Aug. 5, 2005
Free agent guard and former University of New Mexico men’s basketball player Charles Smith signed a multi-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers Thursday. The signing was announced by the team’s General Manager John Nash and terms of the contracts were not given.
The 6-4, 200-pound Smith re-joins the Trail Blazers after spending last season with Scavolini Pesaro in the Italian League. Smith played for Portland during the 2002-03 season, playing a total of 13 minutes in three games and spending 79 games on the injured list.
In 32 games last season, Smith averaged a Euroleague best 22.2 points per game and added 3.7 rebounds per contest. In 2003-04, Smith played two games for Makedonikos Kozani in Greece and 37 games with Virtus Bologna in Italy, averaging 24.3 points per game in the Italian League.
Overall, the 29-year-old Smith has played in 120 NBA games with four different clubs – Miami (1997-98), Los Angeles Clippers (1997-98, 1998-99), San Antonio (2001-02) and Portland. His best season was with the Spurs where Smith played in 60 games and averaged 7.4 points per game.
Smith played four years at the University of New Mexico (1994-97) and finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,993 career points.