After being drafted 36th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2006 NBA Draft out of Boston College, power forward Craig Smith would go on to play six seasons in the NBA. Despite being undersized for his position, and lacking the high-volume and/or high efficiency three-point shot that would now be mandatory in a young forward prospect, he was able to put together a solid career for several seasons, largely on account of his physicality.
Because of how strong he was, Smith earned the nickname “Rhino” throughout his playing career. And now that his playing career is over, Smith is hoping to do something else with that moniker.
As a part of a wider scope to help with local communities, Smith has opened a foundation – named the Taylored Rhino Foundation, combining his nickname with the forename of his late brother – which has begun to sell merchandise, with the express intent to raise awareness over the abolishment of rhino poaching. The facility to do that is not yet on the website, but Smith has announced that it soon will be.
https://tayloredrhinofoundation.org/programsThe mission statement for the foundation of Craig “Rhino” Smith, former NBA player and member of the Minnesota Timberwolves
Craig Smith, Rhino Fan
The foundation was founded in Smith’s home state of California, and there is probably not a lot of rhino poaching that takes place in California. Nevertheless, no doubt catalyzed by the nickname from his playing days, Smith’s wide-ranging aims for his foundation will seemingly include something rhino-related.
Beyond the poaching strand, Smith’s foundation will run youth programs and events in California, as well as offer a sponsorship program for children’s literacy. Building off of his penchant for writing even during his playing career, Smith himself has become a children’s author, authoring two books to date: Craig and his Magic Basketball, featuring a rhino in sunglasses, and Coloring With Craig, which is exactly what it sounds like.
In addition to his foundation, books and anti-poaching position, Smith also hosts a weekly motivational podcast named The Underdogs (or which at least used to be weekly), coaches at the high school level, works as a community ambassador for the Los Angeles Clippers, is available for hire as a motivational speaker and mentor, is working on a cartoon series and a feature film, and works as a director for Sootchy, a company/app designed to reduce student debt. He is one busy rhino.
Solid If Brief Playing Career
Smith played for three teams in his six NBA seasons, spending the majority of his time with the Timberwolves. Upon leaving the Timberwolves in a trade package with Sebastian Telfair and Mark Madsen in exchange for Quentin Richardson – what a collection of guys that is to include in a single trade, by the way – Smith would play two more seasons with the Clippers, and tied on a sixth with the Portland Trail Blazers,
In total, Smith appeared in 403 regular season games, almost all of which saw him come off the bench, where he carved out as niche as a seventh-man potent scorer. He finished his NBA career with averages of 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and not much else per game, shooting 55.3% from the field through his footwork, strength, touch, movement, post play and ability to get to the rim on the roll, but not having a favorable defensive position to be able to cement a starting role.
Two years in Israel, two months in the G League and a part-season in China’s second-tier league would follow, but Smith’s playing career outside of the NBA was brief. It seems, with the breadth of his foundation’s scope and the sheer number of options on his Linktree page, that Smith had plenty of other things he wanted to do in life beyond playing basketball. If one of them sees him end the ghastly practice of rhino poaching, that would be great.
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