The Cleveland Cavaliers could certainly use the skills of guard J.R. Smith right now, but the guard has been struggling to find his form.
Aside from his personal issues about having to be moved to the bench earlier this season to allow Dwyane Wade to be inserted into the starting lineup, Smith has been somewhat of a disappointing show this season so far.
That is only because when he gets hot, he ranks among the most feared shooters in the league. He isn’t afraid to launch a shot from deep and even if he doesn’t make it, he has a knack for at times making you feel like he will.
In fact, Smith loves to shoot so much, he sometimes welcomes contested shots as a challenge to himself when he gets bored of taking wide open jumpers. While that is usually the goal of a team’s offense, Smith feels completely confident in taking shots contested beyond the arc and when decision time comes, he doesn’t feel the need to pass.
I think it’s just a matter of us getting open shots. Everybody doesn’t like shooting contested threes like myself. Getting open shots, and then guys having the confidence to make them.
You should never look for Smith to go for any kind of assist record because his approach to the game only involves one thing, and that’s shooting the rock whenever he can at whatever time he can. That doesn’t mean Smith is a ball hog, but in his eye, adjustments only mean shoot more.
Worse come to worse … my motto is, ‘When in doubt, shoot the ball. So when in doubt, I’m going to shoot it, and hopefully that don’t catch nobody off guard.
Where did this irrational confidence come from which on the other end makes Smith an erratic shooter that doesn’t seem to understand when to reel it in? Smith’s answer is his father, who he says drilled that into him as a kid, and he never abandoned that philosophy.
