Cleveland Cavaliers: Let’s just trade J.R. Smith at this point
By Dan Gilinsky
The Cleveland Cavaliers got all they could ask for out of J.R. Smith for two years, and it helped them win a ring. Now, let’s let him out of town at this point, considering the Cavs need to go younger.
The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t going anywhere now, and we know that; the team is 1-6, and I was off the mark in thinking they’d have a chance at making the postseason. The Cavs have some talent that can allow them to hang around, but they also have players like J.R. Smith that need to go before the trade deadline. The Cavs are a mess right now, and although Smith chose to stick around the organization to provide a good example, instead of taking a leave of absence (as it was reported that he had the choice, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor), he did, in fact say he wants to be traded to the media, per Sporting News’ Jordan Heck (h/t Bleacher Report’s Tim Daniels). At this point, let’s grant Smith his wish.
Smith is 33, and I get why he doesn’t want to be in Cleveland now. The Cavaliers recently fired head coach Tyronn Lue, and a huge reason for that reportedly was because he played veterans Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith in meaningful minutes, whereas general manager Koby Altman wants to see the team play their younger pieces.
Daniels touched on the scenario involved in terms of a public trade request fine probably not being handed out to Smith by the league, per reports, even though that would go against precedent (nonetheless, this situation couldn’t be more awkward).
"“NBA commissioner Adam Silver later told Joe Vardon of The Athletic that he does not expect the league to fine Smith for his comments. Earlier Thursday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the league would determine if Smith’s comments were ‘a public trade request, which exposes him to a fine under the CBA.’Wojnarowski noted Eric Bledsoe was previously fined $10,000 for tweeting he did not want to be with the Phoenix Suns.”"
Smith’s hefty $14,720,000 salary this season (per Spotrac) makes trading him difficult, though, even as a player that can get a team juiced up from his three-point shooting. The last two seasons have seen Smith be unproductive, for the most part, though, as we’ve mentioned over and over here at KJG, but when the guy is motivated (perhaps by a change of scenery on a winning club), he can be an effective three-and-D.
On this Cavaliers squad that figures to be showcasing Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Collin Sexton (and probably more so David Nwaba now), in the backcourt, Smith’s contributions on the floor are going to be minimal. He’s posted 2.5 points on just 23.1 percent shooting and 1.0 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per game at this point, and with interim head coach Larry Drew and Smith probably not being in agreement on playing time going forward, Smith’s value isn’t going to amount to much.
Plus, Drew and Cleveland have made progress on a deal, which could bring more security for the current “voice,” in Drew (which doesn’t bode well for Smith), as Vardon reported earlier Thursday.
The issue is, trading Smith is going to be a tough task, to say the least. He’s had a grocery list of head-scratching incidents in his career, both on and off the floor, and even though I’ve grown to love the dude for how he embraced the city of Cleveland, the marriage has simply run its course.
If the Cavs can get anything for Smith, they should trade him. To do so, they may have to package him with Kyle Korver or George Hill (who, along with Smith, have only partially guaranteed contracts for the 2019-20 season).
Korver and Hill have light years better basketball IQ’s than Smith, and don’t provide the same head-scratching moments, so that could work. Hill should be around longer than Korver, for Collin Sexton’s sake, however, so we’ll see on that.
Either way, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Koby Altman need to get this Smith situation dealt with sooner rather than later. They’ll have enough problems to deal with already and this kind of thing could divide the team.