When Jack left SA he squeezed off a clip in an Indianapolis strip club's parking lot and beat up a fan in Section 101, Row 3 in The Palace at Auburn Hills.
Don't know about that brawl, can't comment. I know Stephen Jackson at least had Duncan behind him, urging spurs mgt to get him on the team, so Duncan must have seen something in him.
It comes down to a question of whether you think Smith would sink or swim on the spurs... and I believe he would sink.
...and then Karl proceeded to do it.Nuggets blogAnother quote I looked up
When asked if Smith might be given a spot at backing up Anthony Carter at PG, head coach George Karl said, "That would be a lot of fun, putting your worst turnover-per-minute man at point guard,"
When both Anthony Carter and Chucky Atkins were injured before the 2007-2008 season started the Nuggets needed someone to play point guard for a few minutes a night. Mike Wilks proved to be a poor option and so George Karl turned to J.R. The results were not overly impressive, but Smith definitely took the job seriously and he began to look to set his teammates up. As a result his shot selection improved a great deal and J.R. started to think thoughts other than “must jack up long three pointer” when he had the ball in his hands.
Another positive development was his increased effort on defense. He still did not show the proper understanding of positioning and rotations, but his effort was noticeably better.
Last edited by exstatic; 06-22-2008 at 09:10 PM.
My gut says that Pietrus would help the Spurs more than Smith. He fits the swingman need more precisely than JR and I think he can score despite some skepticism about that.
The key question is whether JR is like Stephen Jackson -- a great player in the clutch -- or like so many flashy guys -- disappears in the clutch.
If Pietrus' main flaw is that he is dumb, how smart do we think JR is?
Oh, and a diss from George Karl really doesn't mean much. He's pissed on about every player who's ever played for him. JR might even like Pop because, while he might chew his ass in private, he won't ever throw a player under the bus to the media like Karl will.
Pietrus is dumb as a brick and you don't seem to get what we need this off-season.My gut says that Pietrus would help the Spurs more than Smith. He fits the swingman need more precisely than JR and I think he can score despite some skepticism about that.
The key question is whether JR is like Stephen Jackson -- a great player in the clutch -- or like so many flashy guys -- disappears in the clutch.
If Pietrus' main flaw is that he is dumb, how smart do we think JR is?
We are shopping for a starting 2guard, one that can score in double figures every night and take some of the scoring load off the Big 3 (particularly Manu) during the regular season. That's not a role Pietrus can fill. That, and he makes Nazr Mohammed look like John Wooden when it comes to basketball IQ.
I thought the Spurs were looking for a 2-3 who could score and defend.
I say take a gamble on Smith with the MLE if possible. Why not?
Karl's a .
I'm with Russ on this one. JR Smith would not even be able to hold SJ's jockstrap. He'd just get frustrated very easily on a Popovich coached team and then he'd be pouting on the bench most of the season. Pietrus on the other hand is looking for an opportunity to show his stuff that he wasn't getting in GS, and can score from the 3 spot (which is what the team needs more than a scoring 2 IMO) and play much better defense than JR.My gut says that Pietrus would help the Spurs more than Smith. He fits the swingman need more precisely than JR and I think he can score despite some skepticism about that.
The key question is whether JR is like Stephen Jackson -- a great player in the clutch -- or like so many flashy guys -- disappears in the clutch.
If Pietrus' main flaw is that he is dumb, how smart do we think JR is?
Come on man you cant even compare the two. JR blows away Pietrus! Pietrus is dumb as a box of rocks and he cant make a shot if his life depended on it. He is a defense first player and that is not what we need. The Spurs need a player who can help them work through their scoring droughts, not shut down the opposing team's best player.
Dunno where u guys are getting he's got a box or rocks IQ, I think the guy has Josh Howard potential written all over him. And he can flat out score when given the chance.
josh hate that ball in th e4
spurs need shooters who are not afraid to shot in 4
I don't see it. Pietrus would be great for defense, but he simply doesn't bring much offensively. Last season he shot 43% and 36% from the field and three point range, respectively, and his free throw percentage flat out sucked at 67%. Plus, he's 26 yrs old and his numbers were actually down last season from his career average. And that's in Nellie's high octane offense.
aj ruined josh
The Spurs would not need Smith for "clutch" situations but rather to put up points and take up minutes during the regular season to help keep Manu fresh for the postseason. Anything beyond that would be gravy.
Or, more concisely, the Spurs already have their clutch swingman.
jr proved in this year playoffs he can be clutch against lakers
having another clutch swingman is good incase one is injured
does not josh howard make 10 million next year
jr smith is proven to be better then howard
JR Smith looks awful good. But two coaches who aren't afraid of that type (Karl and Scott) have apparently given up on him in a relatively short amount of time. It makes you wonder what could be so bad about him that it could counterbalance all that talent -- now that's a scary negative whatever it may be.
I didn't even think he was that effective this year. He sat on the bench for good long stretches. He was buried behind Azub if I remember.
kidd got tired of kidd to
I agree. Furthermore, many have said JR couldn't handle being the 4th option on the Spurs. I'm probably the only one who thinks he could be the number 2 scoring option during the regular season as Manu rests and Tim focuses on rebounds and defense.
That doesn't seem that far out of possibility in my opinion, and in fact should be the way we plan to utilize him. We let him score one on one while he learns the offense (and we see if he cares to learn defense), then when playoffs come around hopefully Manu is rested and JR has proven himself and is a contributing member of the team. If he isn't, then he doesn't get a lot of minutes in the playoffs and we consider trading him.
If Pop gives him 30 minutes it doesn't seem crazy for him to average 18 ppg. He has huge offensive talent. If we were to go after him, why wouldn't we play to his strengths instead of pulling our hair out because of his deficiencies that our veteran guards also suck at?
Also, Pop loves for our wing players to shoot a lot. He was that way with Finley, Beno, Barry. If players can score he wants them to be confident and do so. With JR we would have a player that wouldn't need their fragile ego stroked. He wants to score. I don't see the problem. If he can put up big offensive numbers, we've solved a huge problem on the team.
jr smith has averaged 9 shots a game
what would happen if he got 13 how many more points would he score?
What? Scott ran Jack out of NJ. He most certainly doesn't like "that type". Karl doesn't like anyone who plays for him. The only worse fit would have been JR playing for Larry Brown.
Scott give Jack a shot when he was out of the league.
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