Ish Smith fourth in the league in assists through eight games with Pelicans
Ish Smith has played for nine different teams in six NBA seasons. But pressed into action this year thanks to the rash of injuries that have hit the Pelicans, he's made the most of his opportunity thus far.
Smith is fourth in the league in assists through the first eight games of the season, and head coach Alvin Gentry is among those who have been extremely impressed.
Smith wasn't even signed to the team until the day before the regular season began, and his sudden ability to jump right in and contribute has been one of the lone bright spots for New Orleans during what's otherwise been a really rough start.
''Here, coach is just kind wants to play fast and that kind of fits the way I want to play,'' Smith said. ''But it's not about me, it's the team and we got to keep pushing to find that way. Everybody journey is different and I'm going to continue to push. I like to push the ball in transition and find guys.''
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''It's really tough, especially just coming in,'' Alvin Gentry said. ''It would have been different if he had been in training camp and had gone through the whole situation. But you just pick a guy up and then throw him out there, I thought he responded great. I just think it's a situation and Dell and I talked about it and we just got to keep our head above water. We just got to keep playing hard and competing.''
