Nearly Forgotten, J.R. Smith Is Cleveland Cavaliers' Secret Playoff Weapon
CLEVELAND — J.R. Smith is sitting at his locker, openly complaining about having to put on a shirt.
No one is really listening, mind you. Reporters and cameras are too busy gathered around All-Star teammate Kevin Love, who's giving his mandated postgame presser.
Eventually, Smith lets out a deep sigh before slipping on a white dress shirt over his tattooed torso. He leaves it unbuttoned, of course, as he heads over to the largest locker room mirror for some self inspection. There, Smith takes a second to adjust his hair and fix his sleeves with the precision of a teenager before prom night.
Satisfied, the 31-year-old father of three turns and slaps hands with a team employee before exclaiming, "Still got it!"
Some have forgotten about Smith, the Cavaliers' starting shooting guard on the franchise's first-ever championship team just nine months ago. This is just his fifth game back following a grueling three months of surgery and rehabilitation on a fractured right thumb.
Since his last game action in late December, the Cavs have undergone quite the transformation. They traded for another shooting guard, Kyle Korver, in January. They claimed Derrick Williams following his release from the Miami Heat and signed former All-Star point guard Deron Williams to bolster the backcourt.
Cleveland signed and then released Andrew Bogut following a broken tibia after just 58 seconds of game action. Larry Sanders, out of the league since the 2014-15 season, has since taken his place.
All of these additions have grabbed headlines and improved the roster in various ways. Come postseason play, however, none will have as great an impact as Smith.
Once cast off from basketball's mecca to now pushing through his "toughest year," Smith is returning to his two-way form at the perfect time.
Forgotten Impact
The 2016 NBA Finals can largely be summed up for Cleveland in three plays.
There's LeBron James' block on a driving Andre Iguodala, Kyrie Irving's step-back three-pointer over Stephen Curry and Love's defense on Curry that sealed the Cavaliers' Game 7 win and championship.
So quickly we forget Smith made all of these plays possible.
After a near-deadlocked first half, the Warriors blew open an eight-point lead with 10:33 to play in the third quarter. The home Golden State crowd was gaining momentum, and Cleveland's improbable comeback looked to be quickly dying.
Here, with James, Irving and Love all on the floor, Smith essentially saved the game.
On back-to-back offensive possessions, Smith nailed three-pointers to cut the lead to two before recording a steal that led to a game-tying jumper by Irving. These three-pointers turned the momentum and were just as valuable as any other Game 7 moment for the Cavaliers.
As for that block by James? If Smith isn't there to initially contest Iguodala's layup, it never happens.
Cleveland's "Best Wing Defender"
When the Cavaliers traded for Smith and Iman Shumpert from the New York Knicks in January 2015, many believed the latter would become Cleveland's two-way starting shooting guard.
Instead, head coach Tyronn Lue holds Smith in the highest regard.
"As far as our best wing defender, I still say that he is," Lue told Bleacher Report. On a team with Shumpert, James and DeAndre Liggins, that's significant praise.
Although known for his scoring, Smith's defense is what the Cavaliers truly crave. They allow 106.3 points per game on the season and went just 22-14 during his three-month absence. With Smith, Cleveland began the season 20-6.
Along with James and Love, Smith is the only other Cavalier to improve both the offense (plus-1.3 points per 100 possessions) and defense (minus-1.8) when he's in the game.
In a March 16 win over the Utah Jazz, Smith dropped 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep while having to guard All-Star Gordon Hayward for the entire fourth quarter. While Smith's big three-pointer with 1:10 left sealed the win, Hayward was held scoreless over the final 15:41 of the game.
"He's J.R., man," Irving told Bleacher Report. "He's going to take some tough threes. He's going to make some as well, but he got a few open ones tonight, which was good. It easily allowed him to get into his rhythm. When he started hitting the bottom of the net, that's when you know J.R. is really, really locked in."
Even 7'2" Rudy Gobert, one of the Defensive Player of the Year front-runners, didn't seem to make Smith pause when getting into the paint.
