Jabari Smith Jr. names Boban Marjanovic as his best teammate, reveals Team USA dreams / News - Basketnews.com

In an interview with BasketNews, Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. shared his thoughts about his rookie season, his relationship with teammate Boban Marjanovic and the legacy of LeBron James.

Credit: Getty Images via AFP Credit Getty Images via AFP

It's been a long and really hot day in Treviso. The second day of the Adidas EuroCamp was about to come to an end with the final game of the evening.

It's around 7 p.m. when I reach the lounge that Adidas has arranged inside the La Ghirada campus, where guests from the NBA and their families can chill and relax.

Jabari Smith Jr., who just finished his rookie season with the Houston Rockets, is wrapping up an interview on Zoom.

During his first NBA season, the Auburn alumn averaged 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1 block per game. For the Rockets, it wasn't an easy campaign.

They finished at the bottom of the Western Conference with only 22 wins, but the difficulties were expected. The core of this team is made of extremely young players: Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun are both 20, Jalen Green is 21, and Kevin Porter Jr.is 23.

When you have that much youth in your team, there will be some growing pains. But the Rockets' ownership is an ambitious one. After the season ended, they hired Ime Udoka as the new head coach.

The former Boston Celtics head coach will be responsible for moving the Rockets' project forward. The idea is to add proven veterans to such a young roster, and there have already been rumors about a return that could be huge for Houston.

James Harden, who spent the past year and a half with the Philadelphia 76ers, is seriously considering the possibility of returning to Houston during the free agency.

Harden spent 8 years with the Rockets, which were probably the best of his career. Even after he left, he remained extremely connected to Houston and the Rockets.

Another veteran Houston targets is Brook Lopez, who has been a key piece for the Milwaukee Bucks' in the past few years. At least on paper, it's pretty clear that the Rockets want to move away from the bottom of the league as fast as possible.

In a conversation with BasketNews, Jabari Smith Jr. made it clear that he has big goals and ambitions for his future with the franchise.

"Personally, I think we're definitely in the right direction," Smith Jr. told BasketNews. "We wanna start this season just implementing ourselves into the league, just showing that we are one of those teams that are hungry, that they want to be in the playoffs."

"We want to make a run, you know, winning more games, being aggressive, we want to really compete in this league. Because, of course, up to this point, we've been a rebuilding team, we were at the bottom of the league, but now we want to get out of the rebuilding phase, and we want to start winning," he added.

For any rookie, getting into the league is always a learning process. It was no different for Smith Jr., who sometimes struggled to deal with the various levels of physicality that the NBA game requires.

But it's not only a matter of physicality and intensity. It's also about learning the game at a higher level. Everything is faster and more difficult to limit.

"Early in the season, the physicality bothered me," Jabari Smith explained to BasketNews. "Just trying to learn the game, you know what I'm saying? The NBA game is just so different than college basketball."

"It's easy to watch it and talk about it, but actually being in an NBA game, knowing how fast-paced it is with that 24-second shot clock and so many different things that go into it, so those two aspects were definitely the biggest adjustments that I had to face going into the league," Smith Jr. continued.

Now that his first NBA season is in the books, Smith starts preparing for the upcoming one, including trying to learn more about the opponents he could face in the future. In this sense, his trip to Treviso and the EuroCamp has been a useful learning lesson.

"It's been really nice, you know, seeing young talents and players from different environments here, it's been really fun," the Houston Rockets forward said about the EuroCamp.

"The games have been entertaining, I've enjoyed them. And I've been asking a lot of questions, trying to understand more about some of these guys, where they've been playing, how old they are, which skills they have, it's been interesting."

Smith had already experienced what it might mean to have some International faces in a locker room. Serbian big man Boban Marjanovic was his teammate this season, one of the few veterans on the roster.

Since he came into the league, Marjanovic has become a fan favorite all around the league. His likable personality and his ability to always have encouraging words for his teammates have made him one of the most respected veterans in the league.

Even if this was Smith's first season in the league, he understood immediately that Marjanovic was going to become his best teammate ever, as he explained to BasketNews.

