JR Smith on NBA players' mindsets: 'We'd rather go throw 60,000 dollars in the strip club' / News - Basketnews.com

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Former NBA player and current North Carolina A&T freshman golfer J.R. Smith made an appearance on former NFL player Brandon Marshall's podcast I Am Athlete, where he shared his thoughts about the current generation of basketball players.

"My biggest move right now is trying to change as many minds that look like us back into the Afro-centric mindset as opposed to the Euro-centric mindset," Smith stated during the podcast.

"We are so trained, and it's so embedded to have that Euro-centric mindset — that worry about myself, worry about me, worry about mine — I'm not going to help anybody else who looks like me build-up," former Cavaliers player continued.

"What bank is going to turn us down? We're about to build this whole thing out for our community," the current golfer expressed. "We're gonna be gyms, rec-centers, start leagues — who's going to stop us? We got the money. We don't have the mindset."

"We'd rather go throw $60,000 in the strip club than go feed 2,500 people in the hood. I could've fed my whole community ten times over with the money I was just [paying fines for] being late on the bus," Smith shared his thoughts.

Smith continued to be critical of both of his own past choices as well as current players' choices.

"I was so wrapped into me, I got that Euro-centric mindset: I need this designer jacket, I need these jeans, I need this bookbag, I need to be looking like this because the vets got this, I'm pushing this car," Smith continued. "Why? Who am I impressing?"

"I'm not even fulfilled with me. They look up to me, so when they think, 'Oh, this is cool, this is what they say he did,' they think that thing is cool. Look at what we're going for: strip clubs, getting high, setting people up, killing people," the former player expressed.

"Look at what we glorify. And they put millions and millions of dollars into this. Record labels put billions of dollars into this, and it sells. And we still get raped off of entertainment," Smith finished his statement.

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