Farewell Dion: An Ode to Knuckleheads
January 7, 2015Nike LeBron 12 and Kyrie 1 get the “BHM” treatment for February
January 7, 2015So the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Dion Waiters for Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and a first-round draft pick. Shumpert is a good two weeks away from participating in team activities and that first-round pick is protected to a point where the team may not get to take advantage of it come this July. But Smith—the mercurial and mysterious shooting guard with plenty of tattoos and quirk—is a guy that Cavs fans will get to watch as early as Wednesday night when the team plays host to the Houston Rockets.1
So who is JR Smith? Where’d he come from? What does he bring to the team? And what is the story with all of those tattoos? Well you’re in luck: WFNY has you covered.
Who, exactly, is JR Smith?
Phrasing it like that won’t do you many favors as there are plenty of people in the NBA who have been around Smith and aren’t quite sure. His real name is Earl Joseph Smith III (he apparently yanked JR from “junior” even though—you know what, never mind), a New York/New Jersey product who was one of the last players to go straight to the NBA out of high school. Just turning 29 years of age, Smith has been in the league for quite some time, splitting his career to this point between New Orleans, Denver and New York. A gunner by trade, Smith has averaged fewer than 10 points per game just once, averaging 18 per game during the 2012-13 season wherein he was crowned the league’s Sixth Man of the Year.
Primarily a three-point specialist, Smith has averaged a true shooting percentage2 over 50% every year since his rookie season. He’s a low usage player (read: doesn’t require the ball to be in his hands at all stages of the game) and has been an efficient shooter with a true shooting percentage that should settle in above 51 percent by the time the season comes to a close. Just last week, Smith dropped 22 and 5 on the Detroit Pistons, hitting five of nine three balls. He’s still got it.
He sounds pretty athletic. Near 30 and still killing it?
He is. In this excellent profile that was penned by Jonathan Abrams a few months ago, it’s revealed that Smith played five different positions on his high school football team—linebacker, wide receiver, cornerback, safety and quarterback. He was offered a scholarship by Clemson following his junior year, an offer based solely on his game tape. He would eventually drop football and focus on basketball, so the offer never materialized, but it did lead to Smith once outscoring an entire opposing team through three quarters only to be yanked by his coach due to a sense of mercy. He passed up a scholarship to UNC Chapel Hill to head straight to the big leagues and the rest, as they say, was history.
So, if he’s such a good shooter, why wouldn’t the Knicks want to hold on to him, especially with Carmelo Anthony’s injury?
Good question. As mentioned, Smith is 29 years old. He’s also the owner of a player option for next season that could cost his employer around $6.5 million. Not helping matters is that he’s a bit of a knucklehead. He has had some off-court problems and can be the kind of player you don’t want on your team when things are going south—like they are in New York.
What kind of off-court issues are we talking here?
Well, they range. In 2007, a car Smith was driving blew through a stop sign and was subsequently involved in an accident which led to the passing of one of his friends. In August, 2009, Smith was suspended seven games for the 2009–2010 NBA season because of his guilty plea in the 2007 reckless driving incident. All of this revealed that he had totaled 27 points against his record from April 2005 to January 2006, including eight violations on seven different days—meaning two were on one day. Five citations were for speeding. Since the accident, he has received two more speeding tickets and three license suspensions in New Jersey. In 2009, he was accused of having ties to east coast gangs due to the way he was spelling things on Twitter. In May 2012, Smith was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida for failing to appear in court in 2011 after he was cited for operating a motor-scooter with no valid license.
So, that’s a decent rap sheet. What about on the court?
Well, this depends on your definition of issues. In an 11-point loss to the Miami Heat, Smith shot an NBA record 22 three-pointers, making 10 of them and finishing with 32 points. He really, really likes to shoot. In other areas of the on-court theatrics, Smith was a part of a giant scuffle in 2006 which led to a 10-game suspension. In 2007, Smith was involved in an incident at a Denver nightclub. The Nuggets suspended him for the first three regular season games of 2007–2008 for his role in the incident. In 2013, Smith was suspended for Game 4 of the first round of the playoffs after elbowing the Celtics’ Jason Terry in the chin. In September of that same year, Smith was suspended five games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program. Just last January, he was fined $50,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct after repeated instances in which he attempted to untie the shoelaces of his opponents, one of which was current Cavaliers forward Shawn Marion (who recently said that the antics were just “horseplay” that was blown out of proportion by the media).
Wow. He’s a bit of a character, huh?
You have no idea. In addition to his high school yearbook quote being “Get Chicks or Die Trying,” Smith was recently involved in a Twitter DM scandal of sorts wherein he asked a follower if she was “trying to get the pipe” when she mentioned to him that she was attending a Knicks game. He has over 70 tattoos, claiming that he “lost count” after that point. The best part? His first tattoo was the one on his right shoulder that is simply an image of himself dunking a basketball. He also once racked up $3,000 in room service bills just because he wanted to see if the hotel would keep bringing him food.
