To stay or to go. That was the dilemma for Mike Smith, Michigan basketball's fifth-year senior point guard, once the 2020-21 season concluded.

The NCAA deemed last season a 'free year' for eligibility, so every player in the country had the chance to return. Senior guard Eli Brooks, for example, is set to take advantage and play one more year with the Maize and Blue. Smith, who played at Columbia for four years before transferring to Michigan for one, however, is moving on and will pursue a career in the NBA, something he has dreamed of for a lifetime.

Smith is in Miami, working out with Remy Workouts, run by Stanley Remy, who specializes in basketball skills training. Before he left for Florida, Smith was back home in the Chicago area to spend some time with family and friends, and he was able to get some work in with Authentic Basketball, which is headed by twin brothers and sports performance trainers Julian Boateng and Stanley Boateng, with the latter having worked with Smith for several years.

Julian, who has seen Smith progress over the last two years, shared some insight into Smith's preparation, where he's trying to take what he did in college and morph it into a style of play that will work at the next level.

"We're doing a lot of double-teaming off the pick and roll, he’s spinning through the defenders or shooting the ball over the top of us or using another screen to go by us," he said. "So we’re drawing up a lot of NBA situational type of drills, and we also want to create his shot more.

"Obviously, when you watched him at Michigan, he was scoring over people at 6-5, people that are taller than him, so he’s been great at that. But we’re just doing a lot of shooting, deep range shooting, NBA type of deep range shooting.

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"He’s going to play against better defenders, longer defenders, so we put him in a position where he can be successful doing that."

That's going to be the key. Smith was able to seamlessly transition from the Ivy League, where he averaged nearly 23 points per game in 2019-20, to the Big Ten for one season in which his scoring numbers were lower (nine points per game) — he had plenty of scoring talent around him — but his assist numbers were way up, topping the Big Ten at 5.4 per game.

It's not a seamless transition for many when going from college to the NBA, and it wouldn't be for Smith, either. But there is confidence that he can make the jump, with Boateng projecting him as a "poor man's Nate Robinson with a higher I.Q."

Smith's name isn't showing up on mock drafts, but that hasn't scared him away from chasing his dream. Remember, his name didn't often show up on recruiting sites while he was in high school or national headlines when he was at Columbia. The mentality he's taking into the pre-draft process is the same one he's had for some time now — this is nothing new.

"Knowing Mike, he’s going to be ready for anything that comes his way," Boateng said. "You gotta understand, he’s been an underdog his whole life; everyone counted him out. He went to Fenwick High School and led his team to success. He performed really well at Columbia. Obviously, his senior year, he averaged 23 points as the lead guard. And even going into Michigan, people counted him out, [said] that he was too short or he’s not good enough, he’s not fast enough to even play in the Big Ten. And not only could he play in the Big Ten, he performed really well in the Big Ten, he led Michigan to the conference title in arguably the best conference in the country. That says a lot. That’s big, that’s really huge.

"His confidence is going to be really high, regardless of the situation he’s in. We’re hoping that he does get drafted. If he doesn’t get drafted, we highly expect him to be on a Summer League roster and perform at the highest level. I, and a lot of people, believe that he will make an NBA roster and he will be a point guard in the NBA next year."

That could mean Smith's route will continue to be unconventional, but that's something he's already used to.

Smith was able to befriend Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler while he was in high school in the Chicago area and Butler was playing for the Bulls. Butler has served as a mentor to Smith ever since, and his story is more untraditional than many would expect out of a five-time All-Star.

Butler, a two-star recruit, didn't have any Division I offers out of high school, so he attended Tyler Junior College for one year, before earning a scholarship at Marquette, where he starred for the final three years of his college career. He was picked at the end of the first round in the 2011 NBA Draft, and the rest was history.

"I’m confident that Jimmy’s going to show him the ropes and he’s going to lead him in the right direction when it comes to Mike’s dreams and aspirations," Boateng said.

"Everyone has their path in the NBA. It’s not like if you go undrafted it’s the end of the world — no. There are guys that are in the NBA now that were undrafted that have great success stories. And again, like I mentioned before, we hope that Mike will get drafted, but if he doesn’t, there’s always a different route to the NBA, and we’re confident that he’ll get there."

Smith has a chance, and that's all he needs, Boateng says.

"In my opinion, if you have a chance to get him, I’d tell GMs to go get him, because he’s not going to disappoint you," Boateng said. "He’s going to come in, he’s going to work hard, he’s going to be the first one in the gym, the last one out.

"He’s a great leader, very vocal; his teammates loved him at Michigan, you can just tell by the body language. You can just tell he’s going to be one of those players that you’re going to look back in a couple years and say, ‘Wow, he made a great impact in the NBA compared to where he came from.’"

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