Craig Smith

Who is Craig Smith?

Craig Smith is an American professional basketball power forward with Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. After playing at Boston College from 2002–2006, he was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 36th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.

Smith was born in Inglewood, California and is nicknamed "Rhino". He scored 2,349 points in his collegiate career, placing him second on Boston College's career scoring list. In his senior season, he had per-game averages of 17.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 blocked shots. He also attended Worcester Academy, a preparatory school in Worcester, Massachusetts for a year as a post-graduate student before college.

Craig Smith averaged 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in his rookie year with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He earned a starting role for the last five games of the season and averaged 12.0 points and 10.2 rebounds while logging an average 34.4 minutes. He had an increased role in the 2007–08 season after a strong rookie performance and a Vegas Summer League performance during which he averaged 21.8 points and 6.0 rebounds.

On July 20, 2009, Smith was traded, along with Mark Madsen and Sebastian Telfair, to the Los Angeles Clippers for Quentin Richardson. On July 19, 2010 Smith's agent confirmed that Smith had signed a one-year deal to return to the Clippers.