So are all of these potential headaches worth it?
I guess that’s what we’ll find out. Reports are that the team sought the approval of LeBron James prior to making the move. Smith’s height (6-foot-6-inches) and ability to stretch the floor have to be alluring. Plus, when the Knicks were winning basketball games and Smith was thriving in his role off of the bench, things were good. It wasn’t until he was asked to do more with the basketball and the Knicks became a circus (once again) when things went south. He “parlayed” that Sixth Man award into a $24 million contract, one which reportedly included a promise from the Knicks to sign his younger (and less-talented) brother Chris, and a $530,000 trade kicker. The guy can shoot the basketball and shoot it well. He has legitimate All-Star potential, but has never seemingly been able to piece it all together.
Numbers suggest that the Cavaliers came out ahead in this deal. The trick will be finding him the consistent minutes and keeping him away from the Josh Gordons of the world.
“Coming from Jersey and the McDonald’s All-American Game, I’m expecting to be treated a certain way because all my peers that I came out with, everyone was being treated a certain way, so I kind of felt entitled to that,” Smith said in an interview last season. “It was more than just earning it. It’s definitely a fault of mine as well as theirs. It goes hand in hand. I just can’t point the finger at them. A few actions I made probably didn’t help, too. I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m the white angel. But I’m not the dark demon, either.”
27 Comments
“The trick will be finding him the consistent minutes”
I see him getting every minute that Dion Waiters was getting as the team’s previous 6th man with the potential to earn more if he shows a propensity for playing defense.
Well done piece Scott. And I like how you’re channeling your inner Terry Pluto Talking to Himself! Some don’t dig the Q&A rhetorical device, but I actually like it.
As for the substance, I didn’t know he held his $6.5M option next year. The way Knicks fans talked about it, it was an albatross that they were glad to be freed from. For a guy of his skill, that’s not bad if he picks it up. In any event, he’s a NY dude through and through, but clearly the welcome home mat had been yanked out from under him. He might have a little chip, a something to prove now. Let’s hope.
First, great profile by Scott. Thanks.
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I think it was more alluding to when Shump (from Oak Park) comes back. We’ll have a decent glut of wing players trying to get minutes.
Shump, JR, Miller, Marion, J-Jones, Delly, and some guy named LeBron
If JR plays like he did 2 years ago, then, yeah, he gets plenty of minutes. But, if he is on-and-off as he was for NYK this year, then he’ll be fighting Miller for them.
One important point that I haven’t seen mentioned much (and Scott reminded me here) is that by losing Dion, we also lost our bench initiator. Delly, JR, nor Shump is really the type of player you want initiating the offense. It’ll be interesting to see what Blatt does there.
I don’t know that he’ll have to be anywhere near his 2013 form to take minutes away from Mike Miller. Joe Harris has been creeping up on Miller in recent weeks. I expect Smith will get a little less time than he’s accustomed to, but I think he’ll beat out a number of those guys fairly easily. Marion will shift back to his more natural SF position in a reserve role and James Jones will end up back at the end of the bench except in obvious 3pt situations. At SG, Miller will be the biggest loser, and will be fighting with Harris for minutes behind Shumpert and Smith. I think Delly’s minutes are safe.
Oak Park 🙂 That was one of the most ridiculous comments I’ve read on this site, and I really enjoyed it. I’m hoping joe comes around more often!
See, I disagree about JR… I have seen him handle the ball and initiate the offense a lot over the years. I don’t think he was doing it much in The Triangle (TM) this year, but in previous years he acted as the second unit PG for Denver and NY. I’ll get to have my memory refreshed here soon, but I swear I remember him playing almost exactly like Dion, but being more successful.
The issue is that Waiters was not getting consistent minutes. He’d play 25 one night and be effectively DNP the next. Not sure Smith (or anyone not named James Jones) can thrive in an environment like that. Honestly, I wouldn’t be opposed to him starting at the two until Shump is healthy.
I love the wing players who are both insanely athletic and crazy off the court but should likely not be taking as many shots as they do (see also: my current fascination with Toronto). So, I tend to watch way too much of guys like JR Smith, Delonte West, Dion Waiters, Lou Williams, Matt Barnes, S-Jax, Crawford, and Terrence Ross among others.
I dislike JR with the dribble. He is so, so good with the ball in his hands when he is not moving. He has a great shot obviously, but he is also great at seeing the floor and making a good pass too. When he is dribbling though, all he tends to see is the bucket even when he dribbles straight into double teams and has to fade away sideways while throwing up an Eric Snow inspired rainbow shot just to get it off.
Really, the best role for him is the Triangle PF role (think Horace Grant) where he just sits on the elbow and catches and distributes, while taking shots when they are open to take (of course, he’d have to spend some time in 3pt land too to take advantage of his range).
