CLEVELAND, Ohio –-J.R. Smith is the ultimate "No! No! Yes!" shooter. His hot-and-cold shooting was acceptable until he became a "No! No! I told you so!" shooter for the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Some coaches consider bad shots turnovers. Cavaliers coach David Blatt had no better option than the inconsistent Smith for offense behind LeBron James. Seldom was heard a discouraging word from Blatt, although Smith's body language was a basketball Book of Lamentations, a volume of dejection and defeatism.
Smith's struggles were not confined to the 31.2 percent he shot from the field in the Finals in his own little Mo Williams die-down-in-the-moment experience, either.
Smith followed his Finals bust with the vainglory of opting out of his Cavs' contract. He is still seeking a bigger free agent contract after his performance had sabotaged chances of it.
It showed that having James in his corner, with its promise a future of championship contention and playoff eligibility in the weak Eastern Conference, playing with teammates he liked, and enjoying the mostly uncritical love of Cavs fans might be a mighty wind wafting him back to Cleveland, but nothing is more powerful than the Almighty Dollar.
Athletes are free to get all they can in the marketplace. Tristan Thompson's timing in his contract year was as brilliant as Smith's was baffling.
For his part, Smith isn't going to play a more important role in winning a championship anywhere else than here. It won't be as big as the one into which injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving catapulted him the playoffs, however. That's a good thing.
With Smith's history of inconsistency, his misses won't be as critical with bottom-dwelling Philadelphia, which, other than Cleveland, is reportedly the only team that has shown any real interest in him.
How happy would Smith be on a 76ers team that has tanked more often than scuba divers? He would, in essence, be what World B. Free was in the 1980s with the Cavs. Free put fans in the seats, stole some games and gave the fans hope. It was all that could be expected in that benighted era of Ted Stepien's clueless ownership.
The difference is that Free could create his own shot much more easily than Smith.
Smith's role here was as a classic streaky sixth man, who either shoots the Cavs back into or out of games. So fragile had his confidence become as the Finals wore on that fans held their breath when he let fly with his opening salvo, knowing that a make could lead to an unstoppable binge and a miss could plunge Smith's confidence even farther down the drain.
Smith's three-point barrage kept the season afloat in the fourth game of the second-round series with Chicago until James could save it with a last-second basket. But that series was only in jeopardy in the first place because Smith's vicious elbow to the head of Boston's Jae Crowder earned him a two-game suspension at the start of the Bulls series.
In Smith's epic performance against Atlanta in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals, he scored 28 points on eight of 12 3-pointers, some of them step-back, odds-mocking shots from the fringes of possibility.
That was the Smith of boom times. After the bubble burst, Smith allowed the shooting slump to affect his defense although he still made hustle plays.
Smith is smart guy who posts comments, sometimes provocative, sometimes funny, on Instagram.
One was a selfie he took of himself on the interview podium, along with Tristan Thompson and James, after the sweep of Atlanta when the Cavs were headed to the Finals. After spending the first 37 games of the season being part of the blight of the Knicks' rebuilding, it was as if Smith couldn't believe he was here.
The Instagram that captured Smith best (No. 12 in the linked story) was one in which he was reflecting on his past. Smith pictured Smith in a Knicks uniform, guarding Smith in a Cavs uniform. It was J.R. stopping himself, J.R. facing his own worst enemy.
At this moment, the podium selfie is a remembrance of time past. Smith can return to the Cavs, but probably for less money than the $6.4 million for one season he thought he could beat.
The grass was browner on the other side of the fence. But once again -- No! No, J.R.! -- Smith couldn't get out of his own way.
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