff "With the 18th selection in the NBA Draft ..." They tensed. "... the New Orleans Hornets select J.R. ..." Flashbulbs. Rings. Screams. "... Smith." Hugs. Tears. More screams. It was chaos. J.R. Smith buried his head in his aunt Katy Smith's shoulder. Tears trickled from his closed eyes. The best high school basketball player in New Jersey this year, the newest member of the New Orleans Hornets, the seventh high school player selected in the 2004 NBA Draft, cried. "Give me a hug," nine or 10 people seemed to say at once. They filed in from the living room, which is down the hall from the master bedroom, where Smith, stretched out across the queen-sized bed, had just watched himself selected. He hugged all of them, about 30 friends and relatives, and thanked them, too. "It was a huge relief," he said. Indeed, it had been a pressure-filled day. All afternoon, the phone rang. Until the start of the draft at 7:30 p.m., people packed into Smith's Clarksburg home, grazing the buffet of fried chicken, barbecued ribs, macaroni salad and rolls, and perusing the mock drafts being passed around the room. Before the Draft, Smith seemed relaxed. In the evening, he played basketball in the backyard with some friends. Then, in the moments leading up to the Orlando Magic's first pick, he tussled on the living-room floor with his young siblings and cousins. But by the fifth pick, he had moved to the master bedroom, where he avoided the cramped, hot living room and watched ESPN with his former AAU coaches, Jimmy Salmon and Jerome Smart. He tensed before every pick and exhaled after. "Will they call before I'm picked?" he wondered. Nope. When he was selected, Smith was lying on the bed while Salmon tried to reach Nets coach Lawrence Frank on his cell phone. As NBA commissioner David Stern called Smith's name, Salmon hung up. "Who's the Hornets coach?" Salmon asked frantically. "Oh, Byron Scott! I'll call him." He raced away to find a phone as the family piled in. They came to celebrate the crowning achievement of a superb high school basketball career. His senior year at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, Smith averaged 23.3 points, earning The Star-Ledger Prep Player of the Year. He flashed the talents that made him a first-round pick: terrific spot-up shooting, exceptional athleticism and decent rebounding ability. Smith had wanted to attend the University of North Carolina, and even showed off a Tar Heel-blue suit during the draft. But after excelling in postseason all-star games (most notably the McDonald's All-American game, of which he was co-MVP), he changed his mind. He signed with agent Arn Tellem in May and declared for the Draft. "It was the right thing to do," Smith said. "I was ready. My family was ready." Originally, Smith planned to be at Madison Square Garden last night but he was left off the invitee list, which is generally reserved for top 15 picks. Projections had Smith going as high as No. 17 and as low as No. 21. "Wherever I would have gone I would have been happy," Smith said. Earlier in the first round, the Phoenix Suns selected Duke freshman Luol Deng seventh overall, then traded him to the Chicago Bulls. Deng was born in the Sudan, raised in Egypt and then London before playing his high school ball at Blair Academy in Blairstown. He averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists as a Blair Academy senior. At Blair, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound Deng played all five positions. He settled in as a small forward at Duke, where his shooting accuracy separated him from other available small forwards. For Deng and Smith, who leaves at 9:10 this morning on a flight to New Orleans, the chaos has only begun. "This is crazy," Smith said. "I'll remember this day for the rest of my life." --

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