J.R. Smith has been not himself this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers but he is now starting to show signs of the player he was throughout his time with the team.
With the Cleveland Cavaliers looking like a totally different team after their trade deadline acquisitions of George Hill, Rodney Hood, Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson, their play on the court have also reflected this with the team winning four of their last five, with the latest win, as of Saturday, coming against the Memphis Grizzlies 112-89.
This is mostly in part by the Cavaliers’ youth movement, with Nance being a huge spark off the Cavs’ bench and being the difference maker, especially in the team’s wins against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies.
However, while the Cavs trio of youngsters have all done their part in helping the Cavs return to being their status of the beast of the Eastern Conference, J.R. Smith has also been a big part of the Cavs recent success mostly after having found his swagger once again.
For almost the entire first half of the NBA season, Smith has for the most part been a disappointment and currently is averaging career-lows across the board with averages of 8.5 points, 1.9 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game. Nonetheless, head coach Ty Lue remained steadfast in keeping his streaky guard in the starting unit, after learning from the error of his ways when he originally benched Smith for Dwyane Wade.
But the Cavs were losing, by massive margins, including a 148-124 massacre against the Thunder, and the team was becoming borderline unwatchable for fans. Much of the ire was directed toward Smith, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas. To shake things up, Lue elected to make a roster change by recreating the franchise’s championship team, replacing Crowder with Tristan Thompson and sliding Kevin Love back to his natural power forward position.
Smith must have noticed Crowder getting the hook and gave Cavs fans a quick reminder of how great a shooter he can be with 23 points and connecting on 7 three-pointers in a win against the Indiana Pacers:
While this outing by Smith was great to see, he then responded with a few stinkers against the Detroit Pistons (4 points, 0-4 from beyond the arc) and the Miami Heat (6 points, 0-2 from beyond the arc) because of the fact that he was linked to a multitude of trade discussions leading up to the deadline with the most popular one being the Cavs sending him to the Los Angeles Clippers for center DeAndre Jordan.
Even though he was still in the starting lineup, Smith still had the very real fear of being traded away and would also serve as a distraction and a detriment to his shooting, too. Yet, the deadline came and went and Smith was still with the team and that showed that the entire organization still believed in Smith despite his initial lackluster results.
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With the front office’s support of him after the deadline, Smith has been great for the Cavs with averages of 12.0 points (hitting 47.5% of his three-point attempts), 3.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists and looks a lot more like the player that was huge for the Cavaliers since he joined the team.
With Smith feeling comfortable with his three-point shot again, it will be huge a huge addition for a Cavaliers team that now is armed to the teeth with elite three-point shooters in Kyle Korver, Hill, Clarkson, Love, Hood and now Smith. The elite shooting of the aforementioned players becomes lethal when paired alongside LeBron James as well.
The best thing is with all the available shooters across the Cavs roster it is alright for the team for one of them to have an off night if the others are producing and against their last win against the Grizzlies, Smith only finished with 5 points on 1-5 shooting, with the only shot being a three-pointer. However, the one three-pointer he connected on was a doozy:
There are people who say that swagger is the plus-sized sister of confidence and Smith definitely showed his swagger in his mind-bending shot against the Grizzlies. Shots like this will be key for not only Smith but the Cavs as they continue to quickly return to form to the team that they were last season. Smith provides a spark that no other player on the roster, besides King James, that can make or break the team and that will especially count in the playoffs.
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The ultimate goal for the Cavaliers every season is to win an NBA Championship and with Smith starting to look like himself again, that goal becomes a bit easier to envision.