D League center Greg Smith has received a crash course in system and terminology since he arrived in Minneapolis last night and the Timberwolves officially signed him today to a 10-day contract.
Signed from the Raptors 905 team just outside Toronto, Smith has played 131 career NBA games over parts of four seasons with Dallas and Houston.
With the Wolves down to just two healthy big men -- Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng -- someone asked Wolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell if Smith will play tonight at Target Center against a Washington team that's big with Marcin Gortat and Nene.
"Absolutely," Mitchell said. "How much he plays, I don't know. How much he can retain, I don't know. But we need him...Tonight, if we need him he's just going to have to play. He's just going to have to feel his way through it."
Smith found out Tuesday afternoon he was headed back to the NBA. In a matter of hours, he was packed and on a flight to Minnesota.
"I mean, I've played basketball my whole life," said Smith, 25. So I don't think it's going to be hard. Just the coverages and getting that down and getting the play calls. I think when you get on the court basketball is natural. So I should be able to do things on the fly with certain things."
