Why The Knicks Shouldn't Sign J.R. Smith
by fuhry on Feb 8, 2012 10:35 AM EST
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PrintI must admit that I have not seen J.R. Smith play very much. I've heard things about his skills and character, and based on the opinions of several P&T posters, I'm willing to trust that the guy's a very good basketball player that could help us win games, and that his character issues wouldn't be a big problem here.
Any addition to a team is a risk/reward scenario. Even a good player can cause chemistry problems, and not always because they're a bad or evil person.
As a hopeful person, I'm wary but willing to trust that Smith wouldn't create any problems here. But I still think the Knicks shouldn't sign him.
Why?
The Knicks need continuity. Any championship team needs time and experience playing together, so guys can grow into their roles and become comfortable. So if they sign J.R. Smith, they should be thinking about not just this year, but potentially the next few years, so the guy can become part of the team.
And that would be difficult to acheive. Why? Because the Knicks are over the cap. And they don't have Bird rights on Jeremy Lin or Baron Davis. No matter how Lin or Davis end up playing for the rest of the year, you have to think that their mid-level exception next year is going to have to be used to sign the guy that's going to play point guard for them. And J.R. Smith isn't going to do that.
If they sign Smith now, he's going to play, and guys like Landry, Shump, and Toney are going to have to adjust their roles around him. But then, at the end of the season, when the Knicks use their mid-level on Lin, Baron, and/or some other point guard, there won't be any money left for J.R. Smith. He's too famous and established a player to sign for a 2 million bi-annual exception. If Lin takes the 2 million bi-annual exception, it will be because he hasn't played like a starter. And if that's the case, Davis or some other point guard must get the mid-level.
So what's the point of signing J.R. Smith, taking the risk that he could mess up chemistry, having the team adjust to him... if we don't have any way of keeping him around to grow with us?
There isn't any point. Have fun in L.A. or Minnesota, J.R.
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you and frilly give me the creeps
Last night, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Somebody knows
I dunno
I think we need guys that can hit open shots when double teams happen. The only guy I can trust to do that right now is Steve Novak. Bill Walker has given up on driving to the basket, it seems, and he’s inconsistent at best at hitting the three. Landry Fields can’t shoot well (but he’s being more aggressive off the dribble, and is playing great). I think JR would fill a spot that we absolutely need.
lol
Agreed
I mean, JR Smith is not Carmelo Anthony. Now that we hopefully have a PG, everyone’s play will improve, and if Smith messes up the flow on the court, he can ride the bench the rest of the season and then try to get signed somewhere this summer. We don’t have that luxury with Melo.
by superturboultra on Feb 10, 2012 7:29 PM EST up reply actions
if we get jr smith
(something i think is more unlikely than anything)
he will be coming off the bench, and while he might take minutes from shumpert, he will mostly be pushing toney douglas and blll walker and mike bibby completely out of the picture. and i’m perfectly fine with that.
now- if we can only get him for the rest of the season- worst case scenario he ditches us (or we him) and during the offseason, low priced yet reliable shooting guards might give us a solid look if they believe they can put us in contention.
/// aighttho.com \\\/// twitter.com/aighttho \\\
I respectfully disagree.
I’ve watched JR a lot. His biggest problem IMO was that George Karl relegated him to a bench scorer/ instant offense. He’s more than capable of being more than that. We all know he can shoot and dunk, but what most don’t realize is that he’s got amazing ball handling skill and a gifted passer. I know it’s alarming and to hear he’s a good passer, but it’s true. I remember him feeding Kenyon, Birdman and Nene all the time off the pick and roll. He might have been Denver’s best P&R passer. I honestly think that he’ll excel under any coach that doesn’t tell him to “just score.”
I know he’s not the best spot up shooter, but that’s because he didn’t do it often and never really had that many open looks (on Denver there weren’t many playmakers who hit the shooter often). He’d probably thrive off of all the open looks Jeremy (and Baron?) could get him. He’s also not that much of a head case. If anything, I’d say he’s whiny… but it’s not nearly enough to make him a “cancer.” I’m drooling over the idea of JR on the court with Jeremy, Melo, Amar’e and Tyson. That IMO is by far the most offensively talented (and balanced!) group in the league. Basically imagine a combination of Bill Walker and Novak. We saw how open those guys get and yes Novak hit a lot of jumpers, but he also got caught with the ball where he couldn’t do anything besides pass it out (except that one nice free throw jumper). Walker got A LOT of open threes, he just missed a lot of them. JR can make those shots AND do something if it doesn’t look like a good look.
