(NBA.com photo)
During the 2012-13 NBA regular season, two things appeared to be different about the always enigmatic J.R. Smith: He had finally grown up and he had finally found a home at 33rd and 8th in New York. The 27-year-old, 6’6″ shooting guard put up career numbers as a reserve for a Knick team that won 55 games, posting averages of 18.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 35.6 percent from deep.
J.R. at times credited his breakout season to a re-dedication to basketball, focusing more on putting in the necessary work to achieve stardom on the NBA level as opposed to succumbing to the many temptations that can come with being young , rich and famous, as he had in the past. In a contract year, J.R. Smith was headed towards a monster payday and with the New York Knicks capped out, that payday was going to be elsewhere.
Then, the playoffs happened.
What in the world happened to the Sixth Man of the Year? J.R. saw his numbers dip across the board, most alarmingly his shooting percentages. After finishing the regular season strong, J.R. nearly single-handedly shot the Knicks out of the playoffs, shooting an abysmal 27 percent from distance on an astonishing six(!) attempts per game. Some credited strong defense from the Indiana Pacers, while others cited some interesting photography of J.R. Smith drinking bottles of champagne with celebrities in night clubs, possibly on nights before games.
Whether J.R. was hung over, well defended or just plain stunk up the gym is another debate for another day. Right now, with the Knicks stuck in cap hell and with limited ways to improve the roster, the higher-ups in the Knickerbocker organization have made one thing a priority this off-season: Finding a way to keep Mr. Smith in an orange-and-blue uni next year and possibly beyond.
But is this the smartest route for New York Knicks’ management to take?
Despite the retirement of Jason Kidd and J.R. Smith’s opt out, the Knicks still have in excess of $70 million dollars committed to their roster, well over the projected cap number for the 2013-14 season. They do, however, own the Bird rights to J.R., meaning they can realistically circumvent the cap and make him a multi-year offer in the $5 million per year range. But with virtually no salary commitments after 2015, giving the combustible Smith a multi-year deal, particularly when his stellar play came in a contract season and considering the meltdown he had in this past postseason, appears to be a bad investment.
There is no denying how talented a player J.R. is. He has great size and athleticism, he’s a terrific finisher and he has great form on his jump shot. But despite stellar play this year, his shot selection did not improve. Defensively, while he was good in spurts, he was still prone to lapses and breakdowns. And despite the fact that he’ll be entering his 10th season in the NBA, his maturity still, and likely will always, come into question, particularly when it matters most. When you look at where J.R. Smith is as a player at age 27, it’s pretty clear that his reckless style of play is not conducive to winning basketball in the NBA if he is to be relied upon the way he was last season.
This is why the New York Knicks would be wise to let some other franchise make the mistake of giving J.R. Smith a lucrative long-term contract.