“I want to be the bridge to the next generation,” said Michael Jordan once and the legend has surely kept his word as thousands look up for inspiration. From Kobe Bryant’s fadeaway jumpers to LeBron James’ high dunks, the Chicago Bulls legend has left a lasting mark on countless NBA stars. The train continues with Josh Smith. But the title of his ‘inspiration’ isn’t limited to His Airness.

In the latest episode of the ‘Knuckleheads podcast’, the former NBA veteran Josh Smith opened up about the profound impact of two figures on his path to the NBA — Michael Jordan and his father Pete Smith, a lesser-known entity but equally an influential local legend.

Smith reveals that he did not have cable back at home, so he couldn’t watch any NBA games. Hence, the only player he grew up watching and drawing inspiration from was Michael Jordan. Add that to the Atlanta Hawks star’s father being a respected basketball player closer home, Josh Smith had his two idol figures to learn from.

“Well, I think he might have played with a veterans camp. Maybe I don’t think he played like, I don’t think he really played a game like that, but he got an opportunity to try out. But he was kind of like a, you know, inner city legend. Played at Ben Hill. He played for the adult team,” said Josh Smith of his father during the interview.

Pete Smith started his basketball journey when he joined the Cincinnati Bearcats to play college basketball. But that stint was for a short time since he returned to Georgia because of homesickness. Surprisingly, he went on to play for the Valdosta State Blazers, where he was the only black athlete in the whole school. Pete Smith’s NBA journey began when he was selected as the 197th overall pick by the Buffalo Braves in 1971. However, the power forward didn’t play any games with them.

Apart from the NBA, Pete had also made small stints in the ABA League and the EBA League. Quite a few learning firsthand for Josh Smith then. The 38-year-old even mentions that with the encouragement of his father, he took to the sport as early as age 2. “So Michael Jordan and my pops is probably the biggest inspirations of me wanting to kind of play the game,” he hence adds on the podcast.

Smith would go on to become one of the better defensive players in the NBA, becoming the youngest player, at 24, to record 1,000 career blocks.

The players that Josh Smith liked the most in blocking

While ‘J-Smoove’, might not have clinched a Defensive Player of the Year award, it can’t be denied that his defensive prowess, particularly his shot-blocking ability was elite.

During the podcast, Smith was asked about the players he liked the most to block. His answer was the Chinese giant Yao Ming and another NBA veteran, Dwight Howard — the 3x DOPY and his teammate at Houston Rockets. “Got to go Yao Ming man and Dwight. I used to like blocking Dwight, he used to get his feels about that because I block him I get to say something to get up under his skin, he be like ‘Okay alright alright alright‘ (impersonating Howard’s voice),” said Smith.

The Hawks’ star was known to be a great rim-protector and one of the best post players. But he was selected to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team just once in 2010. He then finished his career with 1,713 blocks, having revealed to study his opponents’ moves – Carmelo Anthony and Zach Randolph made the list as well.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.