Even in what was perhaps the greatest game that JR Smith ever played in the NBA, he wasn't perfect. On April 13, 2009, Smith came off the bench for the Denver Nuggets in a matchup with the bottom-of-the-barrel Sacramento Kings and scored a career-high 45 points. From beyond the arc, he was absolutely unconscious.
He's one of just 13 players in league history to make 11 three-pointers in a single game, and there wasn't much to complain about regarding his accuracy from deep. But he did miss seven threes, if you really want to be a jerk and point out the imperfections in his stat line, and by definition, that's not perfect. It's 11-18 from deep, good for 61 percent, which is an amazing number by NBA standards.
61 percent on a standard 4.0 GPA scale, however, comes out to exactly 0.0. Luckily, Smith's GPA was a little bit higher as he finished his first semester as a college student with the North Carolina A&T Aggies.
In fact, Smith was as good as you can get in the academics department, coming out of the first half of his freshman year with a sparkling 4.0 GPA. This achievement meant a lot to him, as he explained in a video shared to social media.
"I can't even describe the feeling, I ain't even gonna lie to you," Smith said. "I ain't even gonna lie. A lot of hard work went into that sh--, bro. When I tell you 4.0, when I tell you some sh-- you work for, oh my God. Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 11:00, sometimes longer. Straight school work, when you're not used to going to school and doing all of that sh--? Oh man."
It wasn't the smoothest transition for Smith, who had trouble getting classmates to believe that it was actually him, the former NBA player, in their group projects and school work. In his first college golf tournament, his troubles continued.
Related
But in the classroom? Though it didn't come without hard work and a lot of dedication to the books, which he evidently hadn't been used to after years as an NBA star, it sounds like he did as well as anyone possibly could have done. For that, cheers to Smith.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram