Texas coach Shaka Smart (Photo: Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports)
One of the coaching world’s brightest young stars, Shaka Smart is beginning his second year at the helm of the University of Texas men’s basketball program. Just 13 years ago, though, Smart was but a 26-year-old assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Akron.
At that time, the eyes of the basketball world happened to be centered on Akron – and it was not because of Smart and the Zips. Keith Dambrot, now the Akron head coach, was an assistant on the staff at the time. He had been LeBron James’ coach at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary before leaving for the college job. On Smart’s first day on the job, Dambrot spent time with the young assistant.
On a recent episode of The Sidelines Podcast: With Evan Daniels, Smart shared a story from what had to be a crazy first day on the job.
“That really, was just being in the right place at the right time,” Smart told Daniels. “I was very fortunate in that; when I got hired at Akron, Keith was an assistant. I didn’t even know him [Dambrot]. Literally, my first day on the job is the first day I met him. And he said to me about two hours after I met him, he said ‘Listen, when it gets to be lunch time, I want to take you to meet somebody.’
“So it gets to be noon, we get in the car, we drive to this rec center gym in Akron. It’s a weekday and nobody is there; all the kids are in school. And we’re standing on the court in the rec center, and there’s kind of glass doors, and we’re just standing there talking to the guy who ran the rec center, and we could see a hummer pull up. And LeBron James walks in, and so Keith throws a ball at me and says ‘Come on, we’re going to work out LeBron.’ This is in May of 2003, so he’s a senior in high school, he’s already signed with Nike, $90 million contract, he’s about to be the No. 1 pick in the draft.”
LeBron James was named All-USA Player of the Year in both his junior and senior years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Eileen Blass, USA TODAY Sports)
Among the most coveted prospects in NBA history, James was named the American Family Insurance ALL-USA Player of the Year in both his junior and senior seasons at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary. He was a household name before he even graduated high school. And Smart’s first day as a Division I coach included a sneak preview of “The Chosen One” (as James was called on a “Sports Illustrated” cover during his junior year).
Pretty remarkable stuff.
As Smart told The Sidelines, James’ physical abilities were obvious. But there was something else about how the future four-time MVP and three-time NBA champion processed information on the court.
“So for the next two months or so, until he started his NBA summer league, we are, really, Keith is, with me as his assistant, are working out LeBron. It really was an unbelievable experience.
“I did feel like ‘man, this guy is something other than anything I’ve ever seen.’ Not so much of what he could do physically, but because of his mind. It was unbelievable what you could hit him with, and the way he could take it in and transfer it in to what he did on the court.”
Both men would become stars in their own right, with Smart’s shining moment coming when he brought VCU to the 2011 Final Four. At the start of the summer of 2003, though, they were two young men laying the groundwork for long careers. Quite the encounter.
(h/t FoxSports.com)