Nuggets guard J.R. Smith told me two words caught his attention during the summer.
Not "shoot less" or "play defense" or "new contract."
Try these two: Grow up. Those are harsh words of reality for a 23-year-old millionaire athlete to digest when spoken from the mouths of Mom and Dad.
"I sat down with my parents this summer and they told me it's time for me to grow up. It's time to be mature as a man," Smith said.
"At a certain point and time it hurts because you feel as though you've been playing around a lot and people tend not to take you serious -- especially when it's your parents telling you.
"You have to realize that it's that time. You don't have to apply to just joking around or goofing around. Just apply it to every-day life -- things you can do to save money, save time . . . just taking time out of your day to make someone else happy."
On the court Smith knows he needs to mature, too. He led the Nuggets in 3-point shooting, but Smith's defense has been suspect. Nuggets coach George Karl will emphasize defensive intensity during training camp. Smith hopes to show that his has improved.
A battle for playing time at shooting guard could develop between Smith and Linas Kleiza. Karl likened the pair to Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony "in a funny way." I wasn't sure if that was a compliment to their offensive abilities or jab at their defensive liabilities.
Nevertheless, the better defender between Kleiza and Smith likely will wind up with more minutes on the court.
"I play ball all the time in the summer, and that was my main focus -- trying to guard the best guy on the court and put myself in a position that would apply to the season," Smith said.
The first four years of Smith's career, he said, have gone by too fast. "I look at Sonny (Weems). This is his first year out," Smith said. "We're the same age. I'm still a young guy in a lot of aspects, but in the NBA world I'm a veteran."
A lot of Nuggets related news lately, might as well post 'em.
Quote:
On the court Smith knows he needs to mature, too. He led the Nuggets in 3-point shooting, but Smith's defense has been suspect. Nuggets coach George Karl will emphasize defensive intensity during training camp. Smith hopes to show that his has improved.
Finally, he's going to start focusing on improving that horrible D of his. Funny thing is, he know's he has to, otherwise Kleiza get's majority minutes of playing time.
What are you on?
JR Smith is a better shooter, ball-handler, good ability to penetrate. His D isnt that great but saying he's not better than Kleiza is wrong. He's our best bench player
Kleiza is physically bigger which gives him an advantage in the paint and his shot selection is typically better than JR's.
Yep. He's got more maturity in his game, better shot selection, can post up smaller guards and forwards, is a better defender than JR and shoots a better percentage. All JR has on LK is athleticism, handles and more range from beyond the arc. He hardly ever tries on defense, has below average shot selection (far improved from a few years ago), and hardly ever uses his athleticism to his advantage. Sure JR's handles are better, but they're hardly every good enough to draw separation from his defender and he mostly resorts to camping out behind the 3 point line waiting or trying to shoot some difficult J over his man. Spectacular when he's on, awful when he's not, he's got almost no contigency plan if he can't make his treys fall. How big of a liability he is on defense is reason enough for him to be inferior to LK at this point his career.
JR is more talented and has a much higher ceiling, but at this point LK is a better player.
Maturity In Game Plan For Nuggets' Smith