Boban MarjanovicCredit Todd Kirkland/Getty Images/AFP - Scanpix

"It was so good to have Boban in the locker room, man. He's one of the nicest people in the world, he's always smiling, cheering you up," Smith Jr. revealed. "If he's having a bad day, you'll never be able to understand it because he has always this amazing attitude. He was always coming to hug me every single time I stepped into the locker room, making sure I was ok."

"He's just a great teammate, the best teammate I ever had, I know I've been in the league only for one year, but throughout my career, I've never met anybody who was that consistent. He's always working in the gym on his game, always nice to all the people he has around. If you want to know how to have a long career in the league, just look at Boban and what he does," the 20-year-old continued.

When Smith Jr. first met LeBron James this season, their little chat quickly became viral. Smith remembered that his father, Jabari Smith Sr., played against LeBron in his first NBA game.

LeBron definitely felt old at that moment, playing against both a father and a son. It's something that happens only if you have a really long career in the league.

When the Lakers lost in the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets, LeBron mentioned the possibility that he might retire during the offseason.

Of course, it's a scenario that pretty much no one in the league wants to envision, but now it's out there, and everyone will wait for his final decision.

While it's still unclear what James will decide, Smith Jr. took a moment to reflect on James' career and his impact on younger players, including himself.

"LeBron helped me fall in love with the game," Smith told BasketNews. "I was watching him since I was a little kid, you know, I grew up watching his games. Seeing him retiring and going out of the league, it'd be weird for me, and I think for all the players of my generation, I think it'd be the same feeling that people older than me had when Michael Jordan retired."

"For me, it's hard to think about someone else who's gonna have the same kind of impact that he had on the game. He's been in the league for 20 years, every time I was watching some big playoff game, he was there, he's been around for so long that it'd be really weird not having him around anymore," Smith added.

"But I also believe that if he decides to retire, his legacy will be beneficial to a lot of young guys. His consistency, how long he's been in the league, you know, that's gonna set an example for a lot of younger guys.

He has been the perfect pro, so a lot of guys will look at him. I feel like if you're a guy around my age, growing up, LeBron was the guy you were watching and trying to learn from, he went to Miami when I was like 10 years old, and that was all I was watching. Ever since that day, he has been the guy to watch for me," Smith Jr. continued.

LeBron James Jabari Smith Jr.Credit AFP-Scanpix

With some of the biggest NBA stars entering the final years of their careers, there will be a new cycle in Team USA, especially looking at the 2028 Olympic Games, which will take place in Los Angeles.

This means that new opportunities will arise for the young stars of the NBA to represent Team USA at the International level.

During our interview, Smith made it clear that representing Team USA and winning with them will be his goal in the next few years.

"Oh yeah, definitely, that's something that I really want to do," Smith Jr. argued. "When I played for Team USA when I was 16, that was one of the funniest moments because I was playing with other great talents and coaches that I'd never worked with before."

"It's kind of different, you know because during the NBA season, you're always with your teammates. So, when you have the chance to be with Team USA, it's a different vibe, it's like a switch, not exactly like a trade, but it feels a bit like it. I'd just love to play against other national teams, seeing different styles of play and different places all around the world, so yeah, it's definitely something that I have in my mind," Smith Jr. added.

Jabari Smith Jr.Credit FIBA

During his professional career, Smith Jr.'s father also had an experience of playing in Europe. Although his son hasn't developed a strong connection to International basketball yet, he does remember his father's stories about playing with Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac with the Sacramento Kings.

"He was always telling me stories about his time with the Kings, playing alongside Stojakovic and Divac. He really had a high consideration of them as players," Smith Jr. said.

"How skilled they were, how they were able to kind of change the play style in the league. At that time, the Kings were one of the first teams to embrace this new trend, with the big men stepping out of the paint and stretching the floor. My dad is definitely someone that remembers fondly his time overseas and his relationship with International players," Smith Jr. concluded.

The Houston Rockets forward is learning some valuable lessons during his Italian trip. He will be ready to attack the next season with a more open-minded mentality and some suggestions to his coaching staff about those new rookies from abroad.

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