Dorian Finney-Smith

Dorian Lawrence Finney-Smith was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, to Desiree Finney-Jones. His brother, Ben Finney, played basketball at Old Dominion. Finney-Smith attended and played basketball for I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth. As a junior, he averaged 19.7 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks per game. The following season, he posted per-game averages of 18 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.8 blocks. Finney-Smith led his school to back-to-back Group AAA championships, as well as Eastern Region and District titles. He finished his high school career as a two-time VHSL Class AAA Player of the Year and first-team all-state, all-region, All-Tidewater and all-district. He also earned All-Tidewater Player of the Year as a junior and co-Player of the Year as a senior. In his brief time as an NBA player, Finney-Smith has found ways to give back to the community. He helped found the Finney Family First Foundation (https://www.instagram.com/finneyfamilyfoundation/) with the mission to "inspire the youth to become productive members of society by providing service to the community." For four consecutive years he has returned to to Portsmouth to host the foundation's annual Community Love Day. Finney-Smith has also given much of his time working with and inspiring youth in the Dallas area. Learn more about Finney-Smith by following him on Twitter (@doefinney_10). The collegiate career of Finney-Smith began at Virginia Tech so that the forward could stay in state to play hoops. He had a solid campaign for the Hokies with 6.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. However, he decided to transfer to Florida after coach Seth Greenberg was fired. He sat out the 2012-13 season before joining a team that would make its way to the Final Four. The 6-foot-8 forward came off the bench in support of Casey Prather and Patric Young and supplied 8.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest. He scored 16 points in the first-round win over Albany and snagged eight boards to help the Gators beat Pitt. Finney-Smith would blossom into a star in his junior and senior seasons, but he would not return to the Big Dance. He provided 13.1 points and 6.2 rebounds as a junior. The big man also hit 42.6 percent of his three-point attempts. The Gators finished 8-10 in the SEC in what would be Billy Donovan's final season. Coach Mike White took over in 2015-16 and Finney-Smith had eight double-doubles, but the Gator profile was not quite good enough to get back to the NCAA Tournament. The team won two games in the NIT and Finney-Smith had 16 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Ohio State.