Larry Smith (basketball, born 1958)

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For other people named Larry Smith, see Larry Smith (disambiguation).
Larry Smith
Austin Toros (assistant)
2008Los Angeles Sparks
2008–2011Alcorn State
Career highlights and awards
As player

As assistant coach:

Career statistics
Points
5,904 (6.7 ppg)
Rebounds8,125 (9.2 rpg)
Assists941 (1.1 apg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Larry Smith (born January 18, 1958) is a former American professional basketball player. A 6'8" forward/center from Alcorn State University, Smith spent 13 seasons (1980–1993) in the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing for the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs. Smith, nicknamed "Mr. Mean", received NBA All-Rookie Team Honors in 1981, and would become one of the best rebounders of the 1980s. He had career averages of 9.2 rebounds and 25.9 minutes per game. Smith was affectionally nicknamed and known as "Mr. Mean" throughout his career, especially during his time with the Warriors, due to the stark contrast between him being nice and soft-spoken off the court but always with a serious demeanor and angry scowl on the court while grabbing a rebound.[1][2] Smith's popularity in Golden State and Houston led to local fan clubs who would attend games wearing hard hats holding up a sign saying "Larry's Local 13".[3] At the end of his career, Smith earned praise from the Houston Rockets coaching staff and fanbase for adequately covering for an injured Hakeem Olajuwon.[3]

He worked as an assistant coach for

1993-94 and 1994-95.[4] After ten years with the Rockets, Smith was hired as the assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks in 2003. In 2004, he was hired by the Los Angeles Lakers to be the assistant coach for Tomjanovich. However, Tomjanovich resigned after 41 games into the 2004–05 season. Smith remained as an assistant coach for interim head coach Frank Hamblen
until the end of the season.

After serving as an assistant coach of the

NBA D-League, Smith was hired to be an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the 2008 season.[6]

On May 8, 2008, officials made the announcement during a news conference in Vicksburg, Mississippi that Smith has been named as the head basketball coach for Alcorn State University. In 2011, Smith was moved from this position to become director of athletic development for the school.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
*Led the league

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1980–81 Golden State 82 – 31.4 .512 – .588 12.1 1.1 0.9 0.8 9.6
1981–82 Golden State 74 55 29.9 .534 .000 .553 11.0 1.1 0.9 0.7 7.1
1982–83 Golden State 49 41 29.2 .588 – .535 9.9 0.9 0.7 0.4 8.4
1983–84 Golden State 75 63 29.2 .560 – .560 9.0 1.0 0.8 0.3 7.8
1984–85 Golden State 80 78 31.2 .530 – .605 10.9 1.2 1.0 0.7 11.1
1985–86 Golden State 77 74 31.7 .536 .000 .493 11.1 1.2 0.8 0.6 9.6
1986–87 Golden State 80 78 29.7 .546 .000 .574 11.5 1.2 0.9 0.7 8.8
1987–88 Golden State 20 10 25.0 .472 .000 .407 9.1 1.3 0.6 0.6 6.4
1988–89 Golden State 80 78 23.7 .552 – .310 8.2 1.5 0.8 0.7 5.7
1989–90 Houston 74 0 17.6 .474 .000 .364 6.1 0.9 0.8 0.4 3.0
1990–91 Houston 81 28 23.7 .487 – .240 8.8 1.1 1.0 0.3 3.3
1991–92 Houston 45 7 17.8 .543 .000 .364 5.7 0.7 0.5 0.2 2.3
1992–93 San Antonio 66 13 12.6 .437 – .409 4.1 0.4 0.3 0.2 1.3
Career 883 525 25.9 .531 .000 .531 9.2 1.1 0.8 0.5 6.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1987
 Golden State 10 10 32.9 .531 – .708 13.7* 1.7 1.2 0.6 10.3
1989
 Golden State 8 8 18.5 .250 – – 5.0 2.0 0.8 1.4 1.0
1990
 Houston 4 0 18.3 .750 – – 3.3 1.3 1.0 0.0 3.0
1991
 Houston 3 0 19.0 .250 .000 .000 4.3 1.3 0.3 0.3 0.7
1993
 San Antonio 6 0 8.3 .667 – .750 2.7 0.2 0.7 0.3 1.2

See also

References

  1. ^ "Larry Smith".
  2. ^ "Larry Smith - Director of Athletic Development - Staff Directory".
  3. ^ a b "He Rules the Boards With a Mean Streak - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. 4 March 1991.
  4. NBA.com. Archived from the original
    on 2005-02-06. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  5. ^ Larry Smith, Thunderbirds Assistant Coach[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Press release on joining the Los Angeles Sparks

External links

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