The Cleveland Cavaliers’ struggles this season showed early. They opened with a 4-6 record through 10 games, and four of their first five defeats were by 17 or more points.
Although it was mainly due to terrible team defense, it’s also no secret that J.R. Smith was a big part of that underwhelming stretch. In fact, things got so bad at one point that even Smith himself, who’s always beaming with confidence, wanted to get benched. Here’s what he told Dave McMenamin of ESPN in a recent interview:
“There were times when I wanted to go to [coach Tyronn Lue] and be like, ‘Listen, man, I’m not playing well. Why not take me out?'” said Smith, who in 14 games this season has scored three points or fewer. “Fortunately, I didn’t and just stuck with it. I’ve known T-Lue since my rookie year. Our relationship is based on communication — how he communicates with me, how I communicate with him. He’s been really consistent at that.”
J.R. “Swish” has been J.R. “Brick” for most of the year. He shot an appalling 27.9 percent in his first 10 games, and only improved it to 36.8 percent through his next 34 outings. All in all, he has shot below 40 percent in a game 29 times this season.
It wasn’t until late January that he began to consistently found some rhythm. Smith has now connected on 50 percent of his shots in his last eight games, and he’s also netting 12.7 points and 3.1 made threes in that time span.
Hopefully for the Cavs front office, their decision to keep Smith safe in the recent team overhaul is right.