The Point Four-ward: J.R. Swish(less)?

Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers marked another bump in what’s turning into a rough early season for J.R. Smith. Smith exited the game with a right knee contusion after racking up two fouls, and going 0-1 from the field in just under five minutes of play.

While the injury isn’t considered major — with Jason Lloyd reporting that the Sixers training staff checked out Smith’s knee, and believed it was probably more of a bone bruise than something wrong structurally — it came at a bad time for Smith.

[Update: The Cavs released the following statement about Smith’s knee: “Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith suffered a right knee contusion during the first quarter of last night’s game in Philadelphia against the 76ers. Additional examination and MRI today at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health have confirmed the contusion and also revealed quadriceps tendinitis. Smith will be OUT for the next two Cavs games (11/4 against New York and 11/6 against Philadelphia, both at Quicken Loans Arena), and is DOUBTFUL for Sunday’s game against Indiana, also at Quicken Loans Arena.”]

Despite being named the team’s starting shooting guard while Iman Shumpert recovers from his own injury, Smith has displayed none of the outside shooting prowess that made him such a great fit for these LeBron James-led Cavaliers.

NEOMG’s Chris Fedor wrote:

Sure, it’s early, but the expected sharpshooter is connecting on 28.6 percent of his field goal attempts, including 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from three-point range. This is after a horrendous shooting display during last year’s NBA Finals against Golden State, as he averaged 11.5 points on 31.2 percent from the field, including 29.4 percent from beyond the arc.

This knee injury comes just as the Cavs are set to welcome his old team, the New York Knicks, to town. The last time Smith and Shumpert got to play against their old running mates, this happened:

You have to think this was a game Smith had circled on the schedule, hoping to play well as continued payback, both for him and for the sidelined Shumpert.

2.) But the narrative that Smith is ineffective this year doesn’t exactly pass the eye test. Through the Cavs’ first three games, Smith has still gotten plenty of touches. In fact, his usage percentage this year (17.2) is almost exactly what it was after he joined the Cavs last year. It’s what he’s done with those looks that’s been different. He’s taking (and, yes, making) fewer threes.

Maybe, that’s not just a slump talking.

The Cavs offense has been great, so far, at keeping the ball moving and generating a bunch of open looks for its shooters, which was… well, not always a strength of theirs last year. Likewise, it really looks like David Blatt — who Smith has raved about — has asked Smith to work on the part of his offensive game that left him during last year’s Finals. Over the summer, the Cavs organization talked often about their need to match Golden State’s depth of shot creating players. Besides going out and getting Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson, it appears that they’ve also tried to fix that issue in-house.

Take a look at this play in the first quarter against Memphis. Smith takes a Mozgov screen out beyond the three point line and, rather than launch the type of contested three pointer that Smith lives for, keeps driving toward the basket before finally hitting a rolling Mozgov for an easy dunk. Smith finished that game hitting just one triple on two attempts on his way to nine points, but chipped in seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists.

Then, in this play against the Miami Heat, Smith gets the ball beyond the three point line after a ton of early Cavs ball movement. Again, rather than resort to hoisting a long ball, Smith calmly takes a Tristan Thompson pick with the shot clock winding down and dribbles into an open 15-footer. Granted, that was Smith’s only basket of the night, but it shows that Smith might be looking to get his looks a bit differently, at least until Kyrie Irving’s return.

CtB’s own Ben Werth weighed in of this question of Smith saying:

JR dribble drove less last year than anytime in his career. He is a very effective passer off the bounce when his head is right. So far, I have only seen a good JR. His three will come around, but I have still liked what I have seen from him. His D has been outstanding.

Now, it looks like it will be at least a week before we see if Smith can make good on Ben’s words of praise.

3.) When the Knicks visit The Q tonight, they will likely be without Vine-worthy rookie, Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis suffered a neck injury when, after falling to the court while chasing a rebound, Carmelo Anthony blew a dunk, fell and landed on Porzingis’s head. The injury is not considered serious, but will likely keep the exciting 7-3 Latvian forward out of the lineup against the Cavs.

https://youtu.be/HkXIyGv6BWo

There is general good feeling in New York after the Knicks have actually been watchable on their way to a 2-2 record. Their offense, which scored a league-worst 91.4 points last season with head coach Derek Fisher under orders to run team president Phil Jackson’s beloved Triangle Offense, has played at a faster pace, one that actually resembles a modern NBA offense. Even John Wall noticed the difference, after the Knicks took out the Wizards 117-110 last Saturday.

“They are not running the same offense as last year,” Wall told Marc Berman of the New York Post. “They added some more pace to their game, they run a lot more pick and rolls and put us in tough situations where we had to rotate, and they were getting offensive rebounds and putbacks.”

4.) But this is still the Knicks. So, every story of good cheer about a promising rookie or a more fluid offense comes with a bit of bad: Carmelo Anthony has really struggled shooting the basketball early on this season. Anthony is shooting only 37.2% from the field so far — and only 30% from three point range.

There is a silver lining for the Knicks… for this game at least. On the road this year (yes, all two games so far), Anthony is shooting over 44% from the field and 50% from three.