Rolling the dice: JR Smith

To gamble or not to gamble? That is a question I often find myself pondering. Being the weak man that I am, I usually push my chips into the middle and ride the wave. With JR Smith returning to America the Beautiful this week, it's seems that Larry and Morway are faced with a similar conundrum. Over the past few years, they have built a team that focuses on defensive commitment, sharing the ball on offense, and taking open shots. If Mr. Smith's career up to this point indicates anything, it's that he shrieks and melts like the wicked witch of the west when faced with defense or smart shot selection. Nevertheless, he provides something we are both sorely lacking and publicly coveting: a scorer who can create for himself. Moreover, he has the upside to be better than anybody on our current team. THATS RIGHT, I SAID IT! BETTER THAN PAUL GEORGE! Blasphemy, I know. In reality I'd put my money on PG too in that race, but that doesn't take away from Smith's potential. If you don't believe me look at his highlight reel. Some of the things he pulls off are downright jaw dropping. But that brings us back to the problem. He's a player who has been accused by George Karl of only trying to perform highlights at the expense of his team. He's been branded as selfish and unwilling to buy into a team concept. My question is do we want him?

If it were up to me the answer would be a resounding yes. Given this post is probably fueled more by our three game skid than by objective logic, but these past few contests have been terribly frustrating. Our bench without George Hill has no ability to maintain or extend leads. Moreover, I cringe nearly every time one of our wings decides to drive the lane, waiting for the ball to both miraculously and inevitably pop out of their hands into the lap of an opposing player. I long for a player who will take it to the rack and dunk on someone. Maybe the best part about JR Smith is that we don't have to give anything up for him. He lists us along with the Knicks, Lakers, Clippers, Bulls, and Magic as his potential destinations on Twitter. Out of those teams we are the only one under the cap. Therefore, we can easily offer him the best contract. In my opinion, we should give him something similar to the Crawford deal, which was 2 yrs. 10 mil with a player option after the first year. I would be amenable to possibly increasing this year's salary by a few mil just to sweeten the deal. We have the money, we have the roster space, we have the need. Is there a possibility that he completely ruins our chemistry....of course there is. But we aren't winning a trophy this year anyway so lets double down with an expensive but flexible deal and hope that we hit the jackpot.