"Pause to shoot? No, I ain't never pause to shoot," Smith said. "I don't care if my momma is right there, I'm shooting that."
This confidence (and two-way play) is exactly what Cleveland needs come playoff time.
The Eastern Conference, while not the mighty West, is still littered with talented guards. The Cavaliers will likely face the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics or Washington Wizards in the conference finals. That means trying to cover DeMar DeRozan, Isaiah Thomas, John Wall.
The Cavs won't ask Irving to match up with any of the three, as they need him to stay fresh on offense. This is where Smith does the dirty work.
Outside of Shumpert, Cleveland's backcourt lacks athletes with the footwork necessary to keep up with players such as DeRozan, Thomas and Wall. Irving and Kyle Korver certainly can't. Smith uses both his size (6'6") and frame (225 pounds) to stay in front of opposing wings and chase them off their spots.
This was particularly evident in the 2016 Finals, as Smith was asked to shadow Klay Thompson for most of the series. Thompson came in hot, averaging 26.2 points on 45.0 percent shooting from three during the first three rounds. With Smith on his tail, Thompson cooled off to the tune of 19.6 points on 35.0 percent from deep. Smith finished the Finals third in minutes behind only James and Irving, as he was far too valuable to leave benched against the Warriors backcourt.
This postseason, Cleveland needs more of the same.
Cavaliers' Insider Notebook
Rotation Overflow?
With all the new pieces the Cavs have acquired over the past few months, how big will a healthy rotation actually grow to?
Given the return of Smith andLove, Cleveland is slowly returning to full strength. This presents a (positive) problem for Lue when it comes to spreading minutes around.
The starting five of James, Love, Irving, Tristan Thompson and Smith will all need time. The bench also features Deron Williams, Korver, Shumpert, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Derrick Williams and Liggins who have all been starters or key members of the second unit this season.
There's no way Lue will carry 12 players in his rotation, especially not in the postseason when most teams only go eight deep. To this point, Lue can only visualize what his rotation will look like once everyone is healthy.
"I have an idea, but, you know, so do the people fighting Mike Tyson," Lue said. "Everybody has a plan until you get hit. I have a plan going into it, of course, but you never know and we're gong to need these [last regular season] games to figure it out."
Sanders Makes Charge Debut
The Cavaliers signed Sanders not only for the remainder of this season, but they hold a team option for next year as well.
The plan is to have him spend most of the next few weeks with their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, as he slowly works his way back into game shape.
In Sanders' first game with the Charge, he played just under 12 minutes, collecting three blocks, two points and a rebound while committing five fouls in a 104-101 win over the Windy City Bulls.
While Cleveland preferred the NBA-ready Andrew Bogut to fill their last roster spot, they love the potential the 28-year-old Sanders possesses. He won't contribute much to the Cavs this season, but he could become a rotation piece this fall.
Offense Wins Championships?
The Cavs should sure hope so, anyway. No team since the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers has won a championship with a defensive rating outside of the top 10.
Cleveland's 109.7 points per 100 possessions allowed is just 21st overall in the league, a drop of 11 spots from a season ago. Their offense is good enough most nights to compensate for such poor defense, scoring 113.9 points in those same 100 possessions (third in NBA).
The good news? The Cavs have been nearly unbeatable when they choose to go head-to-head offensively. When scoring 115 points or more in regulation this season, Cleveland is 27-1 with wins over the Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors (twice) and Boston Celtics (twice).
No Rest for the Vets
While James, Irving and Love make the headlines for the occasional rest they receive to stay fresh for another long playoff run, Cleveland also has four players age 33 or over who may need a day off.
When asked if he would ever request a break, power forward Channing Frye told Bleacher Report:
"Hell no. I would never ask for that. I wouldn’t want to talk about it. I’ve missed enough games. I never want to miss a game, never want to miss a practice, just kind of my attitude and my style but if that’s what coach thinks I need to do to help the team than that’s fine. No big deal."
Stats via Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are accurate through March 20.
Greg Swartz is the Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @CavsGregBR.
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