How We'll Know If J.R. Smith Is Part of NY Knicks' Future
The New York Knicks' near-three-year marriage to swingman J.R. Smith hasn't always been the most gracious of commitments for either side. Just over a year ago, the team re-signed Smith long-term, but after a poor first half on the court and a bevy of issues off it, his status with the team—after its recent power shift into the hands of Phil Jackson—has been a topic of debate.
In a recent Q&A with the New York Post's Steve Serby, Jackson gave a multifaceted remark about the enigmatic Knicks scorer.
"Q: How do you plan to try to get through to J.R. Smith to put an end to all his immature on- and off-the-court antics?
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A: I don’t know if that’s possible or not. He might be one of those guys that’s a little bit like Dennis Rodman that has an outlier kind of side to him. But I’m gonna get to know him as we go along, and we’ll find a way to either make him a very useful player on our organization, or whatever.
On one hand, Jackson is mentioning J.R. in the same breath as Dennis Rodman, one of the more talented players Phil has ever coached, and a key cog to the Chicago Bulls 1990s dynasty. At the same time, "we'll find a way to either make him a very useful player on our organization, or whatever," doesn't come off as the most sparkling of outlooks.
It should be noted that the two have spent limited time together since Jackson was brought in last winter, so Jackson, admittedly, isn't basing these comments off much experience—for what it's worth, Smith said last April that he's excited to "pick Jackson's brain."
But amid a putrid start to last season both on and off the floor, rumors of the Knicks' distaste for Smith began to swirl. The team has been reportedly open to shipping him out as recently as last July, per ESPN New York's Ian Begley.
But according to ESPN New York's Ohm Youngmisuk, J.R. is entering this season with a fresh outlook.
“I think it’s definitely a clean slate,” he said at the team's media day on Monday. “I think it will be a more productive start of the year for me. There’s nothing hanging over my head whether it’s injuries, suspensions stuff like that. So I’m starting out from Day 1 with my team and it’s a great feeling.”
How exactly Smith factors into the Knicks' plans after this short-term rebuild isn't known for sure, but we should have several clues as the upcoming season unfolds. The first of those is how this Knicks regime handles any potential Smith infractions.
Smith was clearly favored under Mike Woodson, whose extent of punishments for J.R. maxed out at a pair of separate one-game benchings. Smith has finished top-two on the team in total minutes in each of the last two seasons despite sporadic on-court lapses and off-court issues.
This can be harkened back to Woodson's affinity to playing veterans over youngsters like Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. but also the previous Knicks regime's obsession to please Collective Artists Agency (CAA) and its numerous clients throughout the organization—including Smith.
It was a dynamic that grew so intrusively into the team's locker room that an anonymous player spoke to ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard about it:
"One Knicks player recently told ESPN.com that the CAA ties were a problem in the locker room.
“You see how guys from CAA are treated differently,” the player said. “How they get away with saying certain things to coaches. How coaches talk to them differently than they talk to the other guys. It’s a problem.”
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The succession of power within the organization from James Dolan to Jackson has been the presumptive end to CAA's vise grip on the Knicks. The team president was even asked about it during a meeting with the press last April, and he confirmed that no such ties will affect New York's day-to-day operations.
Any potential Smith misstep under Jackson could go one of two ways. J.R. could be on the shortest of leashes this season, where any wrongdoing would result in a serious punishment—or even a banishment from the team. Or, if Phil, Derek Fisher and Co. make any effort to get through to the 29-year-old, it'll likely mean that the team truly values him moving forward.
A more tangible clue as to what the Knicks' plan on doing with Smith moving forward can be directly traced on the team's stat sheet early this season. With Hardaway and Shumpert at the same position as Smith, it'll be interesting to see how Fisher divvies the minutes between the three.
It's been a common talking point among important Knicks people that the 2014-15 season isn't being played with visions of an NBA title. Carmelo Anthony first threw that comment out there in August, and Jackson followed up this month echoing his star. Again from the Serby Q&A:
"Q: The target and the goal is to win a championship. Not this year. That’s unrealistic.
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A: We would love to do it this year. When I went from retirement the last time to the Lakers in ’99-2000, I believed that I could win a championship in the first year. We had the personnel to do that. When I took the job in Chicago in ’90, I thought we could win a championship. … This team hasn’t taken the subsequent steps to get to the place where you vault yourself from not in the playoffs to a championship. So we have to go through some of those steps.
That leaves this season very much as a feeling-out period to see what the Knicks have for the future—one of "those steps" Phil touched on. With Shumpert and Hardaway both under 25 and still developing into the players they'll be by the time New York is a contender, this season makes for a good, extended run to see what they can do in prime roles under Fisher.
Of course, if the Knicks view Smith as somebody they'd like to keep around for the long haul, they'll need to get a look at how he fits into the new system as well. But at 29, the book on Smith is pretty much out.
There likely won't be much development on his end—at least not nearly as much as the other two options at his position. If the team has decided J.R. isn't someone that will be a part of future Knicks teams, Hardaway and Shumpert could see themselves earning more minutes.
Overall, if the Zen Master's crew views Smith as someone who won't be around for the future, it will be blatantly obvious.
It's unlikely that Jackson was comparing Smith's talent to that of Dennis Rodman's in his prime, but under the right mentorship—even at an advanced age, like Rodman was when he first teamed with Phil—there's opportunity for the best to be brought out of J.R.
Whether this new Knicks regime agrees with that, we'll soon find out.
Follow me on Twitter at @JSDorn6.
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