Video Interview - Johnell Smith
NEW ORLEANS – Former New Orleans men's basketball player Johnell Smith announced Wednesday during a visit to campus that he has signed a two-year agreement with Svendborg of the Danish League.
The agreement is the first two-year deal of Smith's professional career and brings him back to a ball club which he most recently played on during the 2009-10 season. Smith was the top scorer in the Danish League during the previous tour of duty with the squad, averaging 22.9 points, 3.4 assists and 2.8 steals per game en route to earning All-Danish League Guard and 'Newcomer of the Year'.
A professional player who has contested games in Venezuela, Sweden, Finland and the United States during his post-UNO career, Smith most recently represented Kataja in the Finland Korisliiga, averaging 12.8 points, 4.6 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game. The 5-11 guard was an all-Finnish League selection.
Back in the United States before heading back to Europe to work several camps, Smith has spent time over the last two weeks working out with the current Privateer men's basketball team while also visiting friends in the greater New Orleans area.
"Back where I am from in Florida, it is hard to find a gym to work out and I asked (Justin) Lauga to talk to the coach and see if it was cool to work out," said Smith. "He said he would love to have me come by and play with his players. What better place to come and workout than the college I played basketball at?"
Smith was greeted with open arms by UNO head coach
Mark Slessinger, who has also welcomed former Privateers including Warren Easton product Kyndall Dykes and O. Perry Walker star Bo McCalebb back to Lakefront Arena in recent summers.
Having seen Slessinger work with the current group of Privateers, Smith walked away with a favorable impression of the head coach.
"Coach (Slessinger) knows basketball, which you can tell just by the drills he has his team doing, telling his players the right things to do," said Smith. "He is not telling them anything wrong. His knowledge of the game is great and he's a fiery coach. I like his intensity and I am predicting great things for UNO in the future."
In addition to seeing how Slessinger operates, Smith had the opportunity to work out with the players and feels that Privateer fans have a lot to look forward to.
"The kids are fast, quick and I can tell it is going to be a very run and gun season for the Privateers," said Smith. "Fans are going to enjoy this team."
"The one thing that I do love when I was working out with them is that every kid is coachable, every kid listens, every kid is pushing the other kid; every kid wants to get better. When you have a team like that, the expectations are limitless to what you can do."
Smith also toured The Athletic Center and saw firsthand the plans that the UNO athletic department has for Lakefront Arena.
"The vibe at Lakefront Arena is better than the one we had when we were here," said Smith. "I talked to coach and he told me some of the ideas he had for the Auxiliary Gym and this and that. When we were here, we wanted to get those things too, but we could not get anything done. The vibe here is on the up."
Smith is one of a group of former Privateers currently making headways overseas, joining a list that includes Dykes, Shawn Malloy, McCalebb, Hector Romero and Jaroslav Tyrna, amongst others.
A product of Melbourne, Fla., Smith hopes that the current group of UNO student-athletes is learning a lot from the previous generation of Privateer standouts.
"It means a lot that we (former players) all played in the gym," said Smith. "We all free-played together, we all elbowed each other, we all talked trash to each other in that gym."
"To see them (the other players) and myself go on to bigger and better things, not just in one country, but multiple countries having success, it means a lot. More than it means to us, it means a lot to the school, it means a lot to the players coming here now and saying these guys came here, they played at UNO and now look at where they are now. It's not just one guy, two guys, its four or five guys having success playing overseas and we all played together right here at UNO."
Smith played 58 games from 2002 through 2004, helping the Privateers to a 32-28 overall record.
During his two seasons, Smith averaged 13.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists. One of the top performances in two years as a Privateer came with 22 points, nine rebound, six effort in a 100-95 win at Lakefront Arena on Feb. 7, 2004 over UALR.
For updates on Smith and other former Privateers, fan are encouraged to become a follower of the UNO athletic department's official Twitter account (@UNOPrivateers) or a member of the department's Facebook page, which can be found at
http://www.facebook.com/UNOPrivateers.
