Craig Smith provides relief off bench for Clippers

Reporting from Chicago — 

It was a New Year’s resolution that sounded familiar: CraigSmith wanted to get more active.

Only it didn’t involve treadmills or weight loss, just being more assertive coming off the bench. January was a time of progress for the Clippers forward, although not for his team, which had a 6-9 record last month.

Smith averaged 11.9 points and 4.9 rebounds last month after averaging 3.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in December. He was productive even on nights when the Clippers struggled, scoring 21 points in a blowout loss at Denver and 18 in a dispiriting setback last week against the New Jersey Nets.

“I was just going into the new year trying to make an impact as far as being aggressive regardless of how long I’m in there for, whether it’s two seconds or five minutes,” said Smith, the former Fairfax High standout whom the Clippers acquired in July from Minnesota.

Smith is getting more playing time, 20.7 minutes per game in January, up from the 9.8 minutes he averaged in December.

“Craig’s been giving us a lot of good work off the bench the last couple of weeks,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “When we need scoring down there, we go to him and he’s been able to deliver.”

Packing a muscular 6-foot-7, 250-pound frame that earned him the nickname “the Rhino,” Smith often plays bigger than his size, slashing through the lane for layups and drawing fouls. He shot 62% from the field and made 44 free throws in January after attempting 48 in the season’s first two-plus months.

Smith’s effort has raised the level of his fellow reserves. The Clippers bench is averaging 33.3 points in the team’s last 10 games, far outpacing its average of 23.9 points per game this season.

“I’m just out there playing hard, whether it’s rebounding, defense, offense, just trying to make an impact,” Smith said, “and I think it spread to everybody coming off the bench.”

Now if only that effort could translate into wins.

“It is difficult to see, me playing much more aggressive and a little bit better but our outcome is the same,” he said.

The next chapter

Having fallen to a season-worst seven games under .500 in the wake of a four-game losing streak, Dunleavy acknowledged Monday that the Clippers had reached a low point.

Point guard Baron Davis called a players-only meeting on Friday, but Dunleavy said he wasn’t about to start giving out books to each player like a certain Lakers coach does before a long trip.

“How do you monitor if somebody reads your books?” Dunleavy said, smiling. “I don’t think there are any quizzes at the end.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com