And let me add that I think it’ll happen (us signing JR and him succeeding on this team). Let’s point some things out:
-JR Smith (like Kenyon, Wilson and others in the summer) went overseas (specifically China). I’d like to think it’s a safe bet he went for the money, I mean it wasn’t for the spring rolls, was it? Meaning the kid like most people values money highly.
-We have the most money to offer.
-We have a good role to offer. He’d probably come off the bench (at least at first) but he’d have the chance to start and thrive in this offense. I think he realizes that he’s also playing for his next contract.
-He’s bifflez with Melo.
I know it sounds like why we thought we’d get Kenyon… but the truth is Lin makes us a different team and we’re now have won 3 straight. Also, unlike with Kenyon we don’t have a competing team (LAC) offering the same money and a bigger role. Yes LAC probably has a bigger role for him, but I think he’ll take the money.
I trust your assessment of the guy
But my point is that there’s basically very little chance of us retaining him after this year, because we are likely going to have to spend our exceptions on the point guard position.
Get The Frickin' Rebound
That's true of signing ANYONE though
by superturboultra on Feb 10, 2012 7:33 PM EST up reply actions
You're right
That’s true of signing anyone. FACT: whoever we give that 2.5 million exception to is not going to be on the team next year.
My point is: Why bother? Especially when you’ve got good chemistry.
Get The Frickin' Rebound
I don't "Think with that mentality" in every case
For instance, if Lin was signed for the next couple of years and our mid-level would be available to re-sign him, it would be a different story entirely.
Get The Frickin' Rebound
And
Signing Lin made a whole lot of sense because a) they absolutely needed a point guard and b) because of the Arenas rule, if he works out no one can offer him more than our midlevel after the season.
Whereas with Smith, while he might be an upgrade at the 2 for us, it’s not as much of a need, and if he does really well, there’s no money to re-sign him for next year, unless they choose him over Lin!
After the 2012-13 season, our midlevel is free to sign anyone we want. I’m just saying there’s no money to re-sign the guy, so why get him and have him interrupt the development of Landry and Shump?
Get The Frickin' Rebound
You are approaching this the wrong way.
Instead of considering what JR smith can or can not do, consider the Timberwolves game. Why did Lin feel that he had to PLAY the entire second half despite being completely gassed? Why can’t Bibby take over? Because the NY has one of the worst POINT GUARDS right now. On paper it looks great. Baron Davis, Toney Douglas, and Bibby. But none of them can run D’Antoni’s offense which either turns the POINT GUARD into a ASSISTS HERO or a TURNOVER VILLAIN.
He has 2 assists per game. He disobeys direct orders from his coach. He is buddy buddy with Carmelo. He is a SHOOTING GUARD. Sure we need a 3 point guy. But we have novak——what’s more important right now is to get some healthy POINT guards. Priority ONE!
You need a Lin with Fresh Legs.
58 million is the NBA salary cap.
72 is Knicks salary. Right now. With Chauncy gone, it’s back down to 62 million which is good but next year you still have to decide on whether to keep Novak, Fields, and Jeffries. (jerome jordan has like a 2 year guaranteed. Why!!! Renaldo balk man! You keep them there for what, fouls?)
as much as I like Fields, we’ll need his cap space to buy a decent backup PG. Or you can bet that Baron Davis or Tony Douglas can bounce back from whatever they’ve got. We’ve got multiple bets on PGs right now. BD and TD could very well both not pan out or refuse to be second fiddle to Lin. If TD or BD gets healthy again, they can become shooting guards easily, but will they be assistant PGs? Assistant PGs will never get the stats.
If we’re gonna go for broke, I say we go for Steve friggin Nash. I love Fields and Jeffries but we need a stable PG farm.
caveat on the He has 2 assists
I was talking about JR Smith.(disobey, assists, buddy buddy comment).
I agree
I was genuinely against signing Kenyon Martin because I think he’s a thug plus I don’t think he’s all that good, but I don’t have a problem with JR Smith.
It kind of perplexed me watching how Karl treated him and gave him minutes . . . after melo left he was probably the most talented scorer and second best play maker on that team, but karl sat him out for whole games during the playoffs . . . bizarre to me . . . to me he is the type of player who should be making around $10-$15 million a year, so we’re stealing him.
Anxiously awaiting the day my username will be appropriate
skill set wise he would be wonderful
he is a very good shooter and a good pick and roll play maker who is not undersized at the sg position, so he’s a good defender too. I question his attitude a bit, but I would sign him.
