RALEIGH, N.C. _ Don't be confused about why Dennis Smith Jr. is here.
The freshman from Fayetteville is at N.C. State for one reason and it's not to be good.
Smith, a once-in-a-generation talent, is here to be great. And you can't be great if you merely aim to be good.
You've got to think bigger. This is not a problem for the 6-3, 195-pound point guard who most of his friends call "Joon" (short for Junior).
"I want to come in and win games and have a pretty good season," Smith said in an interview earlier this summer. "Ultimately I want to win a championship."
"A championship" sounds vague. Does Smith care to narrow that down?
"You have to start with the ACC championship," said Smith, who is rated as the No. 7 player in the freshmen class by 247 Sports. "That's the first one. That comes with winning games. And eventually win the national championship. That's the ultimate goal."
Smith's individual goals are no less lofty. He wants to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft. But there's more, according to Ja-Rell Bailey, who has helped train Smith for almost four years.
"He wants to be the best point guard that ever played in the NBA," Bailey said.
