Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune takes a look at new Portland Trail Blazers forward Craig "The Rhino" Smith... ----------------------- "You think of Portland, (the Blazers) always play hard and they get into the playoffs no matter what their roster is," he says. "They called me and said, ‘Hey, we really want you here.’ "It’s good to have a feeling like that, where somebody wants you. I’d had a tough five years on some bad teams. It was time to change that." The Blazers love Smith’s work ethic. Assistant coach Buck Williams says Smith has his number on speed-dial, at his beck-and-call for a workout at the team’s practice facility. "He’ll text me and said, ‘Let’s go work out,’ " Williams says. "He is in the gym all the time. He has heart, and he does a lot of stuff on the box. He is not afraid to take tough shots in there. He has been phenomenal for us so far." ----------------------- Blazers Acting GM Chad Buchanan credits Basketball Analytics Manager Ben Falk with helping to identify Smith's strong per-minute efficiency numbers during the offseason. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter