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“Don’t hit the ceiling,” that’s pretty much the only advice Cabool boy’s basketball coach Brad Shockley has for his senior sharp-shooter Jon Smith.
“John’s just always been around even when he was in junior high,” said Smith. “He’s a gym rat!”
That gym rat has become one of the most prolific three-point shooters in the state. He has 89 three-point field goals in just 14 games this season (6.4 per game), and his 182 career treys are already a school record.
At 38% from long range, it’s pretty clear why Smith is given what Shockley calls the “ultimate green light”.
“We lost a lot of size from last year’s team,” said Shockley. “We kind of live and die by the three-pointer sometimes and over the summer other schools started calling us ‘Little Golden State’.”
But this Bulldogs has something even NBA MVP Steph Curry doesn’t have. Curry set a new NBA record with 13 three-pointers in a game last November. Less than month later, Smith tied that mark with 13 treys in a win over Plato. As if that wasn’t enough, two weeks ago he hit 14 threes and 49 points in a 92-90 loss to Bradleyville; second most three-point field goals in a game in Missouri high school history (16 is the record).
“I just kept shooting and scooting back more and they just kept falling,” said Smith.
“That was the game that he showed him his range,” said Shockley. “He was shooting them from ridiculously deep. I tell him I don’t care where you shoot it from. If you feel like that’s a shot you want to take then I tell him to shoot it.”
At 5-foot-10 Smith realized pretty early on that his niche would come from long range.
“My sophomore year is when I started cranking them.”
Why?
“More points than the other shots.”
So it comes as no surprise who he likens himself to in the NBA.
“His (Steph Curry’s) shot is pretty quick, mine is pretty quick. He’s not the tallest in the league, I’m not the tallest. He doesn’t drive much, I don’t drive much.”
But with teams taking notice of his prolific shooting nature, Smith may have to alter his game a bit.
“Nose in my belly,” Smith said of defenders lately. “I’m going to have to start driving more.”
Smith has made 76 three-pointers this season. He needs 33 more to tie Chris Bock’s single season school record of 109. The Bulldogs are scheduled to have at least 10 more games.
