UCLA Basketball: Has Josh Smith Really Gotten Thinner? Westwood Residents Say Otherwise

Recently, we passed you on some reports that UCLA basketball center Josh Smith has lost considerable amount of weight. Fifteen pounds, actually, from what the reports say, and although that’s not as much as we’d like, it’s progress. When it comes to Smith, we’ll take what we can get.

Except we might not be able to count the pounds before Smith has actually lost them. Because, based on some discussion on r/UCLA, a subreddit for UCLA news, Josh Smith is actually still the same weight. Here’s what some of them said:

"On a link to GJB’s post with video of Smith working out: I see the dude almost every day, since he lives in my apartment building. He looks basically the same. I’m not saying he hasn’t lost weight, but if he has it hasn’t been enough to be physically noticed. The picture comparison to the video kinda didn’t help. Just saying… […] I’ll believe it when I see him dominating the court. He’s ALWAYS eating junk food in the elevator. Nice guy though."

This is in stark contrast to the reports and from what we’ve, perhaps, convinced ourselves to see. Media reports should always be taken with a grain of salt, especially when surrounding the UCLA basketball team, which is always under such a heavy microscope.

But Smith had someone (presumably another student) defend him, saying the following on a link to a report by ESPN that he had lost weight:

"I just saw him today (July 12) actually in my apartment building. He actually looks a bit slimmer than before. It’s encouraging that the article actually says a specific amount of weight that he’s lost, rather than just vague statements about his fitness."

These are all observations, but sometimes, having people who are trying to be objective and relaying info we cannot take in ourselves is crucial.

Smith is on a hell of a leash, and it’s unfair to judge his progress before we have even seen him suit up in a game. But we’re nervous as hell for the dude, and we want him so badly to succeed because, by all accounts, he seems like such a cool guy.

But hearing things like this for a supposed lottery pick in the NBA draft is disheartening:

"I think he ordered a quesadilla and carne asada burrito like 4 times a week lol"

We hope you get it together, Smith, because my damn, would you be a beast.

GO BRUINS!!!