Cleveland Cavaliers: Will JR Smith ever losing his starting job?
The Cleveland Cavaliers, even after several poor shooting months in a row, continue to keep JR Smith in the starting lineup.
As the Cleveland Cavaliers continue to march through February, their starting shooting guard, JR Smith, has consistently struggled. At what time will Coach Lue and his staff give up on starting the game-changing guard? Smith has one of the team’s worst plus/minus’s at -1.6.
In the Cavs latest outing against the Brooklyn Nets, Smith recorded just four points and failed to hit a single three, missing all three attempts. He did this in just 22 minutes play and rightfully so.
Smith is considered to be one of Cleveland’s most talented perimeter players. He has five games this season with five or more triples; however, these games are few and far between. The sad part is that Smith has been the definition of inconsistent this season, shooting under 40% from the field for the fourth time in his career.
On the season, he has ten games in which he’s played over 20 minutes yet failed to hit a single three-point shot. Smith, who shoots 70% of his shots from downtown, is far less effective if he isn’t connecting on these shots. Surprisingly, though, Smith hasn’t worried about losing his starting role since the Cavs first game of the season.
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Former superstar Dwyane Wade start the team’s first game but transitioned to the bench where he found his home in his short-lived career in Cleveland. Wade has since been traded back to Miami, where he played much of his legendary career.
Smith, who looked to be reenergized by the presence of the four new additions in Cleveland, might be able to find a home in the second unit, a unit in which he might be given more freedom to play his style. Smith often times takes more difficult shots than need be, and without a player of LeBron’s caliber on the second unit, he might be able to fit in perfectly.
While nothing has emerged of Smith losing his starting spot, for the first time this season, the second unit has players that might make a great replacement for Smith. Rodney Hood and Kyle Korver could both serve as quality replacements for Smith. Both players would add consistency to the starting unit while Smith would hopefully take his difficult shot-making ability to the second unit and help bail them out of broken possessions.
JR Smith is a fan-favorite, but even fan favorites need to be put in their place if they aren’t producing like they need to be.
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In the end, even though Smith might be one of the energetic players on the Cavaliers, he must start to produce with some consistency if he wants to put all these questions at bay.