JR Smith

[bleedwineandgold03]

Drew Gooden can't do what Love is doing!

Thats so true

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

JR smith is a veteran who doesnm't have to prove himself, he knows what he is, he's not trying to get better

this is why he fits

 

[Jack Brickman]

JR is a true microwave. Dion is more like...you know.. fuck. I really don't know what he brings.

He's more like the cornballer.

 

[Helium filament]

JR seems like such a funny guy. The things he posts on instagram, how he makes a hood with his towel during the game and other guys pull it off, the way he plays around with the guys- it just seems like they're all having more fun with him. Of course, a lot of that is because they're also winning, but he seems like he just fits in. His quirkiness is really fun to watch.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

^Agreed. JR is streaky with his shot but one thing he has done every game thus far is bring positive energy and hustle. He celebrates plays from other guys, does those little dances on a hot streak, etc. It seems like LBJ and the guys enjoy playing with him.

They always say every great team needs a crazy guy

 

[Pioneer10]

He can chuck as many catch and shoot 3's as he wants. Just avoid the dribble dribble turnaround jumpers. This is where keeping him with the starters is helpful as he should get his fill of the catch and shoot 3's

 

[Rick Astley]

Loving JR Smith. His performances are like pizza and sex, even when they're bad they're still pretty good.

 

[Rick Astley]

After the James long 3 late in the fourth.

JR: You tryin' to steal my THUNDER, son?
Blatt: Deal with it.

 

[oracio]

David Blatt, the J.R. Whisperer
By Trevor Magnotti

@Tmagnotti on Jan 26 2015, 9:45a 49

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

David Blatt has caught a lot of fire for his performance as the Cavs' head coach this season. However, his seamless integration of J.R. Smith into the Cavs' rotation has gone completely under the radar.


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J.R. Smith was supposed to be an Iman Shumpert tax.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Smith and Shumpert in a three-team deal three weeks ago, conventional wisdom was that Shumpert was the key piece the Cavs were getting in the deal. He was the 3-and-D prototype with potential that was going to shore up the Cavs' perimeter defense and provide spacing in the Cavs' offense.

Smith, meanwhile, was considered a possible cancer in the locker room, and a definite cancer on the floor - Dion Waiters' spirit animal, a guy who bogs down the offense with isolation, makes dumb decisions with passing, and is a negative defensively. Sure, he won Sixth Man of the Year in 2012-2013, but that was considered by many to be an outlier season.

So far, however, it's been Smith that has been making the most impact for the Cavs. Shumpert has missed two weeks while recovering a shoulder dislocation suffered in New York, and the Cavs have instead turned to Smith in the starting lineup. Smith has responded with fantastic play so far. He didn't score in his first game, a loss to the Rockets, shooting 0-5 from the field in the loss. But overall, he's been great since: 15.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, two assists and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting splits of 42/39/82.

Smith's effectiveness can be attributed to a lot of things. Some of it is individual. J.R. has been playing more to his strengths as a Cavalier than he ever did with the Knicks, forgoing drives to the rim and crafty ball-moves in favor of taking more threes within the flow of the offense. We have seen more J.R. spot-up threes and far less of things like this:

Part of it has also been because of his teammates. This is obvious - Smith has been getting much better looks from teammates in Cleveland than he ever did in the last two years with the Knicks, and he has more space to be able to work. The Cavs are just a better team than the Knicks, and they seem to be very receptive to J.R.'s style of play. This is surprising, given the "I'm getting mine" style of offense that the Cavs' stars seemed to be operating with early in the season, but Smith's definitely getting his chances.

However, perhaps the biggest reason for J.R.'s success, particularly offensively, has been David Blatt. J.R. has a reputation as a pretty difficult player to coach, particularly when it comes to fitting in a system. Whether that is fair or not is debateable (after all, Mike freaking Woodson got through to J.R. in 2012-13), but still, Blatt has been putting Smith in spots to succeed and asking J.R. to play to his strengths, and it's paying dividends.

