J.R. Smith

Overview: An elite offensive roleplayer who doesn’t offer much outside of his ability to score. Possesses amazing leaping ability and quickness. Doesn’t have great size for the wing, but is strong and athletic enough to get by. Lacks the ball handling ability to dominate a game offensively. More of a spot up shooter. Can be very selfish at times with his shot selection. Doesn’t give much on defense. Was a similar player in high school. Bounced around throughout his prep career, but finished at St. Benedict’s Prep (NJ). Used two MVP performances at the McDonald’s All-American Game and the EA Sports Roundball Classic to propel himself into the middle of the first round. Came in and lit up the scoreboard as a rookie. Has developed into an awesome scoring threat, but hasn’t improved his versatility. Doesn’t bring ideal intangibles to the table, seems to have poor body language, and has developed a reputation for being a bit of a bad apple. Still has a lot of upside, but lacks the mentality to fulfill it. Was traded for pennies on the dollar for this reason, and saw most teams shy away from going after his services in free agency as well.

Offense: Gets the vast majority of his offense off of threes and easy looks at the rim. Almost sixty-percent of his shots are from beyond the arc. Takes and makes more threes per forty minutes than any player in the League. Possesses a tremendous jump shot with textbook form, and has vastly improved the elevation he gets on his release. Becoming more consistent as his career goes on. Functions primarily as a catch and shoot player getting almost half of his offense as a spot up shooter in half court and fast break situations. Can hit shots off the dribble with great range. Will sacrifice his form to get a shot off. Takes a lot of very questionable shots from the midrange. Lacks the ball handling ability to get separation. Likes to go straight to the rim when he puts the ball on the floor. Has vastly improved that area of his game, but has a hard time making moves at full speed. Turns the ball over a ton because of that. Plays well above the rim every chance he gets. Loves to leak out in transition for dunks. Isn’t a great finisher when he’s met with contact and has to alter his path to the rim. Will use some floaters, but gets out of control with some of the shots he takes at the rim. Goes to the line at a decent clip, and shoots a decent percentage. Could go to the line a lot more if he looked to draw contact rather than trying to force shots around defenders. Won’t help out on the offensive glass or make plays for his teammates. Has become a very efficient offensive threat, but still has a lot of work to do on his shot selection, which makes his potential pretty scary.

Defense: Offers essentially nothing as a defender. Doesn’t get in a low stance, and stays tall, allowing significantly less athletic players to beat him off the dribble. Tends to watch the ball, losing his man, putting himself out of position, and failing to recover. Lack of awareness leads to a lot of open looks for whoever he is defending. Will actually make a pretty impressive effort to help his teammates when they get beat, but does so at the expense of easy looks from the perimeter. Doesn’t have the fundamentals to capitalize on his elite athleticism. Not interested in rebounding, but will sell out to get some steals. Needs to buy into a coach that will help him improve defensively if he ever wants to be a more coveted player.