Phil Jackson’s tenure with the New York Knicks didn’t go so well, and ended with his resignation in June, just days after the NBA draft. He opted to take Frank Ntilikina with the No. 8 pick, before Dennis Smith Jr., who was the splashier name, and could be a more promising prospect. There are many reasons why Jackson chose the French guard, but maaaaybe we can now entertain the idea that he didn’t take Smith because of the 19-year-old’s hesitancy to gorge himself on the tentacles of a fine octopus.
Phil Jackson made Dennis Smith Jr. eat an octopus tentacle in pre-draft meeting
Yeah.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
“We went out to some restaurant and they had me eat some octopus,” Smith Jr. told the New York Daily News, “like an actual octopus tentacle. First time ever. I wasn’t going to try it, honestly. They kind of put the pressure on me to do it.”
I mean just...
Octopus isn’t what the teens want, Phil.
This sound like an incredibly uncomfortable experience for a rookie to have to go through, and couple that with the drama surrounding Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony and Smith must’ve been incredibly relieved to fall to the Dallas Mavericks in the draft.
Smith looked incredibly good at the NBA’s summer league last month, bringing hope to a post-Dirk Nowitzki Mavs team. The tentacle didn’t seem to bother him.
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