Aside from not matching an offer sheet to Matthew Dellavedova and watching Timofey Mozgov head to Hollywood, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been pretty inactive this off-season. When you're bringing back your core players and defending an NBA championship, you can afford to sit back and watch the chaos of free agency. The Cavs still have to re-sign LeBron James, who has said he's coming back, and they have to bring back free agent J.R. Smith.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN, Cavs general manager David Griffin is not worried about losing Smith to another team in free agency. He told ESPN that something will get done when the time is right and he's very confident in it happening.
Cavs GM David Griffin tells @espn to expect a JR Smith re-signing: "When the time is right something will get done. I'm very confident ..."
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 14, 2016
This is a stark contrast to the free agency situation of Smith a year ago. After finding a mini-revival of his career and role after a mid-season trade to the Cavs, J.R. went into free agency hoping for a big payday. He opted out of a deal that would pay him $6.4 million in the 2015-16 season and ended up signing for a lower contract of $5 million this past season. It wasn't out of the generosity of his own heart that he took less money. He gambled on a pay increase and the market didn't provide that to him last summer.
What he did was recommitted himself to the defensive end of the floor, basically took Iman Shumpert's job from him, and helped the Cavs pull off the greatest comeback in NBA history by erasing a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals and taking down the Golden State Warriors in a Game 7 in Oakland. Now, Smith is expecting a bigger payday this summer and is likely to get it. If he wanted to, Smith could pressure the Cavs into making the deal happen sooner by talking to other teams. However, both sides appear to want to stay together and the Cavs are likely to pay him handsomely for helping them win the title.
Shumpert's deal was four years and $40 million a year ago when both wings were free agents. Smith's deal could and probably should exceed that with the influx of money (even though the Cavs don't have cap space). Not to mention with Smith being a more committed defender, his overall game far surpasses whatever Shumpert is able to do on the court.
