SALT LAKE CITY — On the outside, it appears Ryan Smith is living a childhood dream.
He was in the Utah Jazz draft war room. Quin Snyder has pulled him into meetings to give him a personalized chat about defense. For someone who grew up a Jazz fan with daydreams of suiting up for the squad, the last six weeks have been unsurprisingly surreal.
But while it's all been a whirlwind of excitement, it comes with a weight of responsibility. He knows how important the Jazz are to the Utah community; he knows because they've always been important to him. First as a kid growing up in Provo; then as one of the world's premier entrepreneurs using it as a way to spend time with his family and uplift the community.