J.R. Smith 2008-09 exit interview
by Nate Timmons on Aug 5, 2009 1:50 PM MDT
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Around here I often refer to him as J.R. Swish, but George Karl prefers, "good J.R. and the bad J.R." What to make of one of Denver's most controversial players?
J.R. Smith, 6'6'' and 220 lbs. Turns 24 years-old September 9th.
Experience: Smith will be entering his 6th season in the NBA and his 4th season with the Nuggets. The crazy thing about these high school kids who entered the league ... Smith will be just 24 years-old, but is already a veteran of the NBA game (on paper anyway.)
Contract status: 2-years and roughly $11.5 million ($5.5 million this season and $6 million in 2010-11)
Overview of 2008-09 season: J.R. made huge strides last year on the court. Even before the season started we were hearing positive things about the maturing Mr. Swish ... like him practicing with team U.S.A. before they headed off to Beijing. Or news that Smith was in Las Vegas attending the low key, but NBA insider-famous annual basketball camp ran by Nuggets assistant coach Tim Grgurich. (give this article by Matt Steinmetz about last year's camp a read ... some great insight.)
Smith participated in his second NBA Slam-Dunk contest and was voted runner-up for the NBA's 6th Man of the Year award. Everything was looking great for the young rising star as he was Denver's instant offense off the bench and playing starter type minutes. J.R. really shined for the Nuggets at times in the playoffs and looked to be on the verge of putting it all together. His defense was much improved, his shot selection seemed to be improving, and George Karl even mentioned that Smith should probably be starting for the team in the 2009-10 season.
But, as is the case with Smith ... amid the good we got some bad. It was reported on February 17, 2009 that Smith was fined $1,000 by a New Jersey judge for failing to show up for his court date on January 13, 2009. Smith was playing against the Dallas Mavericks in Denver on the 13th (logging 33 minutes, scoring 2 points on 1-14 shooting, grabbing 5 rebounds, and handing out 7 assists in a 99-97 win.) Smith's lawyer Greg Mordas was also fined $1,000 by the judge for apparently telling Smith he did not have to appear for the hearing, stemming from a fatal car wreck involving Smith.
J.R., much like Carmelo Anthony did, has dealt with questions surrounding his maturity and decision making. While things appeared to go well for Smith on the basketball court ... things seemed to be murky for Smith away from it at times.
Minutes: 27.7 ... career high (22.9 career)
Shooting:
FG: 44.6% (43.1% career)
3-pt: 39.7% ... 180-453 (37.6% career)
FT: 75.4% (75.1% career) ... career high in makes and attempts going 205-272
Steals: 1 per game... career high (0.8 career)
Assists: 2.8 per game ... career high (1.9 career)
Rebounds: 3.6 per game ... career high (2.5 rpg career)
Turnovers: 1.9 per game (1.5 career)
Scoring: 15.2 ppg ... career high (11.9 career)
Positives / What he brings: You notice that after most of J.R.'s stats the words "career high" accompany them. Smith enjoyed a very fine season for the Denver Nuggets and continues to show that he's growing and becoming more a complete player. At just 24-years old when the season will begin ... the sky is still the limit for Swish.
J.R. basically has no cap on his shooting range, showed improved ball handling, the ability to be a very creative and willing passer, and a knack for taking the ball to the rim more. If you look at Smith's first four seasons<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> in the league you'll notice he didn't attempt more than 178 free throws in any season. Last year Smith attempted 272 free throws ... an improvement of 94 shots at the foul line. Smith also made 205 of those freebies ... nearly totaling his combined makes from the previous two seasons of 230. While he only converted 75.1% of his foul shots it was nice to see him getting there in a variety of ways. While a lot of his attempts can surely be attributed to the number of minutes he logged compared to seasons past (2,245 last year and just 1,421 in 2007-08) I think we all saw Smith become a more aggressive player going to the paint late in the season.
It also looks very easy when Smith takes the ball inside. He has great athletic ability and can jump out of the arena if need be. J.R. like a lot of his teammates is incredible above the rim and can finish plays with breathtaking dunks. J.R. also improved his mid-range game and was deadly from the top of the free-throw line. Thankfully the Nuggets traded Marcus Camby or else Smith would constantly be running into the former Nugget who liked to park himself in Smith's new favorite shooting zone.
