ATLANTA -- Sometimes it's hard to pass the ball.
For the truly gifted shooters in the NBA, there is a notion of them being given natural talent, and certainly physical gifts are a big part of why they've made it to the NBA. The hard work gets lost in the discussion. There are hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades of staying in the gym, honing their mechanics and craft, and throwing themselves off balance and contorting their bodies as they shoot.
The goal is to be ready with the proper muscle memory when the exhaustion of games and the pressure of big moments hit you. The shooting motion is a Zen like state to calm your nerves as you embrace big shot after big shot. When you've cultivated this ability to perform at an elite shooting level, being asked to pass the ball and not utilize your greatest skill is a hard sacrifice to make.
"It's kind of hard," J.R. Smith admitted after hitting eight 3-pointers in the Cleveland Cavaliers' Game 1 victory, "hitting the shots I was hitting, to try and pass the ball, but you've got to figure out a way."
This is the plight of the gunner role in the NBA. Your job is to make shots. Some guys defend. Some guys rebound. Some guys do everything on the floor. Other guys are paid to just go out there and get buckets. They aren't absolved of other responsibilities. To play regular minutes, no matter what your role is, you're expected to move the ball on offense and be in proper defensive positioning on the other end of the floor. For gunners, their primary focus is hoisting shots.
You're expected to be quirky and have an ungodly level of confidence in your abilities because to have some of the shot selection that comes with this role and not blush at certain attempts isn't a normal thing. To have no shame in the shots you take, inside and outside of the flow of the offense can give you a reputation. Before landing in Cleveland during this season, Smith had a reputation. In fact, he still holds that reputation.
Smith was a distraction. He was a nuisance. He wasn't someone you'd put on a winning basketball team because too much could fall apart. He had a reputation for enjoying the nightlife of New York City far too much, and was known to spark a controversy or two on social media every now and then. He was supposedly the epitome of what was wrong with the Knicks, which made it a curious decision when the Cavs decided to bring him into an already chaotic situation in Cleveland.
Regardless of his past, LeBron James wanted J.R. on his team to space the floor and provide some incredible flurries of scoring.
"Get him here," LeBron recalled when faced with the opportunity of bringing Smith to the Cavs, "and I'll take care of it. You get him here; I got him.
"With the talent this guy presents, I knew the man he was, and I didn't really care about what everybody else thought about him."
The talent has been undeniable, even with questionable shot selection. J.R. is 24th all-time in 3-pointers made, and he's one of just 17 players in NBA history to shoot at least 3,900 3-pointers in his career while making at least 37 percent of them. He's the only player under 800 career games on that list. It's easy to look at him as a wild chucker, but there's more substance when he shoots than perceived inaccuracy.
"I've been fortunate enough to play with some shooters to help spread the floor for myself and what I do best, and that's being in attack mode," LeBron said after Game 1. "To be able to play with one of the all?time greats in Ray Allen, and also play with Mike Miller and Shane Battier and James Jones still, and then you get a guy like J.R. Smith, who's able just to shoot the ball and have the extreme confidence that every time they let it go, that it's going in. I've been blessed to play with guys like that."
Game 1 saw Smith take over with a flurry of second half scoring. He had 17 points after halftime, including five 3-pointers that helped the Cavs truly separate themselves from the Hawks to get a cushion on the scoreboard. There wasn't much the Hawks could do but throw their hands up and hope for the best. All eight of his 3-point makes in Game 1 were contested well. But it was like he was back in the empty gym, working on his craft.
Some were catch-and-shoot situations. Others saw him stepping back against the defender for just enough room to unleash another bomb.
“He hits a lot of tough shots," Hawks' wing Kent Bazemore said after the game. "Myself and Kyle had the bulk of his points but they’re all tightly contested. A guy hits shots like that, he beats you, and you pat him on the back and I’ll see you Game 2. If he continues to do it, you’ve got to play the percentages on tightly contested step-back 3-pointers. Not a shot a lot of teams take.”
Before the game, J.R. stands out on the court as he warms up. He's in full sweat suit with his sweatpants tucked into his socks and a hoodie covering his head. There isn't much of an opening in the hooded portion with the strings pulled tight and just enough of his head poking out to be able to see the shots he's launching as he warms up. It's a perfect snapshot into who he is as a scorer.
There's a tunnel vision about his warm-ups. There aren't distractions from the outside: just the ball being passed to him and the shot going up. This will be repetition for the game when the lights are bright. And the tunnel vision, good or bad, will still be there. The shot motion is effortless and pure. Nothing can enter his mind during this time other than getting up shots and making sure that muscle memory is playing through his body on a loop.
And that's why it makes it so hard to properly judge some of his shot decisions. He isn't a player that historically shoots a poor percentage, especially from 3-point range. If you can keep him focused on the task at hand, regardless of his reputation, you can find that proper balance to have him become a weapon that goes through playoff halves in which he can't be stopped.
"I was very supportive of the move to bring J.R.," coach David Blatt said before Smith's Game 1 performance, "and immediately upon his arrival, we had dinner together, and I knew that we had a good kid and a guy that was happy also to be coming to our situation and wanted to contribute and wanted to help us win.
"And he has done that and more. He's been great for us, and he's been a great teammate, and he's been a great guy to coach. And no question, he's one of the reasons, one of the main reasons we're here."
He's an imperfect weapon in a perfect role, but one you can maximize because his shots are unfiltered and his conscience is clear every time he steps on the court. There are games in which that becomes a bad thing. There are also games in which you look up at the scoreboard and he's the reason his team is building a lead that won't be broken. It's something the Cavs have found a way to harness in the 55 games he's been with the team.
His team wants him to shoot these shots. They encourage the behavior for moments like Game 1. Even though it might be more effective to get him to move the ball more at times, to maximize his abilities, you want the ball swung to him and not in the opposite direction.
J.R. is aware of the team concept and what he's supposed to do within that attack. He's aware of the reputation he has, both on and off the court, and has worked at curtailing the bad things so his parents can feel more at peace with their son's life. He doesn't want their appreciation of him to be marred by tales from away from the court.
You can't fault a guy for wanting to utilize the weaponry he's crafted for himself. Some do and some wonder when the next time will be that he shoots his team out of a game. It could be in Game 2 against the Hawks. It could not happen until next season.
Sometimes it's just hard to pass on the opportunity to do what got you here.
