Sunday Insider: All the comforts of home

Power forward Craig Smith went from one basement dweller to another, but he's happy to be back in sunny L.A.

By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune

Last update: November 22, 2009 - 9:58 AM

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There's a reason they call Craig Smith "Rhino."

And it's not because he's a guy likely to cartwheel.

Yet when his agent woke him in Los Angeles early one morning last summer with word that he had been traded from the Timberwolves to someplace warmer, he almost tried one.

"Actually, it was a backflip," he said. "Tried a backflip. But it didn't go too well."

His agent only hinted at his new destination and didn't tell him right away that he was headed home to L.A. and the Clippers, with Sebastian Telfair and Mark Madsen, for Quentin Richardson's contract.

"He asked me how it'd feel to play in 80-degree weather," Smith said. "I said, 'Well, what type of weather? With a nice, cool ocean breeze?' That takes Miami out of the picture."

Smith is back in the city where he was raised after going to school at Boston College and playing three NBA seasons in Minnesota.

"I was real excited, but it was unfortunate to see me and Bassy [Telfair] leave Minnesota," he said. "I have a lot of good memories there: teammates, the whole organization. But this is the next thing. It would have been one thing if I went to Memphis or something, but I ended coming home, so that's really good."

New Wolves boss David Kahn made the three-for-one trade because he felt he needed to open roster spaces to provide future salary-cap flexibility. He also considered the Wolves undersized and not nearly athletic enough up front, so he dealt a 6-6 inside player he likely would not re-sign after this season. He also included Telfair in the deal after the Wolves drafted point guards Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn.

The Clippers wanted Smith precisely because he puts the power in his forward position.

Only trouble is, Smith wrongly applied that power when he first joined the Clippers. Both No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin and center Marcus Camby missed days during the preseason after colliding in practice with a rhinoceros.

"It was unfortunate," said Smith, who's playing in goggles these days because of a scratched eye. "They were running into me."

Presumably, Smith now is applying that power -- "That's why his nickname stuck with him, he's the full force," Telfair said - in the proper direction now that he and Telfair are coming off the bench for a Clippers team still waiting for Griffin's regular-season debut because of a kneecap injury unrelated to Smith's brute strength. He and Telfair each is averaging about 16 minutes a game for the 4-9 Clippers.

The trade sent Smith home. It also sent him to a team that has won four more games through the season's first month than his former one, whom he'll face Monday night at Staples Center for the second time already this season.

"Ryan, Big Al, B.C., K-Love, I miss all those guys," Smith said, referring to former teammates Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, Brian Cardinal and Kevin Love. "This is very different. That's a direction they [the Wolves] wanted to go in. There's never no hard feelings. It's just a part of the business. It's good for me."

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