On Sunday June 19 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the franchise's first ever NBA title. Along with Kyrie, LeBron and Kevin Love, JR Smith was a huge part of that championship run and as of yesterday, he's resigned back with the Cavaliers. If JR Smith didn't resign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, I feel that they wouldn't have had a chance to repeat as NBA champions.
Yes, I understand that in the past, JR Smith sometimes struggles with his defense, but during the season he was able to play some decent defense. He averaged 1 steal per game, and 2.3 defensive rebounds. But more importantly, JR was usually responsible for guarding the opponent's shooting guard. In the finals, that meant he had to guard Klay Thompson. In Game 1,2, and the first half of Game 5, at Oracle Arena Klay had his way with JR. But in Game 3 JR Smith had 20 points, while Thompson was held to 10 points. Yes it was one game during what turned out to be a full 7 game series, but that Game 3 performance helped propel the Cavaliers to the title.
More importantly, JR's impact for the Cavaliers has been on the offensive side of the court. Part of what has allowed LeBron and Kyrie to get as many driving lanes as they've got is how JR Smith can shoot. In Game 1 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals, JR Smith had 8 3's in a win over the Atlanta Hawks. This season, although Smith didn't explode for 8 3's in a game, his shooting ability draws the defense away from the hoop and that allows LeBron and Kyrie to drive to the bucket for easy points.
Along with JR's 3-point shooting, the Cavs have another weapon, and his name is Kevin Love. The Cavaliers acquired Love in trade with Minnesota that sent Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins to the T-Wolves. Once Love came to the Cavs, it really changed the dynamics of the team. In 2015, when David Blatt was the coach, Kevin Love was primarily just standing behind the 3-point arc and not doing much else. Once Tyronn Lure took over as head coach for the Cavaliers, everything changed for Love. Love started moving around, and when he began to move around the court, Love was able to start to finding his shot it began to have the same effect on the Cavaliers offense as JR Smith.