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how we use him, but I really hope it’s not as a PG-type guy.
this is what happens when you let JR Smith dribble:
http://newyorkknicksmemesdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/jr_dribblesintopnr2x_20140328.gif
I think that was more on Waiters than on Blatt, though. Waiters was averaging a career-low 24 minutes per game, but there were a few games this season where Dion just wasn’t giving effort or was putting up bad shots, and Blatt chose to go with a player who would help the team in the 4th quarter. I remember thinking that I would have done the same thing… I think the coach needs to set an example when a player isn’t giving enough. It seems to me like this teaching method was working pretty well too because I don’t remember Dion being benched down the stretch very much in the last couple of weeks and it seemed like he was playing better. JR Smith may come in and do the same thing as Dion and he may find himself on the bench down the stretch just like Dion, but I guess it will depend on what the team needs. If they need a defender, Shump will be on the floor. If they need a scorer, Smith will be on the floor.
“When he is dribbling though, all he tends to see is the bucket” – I could have sworn you were talking about Dion Waiters 🙂 Both guys are so similar in that regard. Waiters is probably a better dribbler, but both guys can make amazing passes off the dribble, but are way more likely to try to get their own shot off. I guess I don’t really see PG for what it used to be… NBA teams so rarely pressure the guy bringing the ball down the court that you don’t have to be a great dribbler to get a team into an offensive set. You just call the play and pass right into it… but who is the guy with the ball in his hands when the shot clock winds down trying to create a shot? That has always been J.R. Smith… I don’t see a reason that he couldn’t be the same with the Cavs if they need him in that role while either Irving or LeBron is out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUWS0dUwAms
fair point. maybe we can get him matched up with Anthony Bennett again
http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/jr-smith-dunk-a1.gif?w=1000
We do see Minnesota one more time this year! How about once more, JR? For old times’ sake.
So, I enjoyed the Smith backstory, but why does everybody keep saying the OKC pick is so heavily protected we might not get it this year? I’d be surprised if we didn’t and I bet Griffin is assuming other teams will think the same thing when he tries to deal it. I know OKC is 17-18 and currently sitting at 10th in the western conference, but we all know they’re a much better team than that. They’re 13-6 since Westbrook came back and 9-3 in games in which Durant has played. I’d be utterly shocked if they don’t make the playoffs. For the pick to not be conveyed, they’d have to have a worse record than four other playoff-bound teams when it was all said and done, including eastern conference teams.
What a well-written and researched article. And also the most unintentionally hilarious/sad I have ever read at this site. Pretty sure that this guy is not real, just a fictional character in a NBA mocumentary a la “This Is Spinal Tap.” Calling him knucklehead or man-child is an insult to Manziel, Josh Gordon, Manny, Braylon, JJ Hickson and the sad litany of Cleveland’s Nuke Lalooshes. Most of them were likeable.
“… [B]lew through a stop sign and was subsequently involved in an accident which led to the passing of one of his friends.” Sorry to be harsh, but if killing your friend (sorry, acting in a way that “led to his passing”) doesn’t modify your world view and behavior in a major way, that’s intentional. “He has legitimate All-Star potential, but has never seemingly been able to piece it all together.” Go freaking figure.
I don’t take media stories about supposedly inspirational players seriously, don’t care what they think about anything unrelated to their sport. I just like to watch athletes who can do stuff I could never do. But at some point it’s hard to root for a 2 year old tyrant so happily ensconced in a world class athlete body. Been trying to warm to this particular Cavs team but it’s getting tough, real tough.
Agreed, I think they are a lock to finish with a better record than Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Miami. What’s funny is they may get the 8th seed in the West and it might be the Cavs whose record decides whether OKC gets to retain their pick.
it appears that we won’t have to worry about the protections for that pick for very long if the Mozgov rumors are true.
Yep! Seeing it all over Twitter right now. If true, that’s a great deal in my opinion. Two late 1st rounders for Mozgov is fine, especially because the Cavs don’t have many roster spots available for rookies anyway. They still have their own 1st round pick for 2015.
it also makes the Dion trade better as having that extra 1st rounder apparently is what was holding us up from getting Blatt’s boy on the team.
It would be great if you didn’t plagerize grantland word for word in parts of this article.
Good point, Harv. Also should point out that Smith was driving almost twice the speed limit when he “blew through” that stop sign. People make mistakes, but to trivialize Smith’s role in his friend’s death is not good.
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Ah, all the classic bench reactions – guy holding everyone back, guy high stepping halfway across the baseline, guy with OH NO HE DI-NT look on his face…
Alonzo, is that you???
Alonzo’s mom makes more than him for doing even less. That family has the income thing totally going on.
Assuming you mean “plagiarize,” please feel free to point out where I lifted anything without citing it. Thanks.
Considering you or one of your editors changed the snarky, word for word stolen, comment regarding JR’s brother, you already knew where you lifted it from.
Thanks for stopping by.