Denver Nuggets Look to Finally Part Ways with J.R. Smith

J.R. Smith is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, embodied in one of the most gifted physical talents to play in the NBA.

At once, Smith can jump off the bench and inject life into the Nuggets with his skilled shooting.

Look again, and Smith is creating distractions, playing selfishly, or just abandoning his teammates during a playoff loss.

Smith was last on the NBA hardwood during Game Six of the first round of the NBA playoffs. As his Nuggets played a difficult contest against division foe Utah Jazz, Smith walked off the floor with his head hung low as time ran out on the 2009-10 season.

The act of selfishness was only the latest in a saga that has gone on throughout Smith’s time in Denver.

Earlier in the year before a game, Smith let the media know he wanted to go by his given first name, Earl, only to change his mind a mere eight hours later. Smith showed once again how much he loves seeing that spotlight burn bright in his eyes.

While 2008-09 ended well for Smith, as he was the runner-up for the Sixth Man of the Year Award, it started roughly as head coach George Karl and Smith were reportedly not on speaking terms.

Karl and Smith butted heads numerous times in the last four years in Denver and tensions were annually, if not daily, a mile high.

What may be the most frustrating thing about J.R. Smith though is his game on the court.

Smith can shoot from deeper than almost anyone in the NBA, but he doesn’t seem to realize that a shot is worth the same from three inches behind the arc as it is from three feet behind it.

So many times in his career as a Nugget has Smith shot the ball from “way downtown” only to come up short or miss terribly of the rim. Still, Smith moved into the No. 1 spot in Nuggets history for made three-pointers last year, and there’s no doubt he’s a deadly threat when he plays intelligently.

But Smith is a player with an extremely low basketball IQ and he shows it night-in, night-out in the NBA.

Not only does he take ill-advised shots, Smith dribbles wildly, doing spin moves with the ball only to turn it over many times. And on defense, Smith is more than a liability as he routinely runs down court and reaches in on opponents to give them either an easy and-one or two free shots from the free throw line.

And while there’s no disbelief surrounding Smith’s ability to score the ball off the bench, he’s turned into too much of a liability to keep on the team.

His horrible attitude just adds to the violent combustibility that the Nuggets’ locker room is currently filled with and Smith actually regressed last season instead of improving.

The time is now to cut ties with the six-year veteran Smith (who plays with the reckless abandon of a rookie) and trade his $6 million contract for someone that can help Denver win now.

Or the Nuggets can at least show Carmelo Anthony that they are intent in keeping him here by at least luring a big man, if not a big name to Denver.

The Nuggets front office, which doesn’t formally have a GM at the moment, must try to trade Smith for a big man as that is where Denver is lacking the most.

If there’s no frontcourt player they deem good enough (or big enough) than picking up a shooter or small forward would be an intelligent decision.

Sure, as the Nuggets start the season with Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen in the trainer’s office trying to get healthy, newly acquired Al Harrington will start and Denver’s scoring will likely be a mile high.

But as the starters return to health, the Nuggets will need some punch off the bench, and just in case Melo leaves, a small forward may be a good decision.

In any case, the time to get rid of JR Smith is now, as his contract runs out at the end of this season—but what exactly the Nuggets can get in return from a player that is more concerned about his tattoos than winning is anyone’s guess.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets FC on bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is the CSU Rams and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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