Playing With Fire: On J.R. Smith
Photo by Dullface from Flickr
Seven years and roughly 5,000 tattoos into his pro basketball career, J.R. Smith remains an enigma. What is evident is that he is a freakishly gifted athlete with one of the prettiest strokes in the league, who can also run an effective pick and roll and find open teammates with beautiful passing. He’s capable of changing the entire course of the game in a matter of minutes and providing us with unforgettable moments like this. J.R. has all of the physical capabilities coaches and GMs desire; his talent and potential are seemingly limitless. However, throughout his career this mercurial (when writing about J.R. it is apparently required to use this word) swingman has lacked the necessary focus and awareness coaches demand from him. Where Kobe Bryant uses his overwhelming intensity and cold calculating approach to surgically pick apart the defense, J.R. performs the basketball equivalent of dousing oneself, the court, and everyone else in gasoline and proceeding to play with matches for the next 48 minutes. It’s not particularly smart, it’s incredibly dangerous, and really the only guarantee is that at some point or another there is going to be fire and someone is going to get burned.
Now I have an admission to make. I absolutely love J.R. Smith – everything about him. I love that almost all his threes are taken from a few feet behind the line. I love that when catching an alley oop during a regular season game he decided to do this. I love that somehow he thought it would be a good idea to fill Kenyon Martin’s car with popcorn. I love that he often changes into an entirely different pair of shoes at halftime. I love that he attempts absolutely unnecessary, yet incredibly spectacular, 360 layups. I love how last season in Memphis, after the game was well out of hand, he kept drilling threes and talking trash to OJ Mayo. I love that in his mind he has never taken a bad shot. I love that when he’s on he takes and makes some of the most ill-advised, unguardable three pointers you’ll ever see. I love that he called out Kobe Bryant. I love that despite Karl’s refusal to play him at the end of games, he came in with 30 seconds left and nearly single handedly brought the Nuggets back in Game 3 of the first round.
In the objective viewer’s mind there remains a whole lot wrong with J.R.. He’s selfish, he has an attitude problem, he doesn’t work hard enough, he has some pretty serious off-court issues, his shot selection is poor, the list could seemingly continue forever. J.R. clashes with everything we’ve been told to believe about “good basketball”; he doesn’t play the game “the right way”. He fails to appeal to basketball fans in the traditional sense. His game is entirely extemperaneous. That’s what makes him so fascinating to root for. It’s why some of us are drawn to him. He seems to exist outside of the basketball matrix. There’s no “should I or shouldn’t I”, he just does. Whether or not the rules apply to him, he seems to believe they don’t and that is endearing in it’s own bizarre way.
Basketball is a sport that demands a certain level of conformity. Teamwork and unity are the ultimate pillars of winning basketball. It’s no coincidence that Doc Rivers uses “ubuntu” as his team motto, or that at one time he emphasized and relied upon, “Our starting five has never lost a playoff series”. Creating and developing a “team” is what every owner, coach ,GM and even fan is focused on. It is the unquestioned best way for a franchise to be truly successful. When players at their essence seem to reject or conflict with this holiest of basketball ideologies they are outcast, labeled as malcontents, deemed detrimental to their team. Maybe as a fan, it’s something to accept and even appreciate. In a game that so emphasizes the whole rather than it’s parts, it’s a chance for us to celebrate individual creativity and expression. It is an escape from the norm, an opportunity to forget about chemistry for a moment, and appreciate what one man can do. These players push, prod, and experiment with the boundaries. They don’t do exactly as they’re told, they don’t fit a mold or care about convention. Yes, this can be extremely aggravating even maddening, but damn it all if it isn’t a lot of fun to watch.