Defensively Smith has shown a lot of improvement ... most notably in the effort department. Karl even commented in a regular season home win versus the Lakers that Smith's defense against Kobe Bryant was key. While he isn't going to make too many All-Defensive teams quite yet ... it's interesting to note that he finished ahead of all his teammates, except for Chauncey Billups with 5 votes (no first team votes), by getting two NBA All-Defensive team votes and even one vote for first team (no other Nugget received a first place vote.)
Negatives / What needs to improve: First and foremost J.R. Smith's maturity level. After some of the positive publicity he made before the start of last season with team U.S.A. practices and the like, we get the negative stuff about missing his court date, being sentenced to 30-days in jail for the fatal car wreck, and now his (now former) Twitter account being called into question for gang-style spellings. Both Woody Paige and Chris Dempsey discuss the Twitter stuff in recent articles for the Denver Post.
If you are not familiar with the controversy of the Twitter stuff here is a snippet from Dempsey's article:
Several recent posts by Smith on his page — twitter.com/jr_smith1 — are written in a way that is commonly associated with the Bloods street gang.
Words that would have a "C" in them are replaced with "K," or if a word has both in them, the "C" is removed altogether. Smith has nearly 15,000 followers on his Twitter page.
"Those are still little messages that are being transcended back to some of the neighborhoods," said Rev. Leon Kelly, executive director of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives in Denver. "Not to say in no way is he promoting a gang. But people got to understand that a lot of these kids come from gang neighborhoods. Their friends are still involved in doing what they do. Just because one was able to get out of that lifestyle, many of them don't forget where they come from."
What are we to make of this? Is Smith just being ignorant or is he intentionally using this gang slang? After reading some of his recent posts it's pretty tough to imagine he's just being ignorant.
Smith has come under fire for gang related stuff before. In the thumbnail picture at the top of this post, Smith is said, by some, to be flashing gang signs. Melo faced this same criticism when he appeared in that infamous "Stop Snitching" video just a few years ago. It will be tough for J.R. to shed this image that he's creating for himself ... just ask Melo how long it is taking him. It's very tough to see a player with so much talent create these situations. Off the court incidents can start to overshadow whatever a player does on the court.
Smith has plenty of things to work on both on and off the court ... let's get refocused on his on the floor difficulties. I'd love to see J.R. pump his free throw average above 80% ... it's crazy to me that he can have such unlimited range, but then go to the foul line and shoot 54.3% like he did in the playoffs. A little more patience and a calmer approach to his free throws would seem to help ... just compare his foul shooting to Chauncey Billups' and you'll see a vast difference in approach. Billups is calm, collected, and doesn't move much. J.R. has built up a little routine and likes to bounce quite a bit before he releases the ball. Doing a little trial and error at the gym ... I wasn't very accurate at all while mimicking his stroke (but that probably doesn't mean much right!)
While his shot selection has improved, I think it can continue to get better. Swish started to realize in that Lakers series that he could get to the rim at will and that should benefit his shooting percentage as making layups and dunks is much easier than taking 30 foot bombs.
We also saw J.R.'s ability to pass the ball and I liked it. He has pretty crazy vision on the court and is able to squeeze passes into places that he shouldn't. His assist average improved and should continue to do so as he'll have plenty of touches next season.
Defensively Smith has shown more effort and ability. If he remains focused on becoming a star then we'll continue to see growth on the defensive end. He's quick enough to hang with anybody and has a pretty good knack for the ball. When he becomes disinterested on the defensive end his man can get off some easy looks and he will blow assignments, but those cases seemed to occur a little less often.
Outlook for 2009-10 season: Smith can be a 20+ ppg, 5+ assists, and 4+ rebounds a game type player. The Nuggets may need his scoring ability a little more than they did last season with Linas Kleiza's status with the team now seriously in question. He should be in the starting lineup if what Karl said was true, leaving the bench quite depleted if we also lose L.K.
