Unselfish Chris Livingston a very coachable player

Ask Oak Hill Academy coach Steve Smith what he likes best about five-star wing player Chris Livingston and the answer might surprise you.

“He is a humble kind and a great teammate. He’s very unselfish and I like those qualities. You don’t find that every day in a five-star player nowadays,” said Smith. “As a player and person he has been great since he got here. Very coachable and a very, very good player.”

Livingston is a consensus top five player nationally in the 2022 recruiting class and the No. 1 small forward. He recently gave his verbal commitment to Kentucky and Smith, who sent Keldon Johnson and Ron Mercer to UK, thinks he will fit well into John Calipari’s system.

“He’s a 6-6 1/2 wing who is really athletic and shoots the 3,” Smith, a Kentucky native, said. “He has a great mid-range game. He gets to the rim very well and finishes.

“One thing really good about him not a lot of people know is that he is also a great passer. He sees the floor very well. He also wants to win more than anything. Even in 5-on-5 pickup games he wants to win and will pass the ball. He is not a kid who thinks he has to score every time he touches the ball.

“He rebounds well and we need him to rebound this year. He is doing that so far.”

Livingston is from Akron, Ohio, and played at Buchtel High School in Akron before going to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, as a sophomore. He spent last season back at Buchtel where he had one 54-point game before transferring to Oak Hill for his senior season.

Most feel he already has an NBA-ready body and he knows plenty about the NBA because LeBron James, who also is from Akron, befriended him and has helped train him.

“I have really been impressed with him just as a kid. I don’t really know these kids until they get here on campus and start living in the dorm. Once they are here, I get to know them more.”

Smith has coached numerous players who went on to play in the NBA. One constant with him is his emphasis on defense.

“Chris has a long wingspan and can be a great defender,” Smith said. “He is very coachable in drills. You tell him how to guard a screen or where he needs to be in help defense and he listens. He wants to be coached and wants to learn. He does not think he’s already there. He wants to be a really player in the future and knows that means playing defense.”

He came to Oak Hill to play against a strong national schedule where he would compete against the nation’s best prep players and also to be challenged daily in practice by talented teammates.

“Last year he was normally the only college player on the floor in practice or games,” Smith said. “His brother is here now and he’s a low Division 1 guy. Other than his brother, there were not any Division II or Division III players on this team. We have 10 future Division I players on our team. He wants to be challenged that way.

“He wants to play all the players ranked in front of him or seen as his equal and he will get to play them here with the schedule we face.”