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J.R. Smith was a Knick for 213 games spanning 4 seasons, but it feels like he's been in New York forever-- a true Knick. He's not one of the best Knicks ever -- not even close -- but he'll go down as one of the most interesting. J.R. was rarely just there, you know? He hit hot streaks and horrible slumps, filling the space in between with distinctive J.R. moments. What follows is as comprehensive a timeline as I can muster of J.R.'s peculiar Knicks career. I'll say from the outset that it would take the entire bandwidth of the internet to include the best tweets, so those are gonna be sparse. Feel free to add them in the comments.
Here we go.
February 17, 2012: The Knicks sign J.R. Smith right around the tail end of Linsanity (after cutting Renaldo Balkman!). He had been playing in China during the lockout, throwing away his team's money and enjoying family brawls. (Meanwhile: Just a quick reminder that OwanrinGunda was a person who posted here for a while.)
February 19, 2012: J.R. debuts in a win over the Mavericks, coming off the bench to bury three threes in the first quarter. His hair looked ridiculous.
March 10, 2012: J.R. gets fined for posting a ladybutt on Twitter.
March 24, 2012: Double alley-oop!
April 17, 2012: J.R. lights it up in the first half of a dominant win over the Celtics.
May 3, 2012: From the first-round loss to the Heat, maybe J.R.'s best dunk as a Knick. Maybe one of the best Knicks dunks I've ever seen:
May 24, 2012: J.R. gets arrested in Miami for some weirdness with his driver's license.
May 31, 2012: J.R. invites people from the internet to ride bikes around Manhattan with him, and they do.
July 10, 2012: J.R. re-signs with the Knicks on a one-and-one deal after declining his previous player option.
November 4, 2012: J.R. dunks from waaaaay out off a pass from Pablo Prigioni.
November 15, 2012: Mike Woodson et al make a huge deal of J.R. not sagging his pants and stuff.
December 6 and December 27, 2012: J.R. hits game-winners against the Bobcats and Suns.
January 3, 2013: J.R. finishes that ridiculous alley-oop off a low feed from Pablo Prigioni. During a P&T meet-up and a win over the Spurs!
January 9, 2013: MSG's tribute to J.R.'s profound love for passing to Steve Novak and only Steve Novak:
February 3, 2013: Pretty sure this the first J.R. guitar celebration:
February 11, 2013: J.R. is a Power Ranger.
February 21, 2013: J.R. wonders if a girl on Twitter is trying to get the pipe, then keeps making jokes about it after those DMs leak.
February 25, 2013: J.R. air-balls a free throw, much to Purpletie Broman's dismay ...
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... then, for the first of several times, joins in the halftime kids basketball game and gets frozen out!
March 7, 2013: Left to play the dominant Thunder pretty much by himself, J.R. goes off for 36 points and damn near beats them.
March 13, 2013: Milford Jerome's J.R. tribute music video "So Right" begins its 178-month chart-topping run.
Late March 2013: The peak of the driving, dishing, foul-drawing dynamo they call Good J.R. Here are some good quotes from his best stretch as a Knick.
April 10, 2013: One of the best posts in P&T history.
April 22, 2013: J.R. is selected as the NBA's 2012-2013 Sixth Man of the Year.
April 23, 2013: J.R. shines in Game 2 of the Celtics series with a big dunk, a buzzer-beater, a gorgeous pass to Kenyon Martin, and another guitar celebration.
April 26, 2013: J.R. throws the elbow to Jason Terry's face that will get him suspended for the next game while the Knicks get dangerously close to blowing that series:
May, 2013: Rihanna stuff. Just, overall, so much stuff.
July 4, 2013: After declining his player option, J.R. signs what is believed to be a four-year deal with the Knicks.
July 15, 2013: J.R. has knee surgery.
July 16, 2013: Actually, J.R.'s deal is for just three years with a player option in the third.
August 19, 2013: We all think J.R.'s driving around in an armored car.
September 6, 2013: J.R. gets a five-game suspension for failing a third marijuana test (unrelated: he had been photographed smoking a blunt months prior).
October 25, 2013: The Knicks sign Chris Smith because he is J.R. Smith's brother even though he is bad.
November 15, 2013: J.R. gets fined $25,000 for Twitter-beefing with Brandon Jennings about the stuff with Chris.
December 30, 2013: The Knicks waive Chris Smith even though he is J.R. Smith's brother because he is bad.
December 30, 2013:
January 3, 2014: J.R. loses track of the score and shoots way too early at the end of a close game against the Rockets that the Knicks go on to lose.
January 8, 2014: J.R. gets fined $50,000 for repeatedly trying to untie opponents' shoelaces.
January 8, 2014: The Knicks leak a rumor that they're trading to trade J.R.
January 22, 2014: J.R. plays some air guitar with a halftime performer.
February 11, 2014: J.R. breaks his cheekbone, has to wear a mask for a little while.
March 27, 2014: J.R. buries a Knick-record-tying nine threes against the Kings.
April 6, 2014: J.R. breaks his own Knicks record with ten three-pointers on an NBA record 22 attempts.
October 24, 2014: J.R. admits he's having a lot of trouble with the Triangle offense.
November 5, 2014: J.R. gets suspended a game for punching Glen Rice Jr. in the nuts.
November 12, 2014:
January 2, 2015:
J.R. Smith with an early candidate for quote of the year last night pic.twitter.com/obeADwK0s0
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) January 3, 2015
January 6, 2015:
Farewell, J.R. I think that was pretty thorough, but please share anything I've missed in the comments. I've already added a few!