Next season should be the time we see J.R. jump from rising star with potential to more of a household name. And with the controversy he's created for himself off the court, he'll have to work overtime to ensure that his name is associated with "good J.R."
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
(thumbnail image courtesy of AP Photos: Jack Dempsey)<!--[endif]-->
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Survivor
At the rate JR is going right now, I’d be surprised if he is still alive at the end of the season. I hope he makes a major turnaround with his life over the next few months, but so far, he hasn’t shown any attempt at changing his lifestyle.
JR is so frustrating
To watch a player with as much potentail as JR just make dumb mistakes off and on the court consistantly is incredibly painful. I look at this guy, like Nate said, as a potential 20 plus per game scorer EASILY yet all he has done in 6 years in the league is 15.
I wasn’t familiar with this gang sign stuff but obviously I have seen him throw something together with his hands on the court, so I am not suprised. But mis-spellings on Twitter? Come on, that is a joke. Hvnt u seen da way peeps spell on da net deez dayz?
As for the upcomming season. If JR can log at least 30 mpg, which he should, I see him averaging around 18ppg, 4rpg & 3 apg. Hopefully he does even better than what we expect becuase we all know the sky is the limit with this kid.
It's not so easy
To me you fellas are forgetting that George Karl dogged him out upon his arrival in Denver. George wouldn’t even talk to the young man. It’s not so easy to be a 20 plus when the deck is stacked against you
Not all on Karl
JR has been on the team for over 3 yrs. Since then all of us have been waiting for him to become the future star SG of the Nuggets. While JR has all of the talent he is still a streaky shooter, fairly inconsistent and prone to making terrible decisions at bad times. I remember a quote from A.I. a while ago who said that once JR can get his off court life under control it would do wonders for his on-court game. I am with GoldenNug on this one, we should not expect much more than what JR produced last year and it’s frustrating to wonder whether he will ever realize his potential with the Nuggets, a top 5 SG in the league. Yeah I said it.
I'm saying next season since he's progressed pretty much every year in Denver that he could very well be a 20+ ppg guy.
I’m looking at his outlook when I say that.
Denver Stiffs.com: Defending the sovereignty of Nuggets Nation.
by Nate Timmons on Aug 6, 2009 10:12 AM MDT up reply actions
Come on guys
J.R. has changed in a big way. His reckless driving case was truly a stupid and thoughtless accident, but you have to remember that the actual accident happened a while ago. The weight of the tragedy and the birth of J.R.‘s daughter have definitely made him more mature and thoughtful. Just because he spells things with a K doesn’t mean he’s going out and shooting up cars on the street.
J.R. is my homeboy
by Greyson on Aug 5, 2009 6:00 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
Kome on JR, you need to step it up next year. He needs to show he truly belongs as a starting shooting guard, and not just some khild on the block. Kan he step it up? For the future hope of the nuggets, I hope so.
by 5280 on Aug 5, 2009 6:18 PM MDT reply actions 1 recs
Pulling for JR
It seems JR is never far away from controversy. JR’s career is starting to remind me of another talented JR – - JR Rider. I too have grown tired of the Blood Gang symbols after he nails a 3-pointer. He’s not fooling anyone with his downward “3” symbol. The guy has MEGA talent and can be a true star if he can grow up and get his head on straight. The Nuggs really need him to make the next step this year if they are going to make a move in the playoffs.
As a big JR fan...
I can safely say there are a few things he needs to work on..and some things he definately has improved on already. I think he has grown with the death of his friend and the addition of his daughter. Also, I think he has grown from his relationship with Chauncey Billups and sees him as a role model. If you read his twitter you will also find he writes a lot about how much his family means to him and his time in the gym. Also he strives to be there and help his brother Chris who follows in the basketball footsteps. . I also think his relationship with Karl has improved and means something to him. I thought the one on one chat he did on Altitude awhile back showed some of the changes he made. I think he does things that suggest he wants to be/is on the right track, he just needs to stay on there and keep doing more. Definately am always pulling for this guy.
"Man, this is baseball, you gotta stop thinking! Just have fun."
The Sandlot (1993) – Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar)
by AtkinsandTulofan on Aug 6, 2009 2:36 AM MDT reply actions
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