Donta Smith

Donta Smith
Player information
Full name	Donta Lamont Smith
birthday	November 27, 1983
place of birth	Louisville (KY), USA
size	201 cm
position	Small forward
college	Southeastern Illinois CC
NBA draft	2004 , 34th Pick Atlanta Hawks
Club information
society	Hapoel Jerusalem
league	Ligat ha'Al
Jersey number	15th
Clubs as active
2002–2004 Southeastern Ill. Falcons (NJCAA) 2004–2006 Atlanta Hawks 2005–2006 → Arkansas RimRockers 2007–2008 PBK Lukoil Akademik 2008 Shanxi Zhongyu ( CBA ) 2008–2009 Melbourne South Dragons 2009 Gigantes de Carolina ( BSN ) 2009–2010 Shanxi Zhongyu 2010 Marinos de Anzoátegui 2010 Vaqueros de Bayamón (BSN) 2010 Espartanos de Margarita 2010–2011 Liaoning Dinosaurs (CBA) 2011 Marinos de Anzoátegui 2011–2012 Fuerzia Regia de Monterrey ( LNBP ) 2012 Indios de Mayagüez (BSN) 2012–2013 Maccabi Haifa Hapoel Jerusalem since 2014 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 0
National team
Since 02013	Venezuela

Donta Lamont Smith (born November 27, 1983 in Louisville , Kentucky ) is an American - Venezuelan basketball player . In 2004, what is relatively unusual, Smith was selected straight out of junior college for the highest-paying professional league NBA . Here, however, he could not fully convince in the following two years and then played for professional teams in almost all parts of the world except for Africa , especially in China , Puerto Rico and Venezuela , where he was naturalized and national player in 2013 . In the NBL Australasia he won the championship with the Melbourne South Dragons as "Finals MVP " in 2009 and twice the Bulgarian double with Lukoil Akademik . In addition to a Venezuelan championship with the Marinos de Anzoátegui, he also won a championship in the BSN Puerto Ricos in 2012 . Since 2012 he has been playing in the Israeli Ligat ha'Al for Maccabi Haifa, who surprisingly dethroned the otherwise nationally dominating Maccabi Tel Aviv team in 2013 and won the championship for the first time.

Career

Smith had to study after school in 2002 at the Southeastern Illinois Community College in Carmi (Illinois) , where he played for the Falcons college team in the "National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association" (NJCAA). After two years he had achieved the academic requirements for further studies and was expected as a new addition to the University of Louisville in his hometown, where he would have played for the Cardinal under the well-known coach Rick Pitino . After interest in his person in the NBA Draft became known, he signed up for the " Entry Draft " of the highest endowed professional league NBA and was selected in 34th position by the Atlanta Hawks. This was a rather unusual choice, as players are usually selected after four seasons in the NCAA or earlier if necessary. So-called "Junior College" (JuCo) players usually have to prove their talent again in the NCAA before they are selected, since the proof of talent as a JuCo player is in practice not rated higher than at high school .

After Smith had received a good ten minutes of playing time per game from the Hawks in 38 missions in the NBA 2004/05, his playing time was reduced in the NBA 2005/06 and he was transferred to the " farm team " Arkansas RimRockers in the NBA Development League ( D-League), but was back in the Hawks' squad at the end of the season. Finally, he was released from his contract after the end of the season and Smith could not achieve a contract for another NBA club. In January 2007 he went to Europe and played for the Bulgarian master Lukoil Akademik in the capital Sofia , where after almost two months he was allowed to take part in the “ All-Star-Game ” of the national league, and besides winning the “ Slam Dunk Contest” " Was also named" Most Valuable Player "(MVP) of the game. Lukoil Akademik was able to defend his titles in national championship and cup competitions in 2007 and 2008 and Smith won the double in Bulgaria twice .