A big piece that was missing from the Cavs' offense was spot-up shooting from the wings. Waiters was/is been terrible at it, and Mike Miller and James Jones haven't been taking spot-up threes unless they've been wide open,and even then those shots aren't going in. Can't say that's a problem with J.R.:

View: https://twitter.com/WFNYScott/status/559441261061742593/photo/1


With the Knicks, though, that shot selection philosophy led to a ton of long twos. With the Knicks this season, J.R. was taking 34.3 percent of his shots from 16 feet to the 3-point line, and was posting a near-career low 35.9 percent of his shots from three. The Knicks offense under Woodson and Derek Fisher has been very long-two happy, and J.R. Smith bought right in. In Cleveland, however, Blatt has coaxed Smith into embracing the three-point line. Through nine games, Smith has taken a whopping 61.9 percent of his shots from three-point range, and Smith's percentage has risen from 35.6 percent with the Knicks to 39.7 percent with the Cavs.

The way Smith has been getting his shots up has been changing slowly as he has continued to be integrated into the offense. Here's a video of every point J.R. scored in the Suns game on January 13th, three games after he joined the Cavs:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRQyCwY7S0k&x-yt-ts=1421914688&x-yt-cl=84503534


A lot of transition looks, but he's also getting to the paint a ton, and his threes are mostly off the bounce. There's also those dreaded step-back long twos, which did fall for him that game, but were a staple of his New York tenure.

Contrast that with his performance in the Hornets win on Friday (Start video at the :50 mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84503534&v=1QgcFiTxfps&x-yt-ts=1421914688

J.R.'s almost exclusively spotting up from outside against Charlotte, and the drives and off the dribble stuff is being phased out. That's how the last few games have looked for Smith - J.R.'s chucked up at least nine threes per game in six of his last seven contests. Blatt has given Smith the green-light from deep, and J.R. is predictably responding well to that.

Another thing you'll notice is J.R.'s placement on the floor for those spot-up attempts. He's rarely posted up in the corner, with the Cavs instead posting him above the break, instead letting Kevin Love shift down for corner threes when they're called for. Smith isn't a great corner 3-point shooter, but he can definitely hit consistently from the wings, and he's getting a lot of the same looks from the left and right wings that Miller and Jones were getting earlier in the season. Smith's been integrated into that same role in the offense, and boy is he producing on those spot-up looks: he's hitting 41.5 percent on catch-and-shoot threes, and an outstanding 53.8 percent on the wide open looks that Miller struggled with, per SportVU.*

J.R.'s played a lot of minutes in his short time with the Cavs, basically out of necessity with Shumpert out and Miller and Jones being borderline unplayable. However, the Cavs' offense has really benefited from Smith being on the floor, which is the opposite of what many expected. A lot of that simply boils down to J.R. just hitting shots, but the Cavs' offense has him in areas where he's most effective, and have him not doing the things that infuriated Nuggets and Knicks fans for years - the stepbacks, the high turnover rate, the early shot-clock bricks. That is impressive, and something that Blatt deserves credit for. Blatt may be struggling to get through to LeBron and Love, but it appears he's gotten through to J.R., which is no small task.

We will have to see if this newly found efficiency for Smith is sustainable, or if Smith reverts back to his gunning ways and tunes out Blatt as his honeymoon period wears off. However, through ten games, Smith has definitely been a bright spot for the Cavs, and a lot of that is because Blatt's figured out how to use him. It will be very interesting to see how his minutes change as Shumpert returns to form, and if that affects him. But right now, J.R. is playing really, really well, and the coaching staff is responsible.

*Advanced stats not updated for yesterday's OKC game.

Source:
http://www.fearthesword.com/2015/1/26/7890837/david-blatt-the-j-r-whisperer

 

[bobcat22]

Q&A with David Aldridge and J.R. Smith in today's Morning Tip:

Me: I always wonder how guys pick up new verbiage when they are traded. I know a screen-roll is a screen-roll, but they call it something different here than they did in New York.

J.R. Smith: I think that's the biggest -- not the biggest, but the toughest part, is picking up the terminology. Playing against certain teams, you hear the call, and you know the plays. But being with a new coach...you've got different calls for different things. Fortunately, I've got some great vets who help me out, on the court as well as off the court.

Me: What do you do with your whip and all your other rides? What are you riding now?

JRS: Fortunately, Jersey isn't too far from here; it's a seven-hour drive. So one of my friends, and my brother, drove my truck up. Everything else gets kind of shipped. I had to put my clothes in there and ship them out, too.

Me: Is it hard to get comfortable when you're living out of a suitcase, or in an apartment?

JRS: Yeah, it's definitely harder for me right now. I'm in the hotel, still. I found a spot yesterday, and just the whole process of going out, meeting people, the realtors, people from the organization that help you look for places, stuff like that. Furniture and all that. It gets tedious after a while, but at the same time it's part of the business. That's why I've got my mom here, so she can deal with all that.

