Red Vines wrote:moocow007 wrote:Red Vines wrote:Name a team that would want to give JR 25 minutes a game...maybe Philly because they need players, beyond that...
Right off the top?
Wizards
Blazers
Pistons
Nets
And of course Knicks
Washingon has Beal, Glen Rice Jr, Webster, Porter and Pierce, I think they're content.
Webster (their 6th man) just had surgery and will be out for some time (minimum 3-5 months and could miss at least the first part of the season). Pierce will be the staring SF, replacing Trevor Ariza, so that really doesn't impede bench scoring (Smiths role). Yes, Glen Rice Jr had a great SL but that doesn't mean that they'll be comfortable using him to replace Webster very key role off the bench...the Wizards are trying to win right now...not rebuild. JR Smith would project to be Webster's replacement. Webster averaged 27.7 mpg last season. With Pierce unlikely to be able to play the same number of minutes Ariza gave them 35.4mpg last season, Pierce averaged only 28 mpg and even then looked spent as the season went along. JR Smith would get more than 25 minutes a game if he were on the Wizards.
Blazers maybe, they have Matthews who will get most of the minutes but CJ McCollum looks like their next starting SG. Barton is emerging too.
Again, if the Blazers were rebuilding then sure. But they are also trying to win right now so the likelihood of them relying on McCollum and Barton to be their bench offense. Wes Matthews was their starting SG last season and would be their starting SG this season so he doesn't impact JR Smith, who would come off the bench for them as a 6th man one bit.
Pistons just signed Meeks and they're optimistic about Caldwell-Pope.
Meeks right now would be their starting SG (they lost Rodney Stuckey). It would not be too hard to argue that JR Smith is a better player than Meeks and would start if he were on the Pistons. But even if he didn't replace Meeks the Pistons bench scoring was awful last season. Which is why there's talk about the Pistons as a possible destination for Smith.
Brooklyn has Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack...and I doubt we do business with Brooklyn.
? The Nets lost (will lose) Pierce, Livingston AND Blatche. Joe Johnson was a starter and will remain a starter. Pierce was their starting SF. As of right now, barring a signing their replacement for Pierce is Alan Anderson. JR Smith at his doped up worst is better than Alan Anderson. With Lionel Hollins there, adding JR Smith would make a lot of sense considering Hollins biggest and best skill is connecting with talented bad egg types and getting them to buy into the program, play hard and excel. Holins is basically Mike Woodson on steroids. If Woodson can milk a 6MOY season out of Smith, Hollins should be able to do 2 seasons (which is the length of Smiths contract).
So...on every one of these teams JR Smith would realistically be able to get 25 mpg.
Heck...here's another one. Houston Rockets. The Rockets not only lost offense by swapping starting SF Chandler Parsons with now starting SF Trevor Ariza, they also lost their 6th man, Jeremy Lin. As of right now they have no 6th man at all (unless you believe incoming rookie Nick Johnson, former 2nd round pick Isaiah Canaan or journeyman Alonzo Gee would be realistic 6th man options for a team that is trying to win a title not rebuild). So there's another team that JR Smith would be able to get 25mpg with (Lin averaged 28.9mpg last season).
In fact, if you want to move Smith, these would be 6 teams that I'd be on the phone with to see if there's a fit.
I don't see why any of these teams would want the JR headache over what they have.
Of course you don't cause you don't like him. You hate him so much you want the worst to happen and everything to be terrible to justify your hate for the guy. But you need to actually look a little closer with each team (see what I did) instead of just throwing some cursory comments and names out there.
And before anyone starts calling me a JR Smith fan, I would trade him in a second if I felt I could get good value for him. And I would prefer in an ideal world that he not be on this team. But good value doesn't mean any old piece of crap. And we aren't working in an ideal world meaning they actually still could use the good things that Smith does (and there is good with the bad) that they would be hard pressed to replace.