Cleveland Cavaliers: JR Smith will suffer on the bench

According to ESPN, Dwyane Wade was named the fifth starter for the Cleveland Cavaliers, not J.R. Smith.

After the news of Tyronn Lue benching Tristan Thompson last week, he’s decided to leak his final starting five; for the first time in his Cleveland Cavaliers’ career, J.R. Smith will be on the second unit.

Smith had one of his worst seasons as a professional last year. He suffered from an injury which sidelined him exactly half the season along with a troubling situation surrounding his daughter who was born prematurely. All in all, last season we did not see the normal JR Smith.

He shot a career-low 34.6% from the field and scored the second-lowest points per game of his career at 8.6 per game. Coach Lue benching Smith will only take away his most useful strength –his catch-and-shoot ability while playing alongside LeBron James. This is not to say they will never be on the floor together, but it should certainly be less than in past seasons. Smith, who was once the phenomenal playmaker off the bench, has not played in that role in almost half a decade. Is it possible to get that version of Smith back?

Smith shot 6.6 threes per game and only 2.1 two-point shots per game. Smith, just like teammates Kyle Korver and Channing Frye, has only one-dimension to his game on the offensive end, and that is his shooting.

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Both Korver and Frye, just like Smith, thrived playing next to James, and it will probably end up being the same way for Smith. James averaged a career-high in assists last season. Coincidentally, Smith drew his highest three-point attempt rate of his career last season also. It’s a two-way street. With Smith on the bench, the offensive spacing will be limited due to Wade’s lacking three-point shot.

For Smith, over 76% of his shots came from beyond the arc, and the Cavaliers’ second unit will be without a playmaker to open these shots up until Isaiah Thomas returns forcing Rose to the second unit permanently. Another career-high for Smith last season was the percent of his shots that were assisted on. Over 95% of his shots were assisted on. Now, Smith will be playing the majority of his minutes without arguably the best passing forward in league history. What else? Over two-thirds of Smith’s jumpers were without a dribble, further proving his lack of playmaking last season. He won’t thrive without a playmaker, so Lue shouldn’t expect much. He’s taking away Smith’s greatest strength — a competent playmaker.

It’s not just a playmaker though because the second unit could see the majority of their minutes with recent signee Derrick Rose. It’s not having Kyrie Irving and James that would kill Smith’s efficiency. Rose could be an effective playmaker, but he probably won’t get Smith the looks that Irving and James were able to do this past year. Over 50% of the passes Smith received were by either Irving or James. And, to top that off, Smith shot a high majority of his shots from either a pull-up or a catch-and-shoot situation. Smith would get the ball from his superstars and normally hoist the three up. This routine will be snapped this season.

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Smith’s bench production will be one of the hottest storylines this season has to offer. The Cleveland Cavaliers might eventually be better off letting Wade take charge before they again succumb to having a mediocre second unit. The second unit is void of playmakers right now, and benching Smith for Wade is not fixing that problem.

To be completely fair, Smith does have a Sixth Man of the Year trophy under his belt from the 2012-2013 season, so even without LeBron, there is a chance he thrives off the bench.

Could that Smith return, or will the LeBron-depend Smith stay in Cleveland? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.