Me: Is she gonna be with you the rest of the season?

JRS: Nah, she's not gonna stay the rest of the season. She's gonna be in and out.

Me: I saw Carmelo a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten y'all played together in Denver as well as New York. So what is it like when you've been with a guy for so many years, and you get close, and then it's just over.

JRS: That was the toughest part about the trade. We played together nine years. The bond, the camaraderie, the brotherhood that we gained, it's, I wouldn't say over, it's just discontinued. When you're playing with a person like 'Melo, you depend on him a lot, from on the court and off the court. I can always go to him for advice, just everyday life things, as well as stuff on the court. So I think that's the toughest part. But fortunately, coming to a team like this, I've also got him in a different person, between him and LeBron. It's pretty much the same concepts and stuff like that; it's just coming from a different voice.

Me: How well did you know LeBron before coming here?

JRS: We go back to high school. Just the AAU camps and tournaments and stuff like that, seeing each other, just talking to each other. Going into my rookie year, I came out here and stayed with him for like a week or so, did his foundation stuff. So I've known him for a while.

Me: Are there similarities both on the court and in terms of leadership between he and Carmelo?

JRS: Yeah. I think he's more of a vocal leader than 'Melo is. 'Melo's more of a I'm gonna show what to do, and if you follow suit, that's what it is. 'Bron is more of an 'alright, this is what's gonna happen; you're gonna do this, this, this and this,' or you're gonna receive this. He's more of a vocal person than 'Melo is. 'Melo is more behind the scenes, still gets his work in and everything in, you just don't see as much. 'Bron is more, you see it. I don't think it's a right or wrong way; (but) it's definitely a different in the culture between the two.

Me: I have to ask you what those two months of losing in New York was like for you and the team, and how you tried to get through it.

JRS: It was extremely difficult. From a competitive standpoint, and wanting to win, and doing it at any cost, then being hurt for a while so you couldn't help the team but from afar, it was probably one of the most difficult things in my life. My rookie year, we won 18 games in New Orleans. To be in that same boat 10 years later, and to be a veteran as opposed to being a younger guy, when you don't really understand and you're still in your first year, trying to get your feet wet, for somebody who's won 50-plus games for six, seven years in a row, and then come to a situation like that, it's totally mind blowing. It can break you down. I think the one great thing about it was we had a great core of guys. No matter what was going on -- winning, losing -- we all kept each other up. 'Cause we were in it together.

Me: Was it hard to go out, have dinner, see people?

JRS: Yeah, just out and about, going shopping, going out to eat, especially in New York. You know fans are so passionate. They won't sugarcoat it. They'll tell you how they feel, 'cause they might not see you again. They let you know, listen, y'all gotta pick it up, or y'all are terrible, what are you doing, whatever. Which is also good, 'cause you see how passionate they are about their teams. They want you to do well.

Me: But when you knew Cleveland wanted you, what did that say to you?

JRS: When I first heard about the trade and the possibilities, it was kind of mixed feelings. It was like, this could be a blessing in disguise. But I don't want to leave 'Melo by himself. Because just being in this situation, it's tough. Being in this situation alone is worse. So that bothered me a lot. And then I kind of got selfish with it. This is the best situation for me as a person. And make the best out of any situation. And I think I am right now. All the players seem to be responding to me very well, and the coaches love me. So I have no complaints.

Me: But you ain't sad to leave that triangle, though.

JRS: I am, in the sense that I wanted to make it work. I wanted to be one of the players that understood it, that got it. The two greatest players in the world at my position played in it, and thrived in it, got all the accolades and championships and whatever else came with it. I wanted to be a part of that significant group. Not that I think I'm like those two guys in any way, but to be a part of the building process that that's the base of, and go from there. But they made the right decision. You have to take the car apart in order for it to be what you want it to be.

Me: What has Coach Blatt and the staff said about their expectations of you here?

JRS: They just expect me to be me. Don't second-guess anything. If you feel like you're open, shoot the ball. If you feel like you need to pass, make the pass. Don't overthink anything. Play your game. The biggest advice I got when I first got here, the first game I played, I was kind of tentative, because I don't know how the guys will respond to me if I shoot this shot, or what's going to go on. I talked to 'Bron and he was like, 'we got you because of who you are. Play your game. You don't have to fit in. You already fit. So don't try and fit in.' And after that, it was pretty much just go play and be me.

