Joe Smith

Joseph Leynard Smith is a former professional basketball player who competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) across numerous teams. He was a power forward and well known due to being the first overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.

Career

Smith studied at the Maury High School and further pursued his studies from the University of Maryland. He was also a part of the University team from where he was drafted to the 1995 NBA draft. He was further signed by the Golden State Warriors. In his debut season itself he was included in the All Rookie First team. He played for the 76ers till the end of the 1998 season after which he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

However while his stay at the Wolves; he got involved in the controversial case of salary captampering due to which his performance was affected. His career has been always on the move by getting transferred from one team to the other. In 2001 he was traded to the Pistons for a period of one year after which he was again recalled back to the Timberwolves.

In the next two seasons he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks after which he spent a very short time with Denver Nuggets in 2006. Every club that Smith played was always as a off the bench player. Later he spent one season with the Chicago Bulls in 2007 after which he was drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008.

He continued to move around franchises, finding a key role with the Atlanta Hawks in 2009-10 but was unable to play at an elite level and eventually finished up in 2012.

Major achievements

• 1995 Naismith College Player of the year award
• 1996 NBA All-Rookie First Team