Sam Smith (born on January 24, 1948, in Brooklyn, New York) is a NBA writer for the Chicago Bulls website Bulls.com. Smith has appeared numerous times on the local sports television talk show Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast Sports Net.
Smith received a buyout from the Chicago Tribune on April 1, 2008. He is also the NBA writer for Sporting News magazine as well as a frequent guest on the Steve Czaban, Tony Kornheiser and Mike North radio shows. On October 24, 2008, Smith began writing exclusively for the official Chicago Bulls website Bulls.com.
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Growing up in Brooklyn, Smith was a huge New York Yankees fan. His favorite childhood baseball players were Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle. After high school, Smith attended Pace University, graduating with a degree in accounting. He earned his master's degree in journalism from Ball State. He then went on to become the press secretary to Connecticut Senator Lowell Weicker in the 1970s. However, because of Smith's positive coverage of the Black Panthers Organization, Smith was let go by Weicker. Before his employment with the Chicago Tribune, Smith wrote for the newspaper in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Smith has written two books: The Jordan Rules and Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan from Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again (or simply Second Coming). The Jordan Rules was featured on the New York Times Bestseller List. He is known around the NBA as a writer that proposes many trades, the most notable of which would be his attempts to persuade the Chicago Bulls to trade for Kevin Garnett. One major proposal made by Smith was the Ron Artest and Brad Miller for Jalen Rose trade, sending Artest and Miller to the Indiana Pacers. The Bulls eventually executed the deal.
He is married, has two children, and lives in Geneva, Illinois.