Spurs must consider pursuing a scorer/shooter like JR.SMITH

[BballerShotCaller]

Spurs would've been better offensively with a JR rather than ineffective guys like Finley Damon Stoudamire & Jacque Vaughn.

[HarlemHeat37]

there's no doubt about that, and the Spurs have looked at Smith in the past..I'm not a fan though, he doesn't play any defense at all, and has low basketball IQ..he'll probably cost us more than somebody else too..I'd rather get multiple guys at different positions..

[Ballings7]

No to JR Smith for numerous reasons.

And, the past is the past, we know where we need to improve, and what will be addressed.

[lukeridenour]

JR smith the player is obviously a huge upgrade over Finley. JR Smith the person is where we take a step back. I honestly think that if JR smith is given strict instructions other than Karl telling him to shoot whenever you feel like it, would be a good role player. His 10-15 points a night could give us a huge boost and he would get the same wide open looks as finley.

[Ballings7]

I think he could get better as a whole with us, but there are just more ready, suitable, better overall options out there.

[Blame Rasho]

Well I am sure the Nuggets would match any MLE offer....

[Donald Kaufman]

No to JR Smith. His talent is wasted with a putrid bball IQ.

We nearly traded for him two years ago (I think?) for Barry and a pick. We obviously balked for a reason.

I don't think he's being utilized well enough in Denver, but that's more of a reflection of George Karl's shortcomings than anything Smith's doing/not doing.

I think there are plenty more "safer" alternatives than him that we can pursue.

[Black_Jack21]

Didn't NO pull out of that trade?

He is by no means a smart player and his defensive short comings are noticeable.
But his scoring is a commodity that we shouldn't lightly throw away, he's a very athletic swing man with legit range on his J he's got laods of talent, young legs just what we need.
I think in pops system we can utilize his ability (he did work with Glenn Robinson) than Karl who is likely the most overated coach in the NBA.

Denver would likely match a MLE offer but if we did have the opprtunity to sign him i wouldn't say no right away.

[Blame Rasho]

The paperwork didn't go thru in time... that is why the trade didn't get done

[Blame Rasho]

Minutes away from being sent to New Orleans on the day of the trade deadline for J.R. Smith

[BballerShotCaller]

I agree that previous trade that fell thru was a low risk way to see if he could fit in.
I still think its worth exploring by having Pops sit down with JR & his representation to see if JR is ready to go to a team, a coach, & a system that can win and will probably benefit him more from a player-development standpoint, as well as career standpoint.

JR is probably to young & dumb to see that the Nuggets are not the place to be now & for the near future. He still thinks its fun to play "with his boys" Melo & AI like its just about going out and having fun, and playing with friends.

If JR & his representation want to get serious and grow up they will push to go to a coach and system like the the Spurs have in place.

[BballerShotCaller]

Denver will probably try their best to scare off other teams by threatening to match offers on JR.

If they succeed they'll probably turn around and low ball the kid.

JR needs to be smart and get serious about showing his desire to 'graduate' in a sense and move on to a better coach, better organization, with a better system in place.

The G.Karl Nuggets situation is real fragile, and ready to fall apart anyway.[/b]

[Blame Rasho]

Well it all depends on who they draft... If they draft a guy like Rush, well then I think they would reluctant to match a MLE offer from anyone.

[wizardg]

I'd love JR

He has crazy talent and he's 22. He's not the type of player Pop is very successful with but with him we'd probably still be playing.


Great range ... quickenss, agility, stupid hoops and he's talent has been mismanged by Karl

bring hm

[Blame Rasho]

I can honestly see a team like the Cavs offer him the full MLE...

[SMRattler]

Ver high potential offensively. Not the smartest player in terms of decision making, etc. But maybe that's just being young. Made some off-court questionable decisions too, maybe that too is just being young.

Or maybe it's just being "not very smart" to put it nicely.

Defensively, I just wonder how long it would take to undo the damage that's been done to his way of approaching defense and perhaps lack of discipline on the court.

[Blame Rasho]

He is a Manu type player... you got to live with his defensive f'ups due to the fact that he is a dynamic scorer. You might not realize it but he was huge during the last 1/4th of the season and the playoffs.

[Ballings7]

Yeah, he was ^

Lately, thinking here and there about Smith, I've become more okay with getting Smith. I really don't like the non-basketball stuff he's been involved with, am mixed on his play so far, but he made an impression on me later in the season. Combined with how he can be a factor in a different, better system.

I think like with certain other players, his weaknesses can be lessened on this team, and overall should become a better player.

Shot selection can be improved, his defensive focus can be improved, his emotional control can be improved. And regardless, he'll be significantly complemented.

Becoming more refined and consistent than he's ever been. I think the resources are spread out on the team for that to happen.

[SMRattler]

I'm not worried about him not being a very good defensive player. We've hidden defensive liabilities on the court before. But guys like Kerr (for example) were terrible athletes and completely outclassed on the defensive side of the ball, but he knew exactly where to be and what to do and was committed to doing that at all cost. That's being smart on the court and discplined. Oberto is another example of a smart player, and even he took time to earn court time, because he was lost out there on defense.

That's just my point about that. If he's not smart or disciplined and doesn't gain that quickly, he won't see floor time. And as a fan Id be worried about that happening.

As for the Manu reference, I know what you mean, but Manu has always been scrappy defensively. Even as a rookie, I recall he took charges on Kobe in the playoffs, would cause turnovers by getting his hands in the lanes, etc. And he can handle the ball and run the offense and crashes the boards very well from the SG position. In other words, he does dynamic things offensively, but he also does so many other things well for you that you live with the occasional turnover.

All that said, Pop is a great judge of whether or not a guy can be a guy for him. And he does not make a move mid-season for just anyone. He must know something about him that makes him confident he can get to him and get the most out of him. So, that alone makes me think he'd probably be a good fit here.

[Black_Jack21]

I think the postives of having a player like him out weigh his negatives.
He has the athlectic ability to be a good defender and i'm sure in the spurs system that we could either effectively cover his short comings or turn him into a decent defender. It's not like he's been on any decent defensive teams.
I refuse to believe a team that has Iverson and Melo is a defensive minded team. Camby is overated as a defender.
In a system that requires to hold you own defensively i think we could make somethink of him.
Besides he'll be a very important part of the team he'll give us a fourth scoring option and an option that could easily go for 20+ per game so if Manu or Tony aren't cutting it we have someone else to fall back on where as we had to hope and prey Finley thought it was 2001, Barry forgot how to miss or Udoka played big.
I think with a young legit scorer we'll have more luck making sure our offense doesn't stagnate.