Veteran guard JR Smith is set to workout with the Los Angeles Lakers early this week, potentially paving the way for a reunion with LeBron James. Smith has been in the rumor mill since becoming a free agent in July 2019. While some James fans are still traumatized by Smith's 2017 NBA Finals brain fart, the reasons why the Lakers should acquire him outweigh those lingering fears.
Knockdown shooter
Smith has always been a knockdown shooter. They call him “Swish” not just because of his smooth and pristine shooting form, but due to his shots actually going through the net more often than not. The 34-year-old is actually 13th place in the all-time 3-point field goal leaders. For his career, he's shooting at an impressive 37.3 percent clip from downtown.
Perhaps the pinnacle of his career came during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers. James' teams work best when he's surrounded by a bunch of pure shooters. Cavs fans witnessed tons of plays where James powered his way to the hoop, is met by triple and quadruple teams, yet displays his composure by delivering a perfect pass to a wide-open Smith who casually knocks down the three. With James on the team, Smith will be at his best, and the Lakers certainly need more outside shooting.
Defender
As the cliche goes, defense wins championships. Apart from his shooting abilities, Smith developed his defense at a high level. A good proof of this is Smith's lockdown job on DeMar DeRozan in the 2017 NBA Playoffs. The Cavaliers and the Raptors met at the Eastern Conference Semifinals. To everyone's surprise, the Wine and Gold dominated the Raptors in four games.
Smith was tasked with guarding DeRozan most of the time — the Raptors' leading scorer. Statistics reveal that when Smith is on the floor, DeRozan was shooting at a horrendous 22.2 percent. Without Smith, DeRozan was lights out with 55.6 percent. DeRozan's performance was so bad that he quickly became the subject of “playoff mode” jokes. Whenever fans say that DeRozan is in “playoff mode,” it simply means that he's about to choke and toss up bricks. And Smith is the main architecture behind that joke.
Playoff experience
In his 15-year NBA experience, Smith has been in the playoffs 11 times, including four appearances in the NBA Finals. Players always say that the regular season is vastly different from the postseason. Among all those players available in the free-agent market, it's Smith who best understands that dictum.
It doesn't matter if he's coming into the team this late in the season. The Lakers are bound to make the playoffs. Smith's experience in these high-octane and tense situations will be valuable as the Purple and Gold enter deep into the playoffs.
While the roster is filled with extreme competitions, several players have little to no playoff experience such as Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Smith has literally had the best and worst experiences in the postseason. Adding Smith to the fold, the Lakers' relatively inexperienced players can learn a ton.
Follow Us
Subscribe