Keith Smart

[Hovadipo]

@IndianaMBB: Our thoughts & prayers are with @MiamiHEAT assistant Keith Smart, on leave to receive cancer treatment.

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[Striper]

My favorite #23 of all time.  Hoping for a quick recovery.

[ALASKA HOOSIER]

Get well, Keith! Prayers

[Alford Bailey]

Hang tough Keith. 

[KingPG21]

Fuck cancer

[JaybobHoosier]

Prayers Keith, get well soon!

[USMCHoosier]

Prayers for Keith, his family and friends.

[coonhounds]

Prayers for Keith. My favorite shot in my iu fandom history

[Beowulf50]

I'm fair complected and have had a bout with skin cancer though mine so far has been easily cured. I am very concerned about future sun exposure and plan on being very proactive! Prayers and thoughts with Keith and his family.

[schoosier]

God bless you, Keith! I remember how a lot of people thought how could 2 juco kids come in and help the program? Well, almost 30 years later we are still waiting for 2 more just like them.

[LIHoosier]

Remission! http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2016/04/exploring-justise-winslows-offensive-growth-and-heat-mentoring-of-their-rookies.html

Met with the Heat yesterday in Sacramento.

 

SMART MAKES CAMEO

The Heat was buoyed this morning by the presence of assistant coach Keith Smart, who is in remission after receiving treatment for a rare form of cancer that surfaced on the left side of his jaw.

Smart has been in San Francisco receiving six weeks of treatment since stepping away from the team on Jan. 26. Smart, who addressed the team at its morning shootaround, said he expects to rejoin the coaching staff by the playoffs.

Smart plans to return to South Florida in the next 10 days.

"I have to go through this skin regeneration where I'm going to look like a Thriller [Michael Jackson] video. Want to make sure everything is healthy as I start to get through my daily life as a coach," he said, adding he lost 25 pounds during treatment and "formed a kinship with the people I'm going through treatment with. I became the unofficial coach with our team every morning, trying to bring some encouragement to get through it. I had 140 people giving me encouragement every day."

Smart left the team in mid-December, returned Jan. 11 and then left again Jan. 26. He said he returned for two weeks because doctors "were waiting for the right type of treatment we were going to use" because it's a rare form of cancer.

He said the treatment lessened the odds of a recurrence from 50-50 to 1 in 500.

[Tom White]

Very encouraging!

Thanks for posting that update.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Great news on Keith and his coaching career.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Gets to coach the #1 ranked kid in the country A. J. Dybansta.

[jermhoosierfan]

6 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Gets to coach the #1 ranked kid in the country A. J. Dybansta.

Good for him.  I have always liked him, and wasn't he coaching in college for a short time?

[moyemayhem]

12 minutes ago, jermhoosierfan said:

Good for him.  I have always liked him, and wasn't he coaching in college for a short time?

Smart coached for 20 years in the NBA, including three brief stints as a head coach for some very untalented teams.  His 9-31 record as interim head coach of the Cavaliers in 2002-03 was instrumental in helping Cleveland draft Lebron James.

[IUHoosierJoe]

24 minutes ago, jermhoosierfan said:

Good for him.  I have always liked him, and wasn't he coaching in college for a short time?

He was at Arkansas assisting Musselman

[jermhoosierfan]

2 hours ago, IUHoosierJoe said:

He was at Arkansas assisting Musselman

Ok, I thought that he was.  Be nice to see him return to AH sometime.

[Demo]

9 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Gets to coach the #1 ranked kid in the country A. J. Dybansta.

Good for Keith. Also sheds a bit of light on something I’ve been curious about for a while: how much HC’s at the basketball factories make. Enough for a guy like Smart, who was a probably 350-400k guy at Arkansas. Imagine not that much, but clearly enough.