Me: What do you have to work on to fit here?

JRS: Being more consistent. Consistency has been something that...I wouldn't say lacked, but it's just been stints where I get hot, and then you go cold for two, three games, whatever the case may be. Just staying consistent, and that involves staying in the gym. So for me, I got my brother here with me, so we're in the gym every night, playing one-on-one, or whatever the case may be, as well as me getting my rest. I think this is the best situation for me, 'cause there's nothing but basketball. There's nothing you expect but basketball. There's nothing, there's no going out, there's no late nights. There's video games, basketball and basketball. So it's a great thing, 'cause I go back to where I came from. When I grew up, I never, I wasn't allowed to go out. I missed my prom because I went to an AAU tournament, and all that stuff. For me, it was basketball, basketball, basketball. And then when I got in the situation where I was at an early age, it was more, alright, let me see what this life is about, as opposed to just keep going. So now, I get the chance to get back to my roots.

Me: Did you find that exploring that life, because you could, wasn't all it was cracked up to be? I can spend whatever I want, and at the end of the day, it really doesn't mean anything?

JRS: Especially from the standpoint of making me better. I always made myself better by staying in the gym. When you replace that with stuff off the court, then you're taking away from what made you who you are, or what got you to a certain point. It was kind of pulling me down in a sense, of not getting enough rest, not doing things you're supposed to be doing, things you're used to doing. So when you start missing those shots you're supposed to make, especially wide-open shots, it was like, alright, what's going on, what's going on? Instead of looking at what it is, you're reverting to that even more, instead of going back to the basics. So I think that's the greatest part about being here.

Me: I know you've just been here a short time, but how important do you think that west coast trip was, with Love playing hurt and LeBron looking more like himself?

JRS: I mean, it's a relief for me. Since the game before beating the Lakers, that was the first time Shump and I won in a month. We went from December 11, and it blossomed. For us, it was like, oh, my goodness, we won. We're going to start winning. Since we've been here, we lost three or four games in a row. But we already knew that once we got our whole team together, it's going to be trouble. After that first game, and then beating a great team like the Clippers, it set it in stone in our heads that we're a part of something great, we're a part of something that can really be something. We've got to give it everything we've got, no matter what.

Me: I wonder if you and Shump view it as, we've got another shot here. We could go from worst to first in one season.

JRS: Yeah. I mean, I definitely look at it like that. I think it was harder for Shump because it was his first trade. New York was his first team. He had so many, at the point in time when we got traded, that was all he knew as a player his first three, four years. It's tough because, other than that one year when we got the second seed, he's never won consistently at this level. So it's tougher for him than it was for me...right now, I think we're definitely -- I know he is, because he's pressing to come back from the injury -- but we're locking in as a unit more than anything. We came into the situation like, alright, man, it's just me and you until we see what the other guys are like. It's just us. And then meeting everybody, it was like, okay, it's all of us.

 

[TFIR]

JR Smith Loving Life With Cavaliers
How have the Cavs made their new additions feel welcome so fast? "This is definitely the most fun I’ve had in an NBA locker room," says Smith.
January 26, 2015

By Brendan Bowers
JR Smith was all smiles as he strolled through the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room just prior to an ABC matchup against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. After escaping the perils of New York Knickdom this season, he’s landed in Cleveland to average 15.3 points and 3.8 rebounds during a six-game winning streak the Cavaliers hope to extend in Detroit on Tuesday. He’s the starting shooting guard on LeBron James’ team, too, and his new teammate has returned from injury to average 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists during the month of January.

“I know you guys have all been waiting on me,” Smith announced to a collection of reporters gathered by LeBron’s locker before Sunday’s game. “My bad on that everyone, I’ll be ready in a few minutes to talk though.”

As those within earshot laughed, Smith prepared for Kevin Durant and the Thunder in a way that works best for him. He replied to a question from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin about how far his range actually extends by noting that he feels comfortable shooting regular jumpers just beyond the half-court line. He then went out and hit four threes during Sunday’s 108-98 win over OKC, one game after drilling seven.

“This is definitely the most fun I’ve had in an NBA locker room,” Smith told SLAM following the win over OKC. “This team is the most fun. Especially, right from the start. We all clicked right away.”

