Chad Ford, Tribe Fest and adidas Ultra Boost: While We’re Waiting…
January 26, 2015Could Joba Chamberlain be a fit for the Indians bullpen?
January 26, 2015J.R. Smith has now played 10 games in the Wine & Gold for the Cleveland Cavaliers. In those 10 games, he has attempted a stunning 85 three-point shots. Quickly, Smith is climbing up the franchise’s all-time leaderboard in long-distance shot attempts.
From the great research database of Basketball-Reference.com, here’s where Smith currently stands. Warning: The list is pretty fantastic and hilarious:
55. Zydrunas Ilgauskas — 99
56. Eric Williams – 95
57. Christian Eyenga — 93
58. Chris Gatling — 92
59. Baron Davis — 87
60. J.R. Smith — 85
T-61. Johnny Newman — 83
T-61. Luke Walton — 83
T-63. Dell Curry — 81
T-63. Randy Smith — 81
This is thus a harsh reminder that J.R. Smith is one of the NBA’s all-time gunners. Among players with 12,000 career minutes, his 7.0 three-point shots per 36 minutes are the most. The players next on the list are Damon Jones (6.5), Stephen Curry (6.4) and Kyle Korver (6.2).
J.R. already has five games with 10+ three-point attempts for the Cavs this season. Only Wesley Person (nine) and Dan Majerle (six) have ever had more such games in a single season in franchise history. More stunningly, Smith has made 33 threes in his 10 games … while Dion Waiters had 22 three-point makes in his 33 games for the Cavs this season.
Maybe we discounted how useful the former Sixth Man of the Year could be? It was only two years ago when he averaged 18.1 points in 33.5 minutes per game for the 54-win New York Knicks. On the surface, his .484 effective field goal percentage wasn’t that impressive. But again, he did so with a 26.5 Usage rate. That should conceivably be much lower now in Cleveland.
Here is a look, via NBA.com/stats, of Smith’s shooting chart in his very impressive last nine games since his 0-for-5 debut in a Cavaliers uniform against the Rockets on Jan. 7:
J.R. Smith's last 9 games. I'm gushing over how many threes, man. pic.twitter.com/LpIpC9zasX
— Jacob L. Rosen (@JacobLRosen) January 26, 2015
And the 29-year-old New Jersey native also continued his torrid shooting pace against Oklahoma City despite an infamous career split on Sundays. Don’t party too hard, kids:
Your casual reminder that J.R. Smith has just oddly, randomly struggled on Sundays in his career. pic.twitter.com/YTctG4Zo5O
— Jacob L. Rosen (@JacobLRosen) January 25, 2015
21 Comments
Curious what his percentage would be if we could discount the passes to him with 1 sec on the shot clock or from 60′ before the quarter expires. Though it probably wouldn’t make a big difference, he seems to get (or just take) the lion’s share of those.
That split showing JR’s true shooting percentage on Sundays is hilarious! Those day games are apparently his kryptonite.
Perhaps a reason: In NY, just 31 of his 101 FGM were assisted. In CLE, 39 of his 55 have been.
Basically, JR Smith is a good spot-up shooter, and as a 5th option, he’s a good fit?
“This is thus a harsh reminder that J.R. Smith is one of the NBA’s all-time gunners. Among players with 12,000 career minutes, his 7.0 three-point shots per 36 minutes are the most. The players next on the list are Damon Jones (6.5), Stephen Curry (6.4) and Kyle Korver (6.2).”
I’m not sure about your point with this comment, Jacob. What’s so “harsh?” Is it that JR Smith is grouped with a guy who might win the MVP this year, a guy who is considered to be the best 3-point shooter in the game, and Amon Ones?
If I want my guy to be in a certain type of company, he could do a LOT worse that this.
I’m Ron Burgundy?
On a side note…Kyrie is one 3PA away from passing Craig Ehlo!
Here’s what I’ve observed about JR: He’s going to shoot the ball. How good or bad that is depends a bit on how he fits into the offense. He’s not a black hole that stops the ball constantly. He’s not unwilling to pass. But if he’s open, he’s letting it fly. And if he’s not open, he’ll look to his left and right for a passing lane, but if nobody presents themselves to receive a pass, he’s still letting it fly. From eh. nee. where.
If he gets mostly those bad shots, he’ll take mostly those bad shots. If he gets mostly those good shots and when he’s not open there’s somebody cutting or setting a screen, then he’s a great asset. In NY this year it was more of the former.
I’m sure he’s a bit energized by the situation, and of course shooters have cold streaks which will take some of the shine off, but he’s a great shooter and has been throughout his career. That’s exactly what we needed, especially with the second unit. We hoped to get catch-and-shoot threats from Mike Miller, James Jones, and Dion Waiters, and none of them panned out.
http://coub.com/view/47jjr
Hey, this is exactly who he is. He likes to dribble (who doesn’t?), but he is not a good shooter when he dribbles. Sit in a spot and shoot (or pass) and he’s fantastic.
Here’s what I said when we first traded for JR:
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.
Exactly. Somewhere said his numbers spot up are like 1.3ppp and iso it’s like .71 before this year. (I wish I knew where I could pull that data.)
Those numbers sound about right and it’s so stark a difference that the good old eyeball test demonstrates it as well.
Christian Eyenga. 93 attempts, 26 makes.
Don’t worry Sky, we’ll always remember that one random play in a random regular season game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1421914688&v=Qvq1KrtdeEA&x-yt-cl=84503534&feature=player_embedded
Stunning that in 10 days he’s passed Dell Curry. My minds playing tricks on me, making me forget how the popularity of the 3-pointer has morphed the game in the last two decades so as to make this comparative stat between players of different eras meaningless.
But folks, Dell could shoot that shot, effortlessly and with perfect form. With an arc where the net barely moved on his makes. Lenny was sad to lose him in expansion, even though he couldn’t really dribble and didn’t play a lick of defense.
I wonder if the increase in three-point accuracy corresponds to a decrease in free-throw accuracy and run-of-the-mill two-point jump-shot accuracy.
If JJ Hickson’s impressed, why not me.
Nine percent of Smith’s shots come with less than four seconds on the shot clock. The interesting stat, to me anyway, is that nearly 90 percent of the time, he has the ball for less than six seconds.
he had, arguably, the prettiest shot of all time.
And somehow I don’t mind in the least!
he took Kobe off the dribble and dunked on Pau. that’s a career for some guys. Oh, wait – that was HIS career!
“To score you need to shoot/to score more you need to shoot more”… So right.
http://gothamist.com/2013/03/15/video_is_this_the_greatest_song_abo.php
That play may have gotten him the laker contract