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Through his time on Inside The NBA, Kenny "The Jet" Smith has become one of the most respected media voices in the NBA. Prior to that, he was a championship point guard with two rings. Prior to that, he was a four year starter at UNC. So the guy's kind of got a history of success. And judging by, yes, his Twitter, he's open to trying to succeed at the next level.RealGM.com picked up on a tweet from Smith last Friday saying "Yes coaching or management is next... Will be super difficult to leave TNT when that happens!!"
So it's pretty clear Jet is looking to make that jump to the next level. He clearly values his time with TNT on the best sports studio show in television (hands-down), but the drive to compete as either a coach or a GM is obviously there. Smith did qualify his statement later, indicating that there are no offers on the table as of now: "Guys there's nothing there now however I get knocks at my door if I'm interested. One day I'm gonna have to answer..."
Depending on your interpretation (we really need Tweet-interpretation to become some sort of science), you could gather that Smith's already been in discussions for gigs, which would be no shocker. So often we look at media entities and shudder at the prospect of them joining teams (cough... Mark Jackson... cough), so what makes Smith such an attractive candidate?
Smith has a rare combination of media savvy, player experience, wisdom, and a history of success. As I mentioned earlier, Kenny's been successful at every step of his career. He's won championships, so he can speak to the players with knowledge of what it takes to get there. He's worked in media, constantly watching the game evolve, so he's got a pretty clear view of who can be successful on the floor and who can't. He's friendly with players all across the league and is a coach that could speak with authority while maintaining a close relationship with personnel. He would make a GM who knows how to handle media scrutiny and would know how to spin what he needs to.
Losing Smith from Inside the NBA would be a huge loss for the average fan. Next to Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson (and yes, Chris Webber here and there), Smith has helped create a dynamic that is at once consistently entertaining and yet informative and intelligent. They manage to appeal to the lay basketball fan and the addict at once. Breaking up that team would mean losing the best basketball analysis show on the planet, and the end of an era. At the same time, everything has to end at one point or another, and when compared with how many unvetted personalities get their shot, it only makes sense that Smith, who has the credentials to back it up, should be the next in line.
But man, who's going to do 'Gone Fishin?'
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