For the 2008/09 season Smith, who failed to return to the NBA again in the summer, then got a contract with the Chinese Basketball Association with the Zhongyu from Shanxi . In December 2008, however, he had to make room in the squad for the former NBA star Bonzi Wells and Smith went to the NBL Australasia to the South Dragons from Melbourne . With these he won the championship in this league for the first time and was awarded as MVP of the final series. Then Smith was briefly active in the summer of 2009 for the first time in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) on Puerto Rico for the former runner-up Gigantes from Carolina . While the South Dragons had to stop their game operations in the NBL after winning the championship, Smith was brought back to the CBA by the Shanxi Zhongyu. In March 2010, he then moved to Venezuela for the first time to the Marinos from Anzoátegui , who lost the final series for the championship against the Cocodrilos from Caracas as defending champions in the LPB . After he had signed a contract with the Vaqueros from Bayamón in the BSN Puerto Ricos in the summer of 2010 , he played again at the beginning of the 2010/11 season in Venezuela in the LNB for the Espartanos from Isla Margarita . In December 2010, it brought the Dinosaurs from Liaoning back to the CBA.

In March 2011 Smith returned to the Marinos to Venezuela, with whom he won the championship back in the final series against defending champion Cocodrilos. In the last final game he was the “ top scorer ”. In the 2011/12 season Smith played for Fuerza Regia from Monterrey in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional Mexico . After finishing the main round in second, they lost the play-off semi-final series against defending champion Toros from Nuevo Laredo in just under seven games. Immediately afterwards Smith returned to the BSN Puerto Ricos, where he won the BSN championship this time with the Indios from Mayagüez . For the 2012/13 season, Smith then got a contract with Maccabi from Haifa in the Israeli Ligat ha'Al , which is part of the FIBA Europa division . In addition to Smith, Maccabi signed the Mexican Paul Stoll as another player who had previously been active in the LNBP and was named the best Mexican player in the LNBP 2011/12. In the previous year as eleventh still bottom of the table in the highest Israeli league, which was played in that season without relegation, Maccabi reached the final of the Israeli championship for the first time in four years in 2013. There they surprisingly defeated the team from defending champion Maccabi Tel Aviv , which had previously won 50 of 59 championship titles since 1954, and won the championship for the first time.

After the end of the season, Smith was won by the Venezuelan association for the national team in 2013 and naturalized at short notice . At the American Championship 2013 in front of his home crowd in Caracas, he was also the top scorer of the national team within the team . Nevertheless, it was barely enough to qualify for the final round of the 2014 World Cup . After missing qualification at the pre-Olympic qualification tournament in Venezuela a year earlier, this meant another disappointment for the national team, which had not qualified for a global finals since 2006. For the 2013-14 season, Smith returned to Maccabi Haifa, who replaced Stoll with his national team-mate David Cubillan . In the Eurocup 2013/14 you reached the second round, in which Smith was named the most effective player on the third day of the week as the "Player of the Week" after he was awarded this award in the preliminary round on the third day.

Web links

Commons : Donta Smith  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• SMITH, Donta - Statistics on the websites of the ULEB ( English )
• archive.fiba.com: Players - Donta Lamont SMITH (VEN) - Overview of participation in international FIBA tournaments (English)
• Baloncesto Superior Nacional de Puerto Rico: Smith, Donta - player profile on the websites of the BSN ( Spanish )
• Donta Smith - player profile on basketball-reference.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bulgarian Basketball, Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings - NBL: Season 2006-2007 - All-Star Game - Aquatec wins in overtime. Eurobasket.com, accessed January 26, 2014 (season summary). 
2. ↑ Venezuelan Basketball, Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings - LPB: Season 2011 - Marinos win LPB title! Latinbasket.com, July 11, 2011, accessed January 26, 2014 (from Season Summary page). 
3. ↑ Last 32 Round 3 MVP: Donta Smith, Maccabi Haifa Bazan. ULEB , January 23, 2014, accessed January 26, 2014 .