JR Smith

[Cayman13]

He was asked to do what he was brought in to do which is play good defense and hit shots. He did neither. The excuse of he didn't play well because they asked him to be the "2nd/3rd option" is bogus. They asked him to be a Fiat and he ran like a Pinto. He mailed it in after reaching the finals.

There are no excuses for JR Smith. We're past those days - if you don't bring it, sionara, as far as I'm concerned. I'm done with players like that.

 

[Scrote Squad]

Proved himself to be mentally weak and not prepared to be a number 2 option. I think he would have been great with Kyrie Irving healthy but I'm not sure where the team goes from here with him. He really shit the bed in the Finals.

But that's the thing; we aren't asking him to be the #2 option until we lose Kev & Kyrie. I don't think it's a sign of being mentally weak when you can't shoulder the load as the #2 when no one expected that you could. If he was brought in and paid with the expectation of being that guy, a la Larry Hughes, I would agree with your assessment. As is, I can't really fault him. He's a complimentary shooter. Not a guy that should be a second banana in the finals.

 

[Ohio]

Glad he wants to stay, he should be willing to take a reasonable deal, especially after the egg he laid in this series.

 

[D-westfan]

I disagree with all the hate JR is getting. I honestly didn't think he played as bad as he's getting blamed. He was also put into terrible position to do what was asked of him. We weren't running an offense or off ball screens. Most of the series we were only passing once or twice max per possession. That's not how you're going to get shooters going in rhythm. Everyone was standing around all series and you wonder why not one shooter had a good series on our team. It's no ones fault it just is what it is.

 

[chrisrich91]

If J.R. opts out with the understanding we're going to keep him, it better be for less money.

I find it hard to stomach paying him more than what he got paid the year immediately after his 6th man of the year season. That was JR at his absolute best. We shouldn't be paying an older, not quite as good JR MORE money.

I doubt the guy is opting out with the intention of gouging the Cavs on salary. He wants a few years of security which is totally understandable. I'm fine with 3 years, $15MM or so.

 

[peeps112]

Never forget that he helped carry us when Kyrie went down. It was natural that GS made it a point to get him out of sorts. I hope you noticed they even doubled him at times on the drive. they were not going to let him get going and then he finally took himself out of the series. Give them credit as much as you heap scorn on JR. He was in tough position. NOt meant to be #2 option. Ever.

Exactly. Don't begrudge him for striking while the iron is as hot as it will ever be for him. And I hope we get him back. A great guy as a fourth option off the bench.

 

[I'mWithDan]

Some of you are being way too harsh in here. Sometimes you just run in to a better team.

Would JR playing better have helped? Sure. Would it have got us over the top? I don't know. We seemed completely flat once we lost game 4 at home. I think mentally we tried to bounce back from that but couldn't.

As for retaining JR, he absolutely should be brought back. He fits perfectly on this team when it is fully healthy. Ditto for Shump and Delly. All these guys finally just got caught up in the whitewash of having to step out of their role and try to be something they are not.

 

[Kevin Ollie]

I would hope that he is opting out looking for more money in terms of more years, as opposed to more money per year. I wouldn't mind the Cavs bringing him back. He had a bad finals, but he hit more threes in this series than anybody except Curry. If he had made just one more shot in each game he would have had an almost identical statistical series to Klay Thompson.

 

[Pioneer10]

GS was a really good defensive team. In this case being the 4th option on offense playing the Korver role would have been a lot easier for him. This series he had to try to create with the defense tuned in and we got NY JR.

I think he'll excel again when placed in the role he succeeded in earlier this year

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[priceFTW]

He played very good close out defense at times--he was right in Klay's grill on numerous shots and it's not a coincidence that Klay missed so many contested shots. JR was right on top of those.

He just missed too many open shots for us to win.

Three of those three point makes were after the game was pretty much over. In typical JR fashion, he was 4-10 on highly contest jumpers, but 3-20 on open ones.

 

[robertoalomar]

Let him walk. But it doesnt matter because the league doesnt want the cavs to win anyway

 

[Frank Reynolds]

We needed J.R to produce like Manu Ginobili in these finals.

He wilted. It was obviously too much to ask for JR to play a prominent role.

I've seen worse performances, but JR and Shump both looked mentally weak in the finals. I saw what I saw.

That's what happens when you start the year as a New York Knick, and end up playing in the finals. Shell shocked them a little bit.



Maybe it's J.R. riding in on a fucking hover board? I mean, really dude? That's a bad look. Are you so tired you can't even walk? Or do you want some attention so we can see your awesome hovercraft?

Champion level players do not do this shit. Particularly when your team is down and need you immensely.

You don't casually glide in on a hovercraft, get your ass kicked, hang your head and come back the next day doing the same shit.


It just reeked of distraction.....

Reeks of "I don't fully grasp what being a champion, and a professional is all about at this time of year."

Think about Kobe, Manu, Duncan, Pierce, Allen, LeBron, Wade.........


Are any of them acting like J.R does after they shit their pants in the finals? Believe me, all of them have laid eggs.....


They just don't come rolling in next day gliding in on a fucking hover board.

 

[JS33]

We needed J.R to produce like Manu Ginobili in these finals.

He wilted. It was obviously too much to ask for JR to play a prominent role.

I've seen worse performances, but JR and Shump both looked mentally weak in the finals. I saw what I saw.

That's what happens when you start the year as a New York Knick, and end up playing in the finals. Shell shocked them a little bit.



Maybe it's J.R. riding in on a fucking hover board? I mean, really dude? That's a bad look. Are you so tired you can't even walk? Or do you want some attention so we can see your awesome hovercraft?

Champion level players do not do this shit. Particularly when your team is down and need you immensely.

You don't casually glide in on a hovercraft, get your ass kicked, hang your head and come back the next day doing the same shit.


It just reeked of distraction.....

Reeks of "I don't fully grasp what being a champion, and a professional is all about at this time of year."

Think about Kobe, Manu, Duncan, Pierce, Allen, LeBron, Wade.........


Are any of them acting like J.R does after they shit their pants in the finals? Believe me, all of them have laid eggs.....


They just don't come rolling in next day gliding in on a fucking hover board.

JR is great as a 4th option like he was at his peak this season, but I agree with the basketball part of this...

I think the hoverboard thing is just a reach though... has no effect on anything. If his shots fell you would think it's badass.

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

I forget who said it, I think it might have been randolphkeys but if you switch igodola and jr smith in this series jr is the finals MVP and igodola is the goat treated like crap. We let their role players have wide open shots all series. We were determined to not let klay and curry beat us. Well, they didn't, but the role players did. Jr had no room to shoot most of the series. They really sold out to stop him. I'm disappointed in him because of how defeated he looked out there, but we went many, many possessions at a time without him touching the ball that last game.

We still need him back. without him we would have been down 3-1 to chicago, and may have never even been in the finals.

Still love you JR. Use this first finals ever as a learning experience and motivation.

 

[gourimoko]

JR will exercise his option in the next few days. He's not going anywhere, nor does he want to go anywhere.