St. Paul’s Finest Andre Smith in Izmir

A few weeks earlier I had been chatting with him on Facebook to see if he was returning to the BBL and he told me he had signed up to play for the Pinar Karsiyaka team in Izmir, Turkey.

I have to say I was shocked that he would not be returning to the BBL and one of my first questions would be why not?

I remember the first time I saw Andre play, at the Echo Arena in Liverpool as the Everton Tigers took on the Manchester Magic in a friendly game as a prelude to Great Britain Men taking on Israel in Eurobasket A.

Andre Smith had arrived in the UK that very day and had been taken from the Airport straight to the venue. He started the game on the bench and to be honest his first introduction onto the floor was something of a disaster. He turned the ball over a number of times and looked really unimpressive.

His next appearance in the second half was an altogether different affair as he quickly learned what the referees were calling and got down to work.

To put it mildly, he was very impressive that is until he went up to block a shot from the Magic big man and came down with a cut head. There was blood everywhere and it was the last we would see of Andre on that day. The Manchester Magic won the game but for me, I had seen enough to know that Mr Smith was going to be something special in this League.

Last season (08’09), I was lucky enough to be doing the play by play commentary for the Everton Tigers home games at Fortress Greenbank, and arrived for Game 1 to see a truly awesome team recruited by Head Coach Tony Garbelotto.

Leading from the front was, in my opinion, Andre Smith. The team included Richard Midgley, Chris Haslam, Josh Gross, Olu Babalola, James Jones and Marcus Bailey.

My wife and I arrived in Izmir at about midday and began phoning Andre. He was not picking up. We had agreed to meet for lunch and a chat, and we had been on a bus for over two hours travelling from Altinkum.

Eventually he picked up and we told him where we were. He then headed out from home and said he’d be about an hour. Eventually he arrived and it was a joy to see him. He had bought with him another American just signed to the Pinar Karsiyaka team, Ryan Toolson.

As I said earlier, Andre was truly awesome over the season, leading the Tigers to their first piece of Silverware – the BBL Cup. The team performance against the Plymouth Raiders had to be seen to be believed. Andre delivered an MVP performance. Read the Mike Shaft Cup Final Blog HERE.

Andre Smith was born in St Pauls Minnesotta in the USA, and as the above photo shows, he likes to be thought of as St Paul’s Finest.

It was truly a joy to see him again. Andre had played all season for the Tigers including their Play-Off game against the Scottish Rocks which would see them qualify, for the first time, for the Championship Weekend.

In the days leading up to that Weekend, rumours began to circulate that Andre was returning home and would not be playing in the BBL’S Showpiece event.

This was bad news all round as it was believed that The Tigers could progress no further without him.

As we chilled in one of Izmir’s top hotels, I began by asking him what all that was about. “Well” Said Andre “My dad was seriously ill and was not going to survive for long. If I wanted to say goodbye to him I was told I’d have to come now. I spoke to Coach Tony G and he said that I needed to go.”

Andre continued, “It was a tough decision but I knew I’d have to leave immediately. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to the folks at Everton, but I’d hoped that the fans would understand.”

Says Andre, “I expected to be returning to the UK for the coming season and I could explain to everybody. As the close season progressed I was surprised that there was no offer from the Tigers and perhaps more surprisingly, there were no offers from any other British team.”

I explained to him that I thought many teams assumed he was an expensive player because he played for the Tigers but he countered that ,”I was not even the highest paid player on the Tigers. Everybody assumed that they knew what we were getting paid and they were wrong.”

He continued, “In the end I got a solid offer from Turkey and that is how I come to be based here in Izmir now. I love the look of the team and I’m hoping that we can make the Play-Offs this year.”

The Karsiyaka team played their first pre-season friendly this week and were winners by a scoreline of 76 – 93. Andre Smith top scored with 22 points and 8 rebounds while Ryan Toolson added 21 points 2 boards and 3 assists. I think the Karsiyaka fans could be in for a good time this season.

Andre Smith had a great time in the UK and I hope he will return one day to grace the courts of the BBL once more. Before leaving I asked him about one of the most contentious stories of last season, his not getting the BBL MVP of the Year.

He smiled and said, “I got the mikeshaft.com MVP and he knows what he is talking about.”

The BBL will miss Andre Smith this season but in my opinion Andre Smith will miss the BBL even more.

Later

Mike S