James won the duel with Durant on Sunday, totaling 34 points, seven boards and seven assists. Durant offered 32, nine and six in response, but it wasn’t enough. Kevin Love added a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double for Cleveland, Kyrie Irving scored 21, and Tristan Thompson joined Smith and company in double figures with 10. OKC’s Russell Westbrook scored 22 and Dion Waiters threw in 14 during his return game in Cleveland.

Despite being on the receiving end of a bone-rattling Kendrick Perkins screen, Smith didn’t stop smiling afterwards either when the subject moved to his new fan base.

“The Cleveland fans are great,” Smith said. “There’s so much energy in the building, it’s crazy in here.”

While the well-known and well-traveled Smith arrived in Cleveland along with Iman Shumpert—his former Knicks teammate—big man Timofey Mozgov arrived via Denver rolling solo. Filling a desperate need up front for the Cavs—dramatically enhanced by the injury to Anderson Varejao—Mozgov has been a sight for sore eyes under the basket. But while he does have a well-documented relationship with head coach David Blatt, Mozgov didn’t know anybody else before he arrived earlier this month.

“I knew Coach Blatt and that’s it,” Mozgov said after the win on Sunday. “After the trade, I spent some time with JR while we were in Denver right before we got here. But I had never played with, or really met any of the other guys. But, we are all together and we’re winning. We are all working hard, and it’s not just highlights. The highlights these guys have, they’re being created from hard work.”

Mozgov’s hard work has been supported by Thompson up front since he’s arrived in Cleveland. While the 28-year-old, 7-1 center from Russia is averaging 10.5 points and 9.2 rebounds during the six-game winning streak, Thompson is also putting in work right beside him. To go along with 10 points against a front-line led by Serge Ibaka, Thompson also collected a season-high 16 rebounds on Sunday.

“It’s been great,” Thompson said. “JR, Moz, Shump, they’ve all come in and bought into our principles right away. And they’ve definitely advanced our team. We’ve become a better ball club, especially on the defensive end. Myself, Moz and Shump, really everyone, we’re trying to change the game defensively for our team. Then on the offensive end, we’re just trying to help and assist our lead guys—compete around the rim and be an asset to this team in any way we can. That’s what everyone’s doing.”

It’s that attitude and approach from Thompson that appears to be the consensus throughout the locker room. Generally and collectively, however, that feeling wasn’t necessarily obvious to an observer at all times prior to the arrival of Smith, Mozgov and Shumpert. The team appears to be whole now, though, and more importantly healthy. A renewed excitement of sorts has been certainly evident in the arena as a result.

“I didn’t see a lot of the city since I’ve been here,” Mozgov admitted. “I see only my room, the practice facility, and the arena. There isn’t much time to go around the city. But the fans in Cleveland, they’re loud. There is a lot of energy in here, every time you know the fans will have the energy. They just are here for great basketball, and you try to work hard and give them that.”

Brendan Bowers is an NBA writer who covers the Cavaliers and the NBA in Cleveland for SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @BowersCLE. Image via Getty.

 

[TFIR]

So for me, I got my brother here with me, so we're in the gym every night, playing one-on-one, or whatever the case may be, as well as me getting my rest. I think this is the best situation for me, 'cause there's nothing but basketball. There's nothing you expect but basketball. There's nothing, there's no going out, there's no late nights. There's video games, basketball and basketball.

I remember Mike Dunleavy Sr. saying on Sirius XM right when the trade was made that he thought getting JR out of NY could be a really positive development. Shows how he thinks like a coach, and it was right on!

 

[Jstock12]

^Agreed. JR is streaky with his shot but one thing he has done every game thus far is bring positive energy and hustle. He celebrates plays from other guys, does those little dances on a hot streak, etc. It seems like LBJ and the guys enjoy playing with him.

They always say every great team needs a crazy guy

This post reminded me of:

 

[Chris]

J.R. is going to quickly become a fan favorite as long as he doesn't start doing stupid shit off the court and whatnot. He's a decent player, always thought he was an asset as instant offense but he's just had issues and has always been a weird dude. I'd like him off the bench eventually, for sure. He is what Dion should have been. Still relatively young too at 29. Streaky shooter is not always a bad terminology.

 

[JSS2306]

That Q & A with David Aldridge above seriously impressed me. There was absolutely no bullshit in there. Well thought out and honest answers.

He's quickly becoming a favorite. I think he might be on track to top his 6th man season if he keeps up this sort of honest reflection mentality. Blown away.