Anxiously awaiting the day my username will be appropriate
I agree with you fuhry
JR will be a short term solution to what? Maybe win the 1st round of the playoffs?
Not to knock my team, but we aren’t winning the big dance this year. Give more minutes to our young guys and develop the core even more.
I want to see Lin, Iman, Fields, Melo, Stat, Novak, Jefferies, Tyson, TD, and Bully build some more chemistry.
My Wife is a Patriot's fan...
"Giants rely on fumbles and stripping the ball. If the pats secure the ball, then the pats win, but if they fumble or let the ball get striped than the giants win. every game the giants play they always benefit from the other teams bonehead mistakes (fumbled or striped) not from thier skills. The giants are a dirty team, I can’t think of any othe team as dirty as the giants. They try to strip the ball as hard as they can because they know they can’t win a fair game." by EaglesNeedD on Jan 23, 2012 2:01 AM EST
"JR will be a short term solution to what? Maybe win the 1st round of the playoffs?"
That’s exactly why the Knicks SHOULD sign him. When’s the last time the Knicks won the first round of the playoffs ? The idea is to progress every year. Last year they made the playoffs but were swept. This year it would be a positive to make it to the second round. Even if JR is gone next year, it’s a step in the right direction, and you hope that Shump and Landry take that extra step next year so another signing like this in the future won’t be necessary.
Proud owner of over 20,000 comments. (most of them in the wrong place) Oh yeah, and Buster Posey
that is silly.
You’ve already got carmelo, why do you need another shooting guard? You can take out jeffries and put landry and Carmelo. Or carmelo and shump. Your shooting guard farm is pretty deep already. we have Stoudamire/Tyson as our 5(center). you have a 2+3(shump/carmelo/landry) and you have a 4 power forward(jeffrie/jerome) and a 1 (lin/bibby/toney douglas/baron davis).
your center is so strong you can eat dogs out of. Your shooting guards aren’t that bad. If your hiring JR, that means you don’t want landry. Landry’s playing heart out. And he’s PLAYED with LIN since college.
Your bad point guards can always be shooting guards. You don’t need another shooting guard that averages 2 assists a game. Now that I think about it, not only do we need another PG, we also need more jeffries.
That’s probably why Lin is doing so well. he’s basically a skinny power forward on defense and a tall point guard on offense.
Man, we’re going to go so over the cap next year. But don’t hire anymore shooting guards. PLEASE.
WWWD
What would Walsh do? Would be take on a guy who has a bad shot selection and plays no D? Would he pass despite NY needing more depth and outside shooters? I’m not sure what he would do.
The fan in me says pass.
Rightly or wrongly I think about him the way I do about Melo. He is talented and a heck of a shooter but I just don’t enjoy watching them play.
I really think we would be foolish to pass him up if he'd sign for the 2.5
he’s basically what we all wish shumpert were. the only thing that bums me out is we can’t sign him next year.
Anxiously awaiting the day my username will be appropriate
well...
his team is officially out of the playoffs in china, so he might he headed to the states soon.
/// aighttho.com \\\/// twitter.com/aighttho \\\
the chinese regular season ends on the 15th
seeing as how FIBA stepped in (at least a little bit) for kenyon martin’s release, i wouldn’t be surprised to see them step all the way in for jr smith. the grounds for release will be even more powerful. and when it comes to some type of labor relations- viewed as a strict, unfair obstruction of the player’s chance to make a salary if the CBA gets all crunchy.
/// aighttho.com \\/// twitter.com/aighttho \\
I'm all for it
the guy’s a great shooter and would be a perfect guy to take Bully and Novak’s minutes off the bench. But that’s assuming he’d be willing to only get 15-20 minutes a night. Our bench needs more punch.
Carmelo's taking Bully's minutes
and Novak is a 4 – J.R. Smith isn’t taking his minutes. He’s taking Shump and Landry’s minutes. Is that really necessary?
Get The Frickin' Rebound
JR Smith
Sources say JR Smith is likely to sign with the Knicks… Signing Smith would be great in my opinion… Another shooter who can spread the floor and finish at the rim. Some people complaining about chemistry… There was no chemistry issue when he and Melo were in Denver… Having a freakin PG fixes alot of chemistry issues and now we have gotten our PG. As for Landry, Shump, we would be able to become more flexible moving Landry to the 3 since he’s not a true shooting guard… To spell LIN for minutes, bring in Shump to run the point while JR is at the 2… I don’t want Bibby in the game at all. Having JR is a good problem to have… Gives more depth for our bench. I won’t be satisfied with just making it to the 1st round again and losing…
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