{"id":22426,"date":"2020-07-07T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T15:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/lakers-saved-very-depressed-jr-smith-after-nba-gave-up-on-him\/"},"modified":"2020-07-07T18:14:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T15:14:00","slug":"lakers-saved-very-depressed-jr-smith-after-nba-gave-up-on-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/lakers-saved-very-depressed-jr-smith-after-nba-gave-up-on-him\/","title":{"rendered":"#Lakers saved \u2018very depressed\u2019 JR Smith after NBA gave up on him"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Lakers saved \u2018very depressed\u2019 JR Smith after NBA gave up on him<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n LOS ANGELES \u2014 JR Smith was not ready to wrap up his 15-year NBA career when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in late 2018, and the ensuing 20 months were not much fun for the veteran shooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through a very depressed state for a long time,\u201d Smith said Monday. \u201cI\u2019m a big video game<\/a>r, (but) I didn\u2019t even play (NBA) 2K anymore. I don\u2019t want to hoop, I don\u2019t want to work out, I don\u2019t want to play 2K, I don\u2019t want do anything with basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to a call from the Los Angeles Lakers, Smith is getting another shot on basketball\u2019s biggest stage. He joined the Western Conference leaders for workouts last week before they head to Florida for the conclusion of the NBA season.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Smith was added to the roster because Lakers starter Avery Bradley declined to return for the rest of the season, citing family concerns. The Lakers needed a depth replacement who could immedia<\/a>tely fit in alongside LeBron James while playing solid wing defense, providing a 3-point threat and meshing quickly as a teammate.<\/p>\n

Nobody in recent NBA history fits that job descript<\/a>ion more perfectly than Smith, who reached four NBA Finals and won the 2016 title while playing alongside James in Cleveland. Known for his ebullient behavior on and off the court, Smith was overjoyed to get back in the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was gone for a while,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBeing somebody who has been around the league predominantly for most of their adult life, when that\u2019s taken away from you, it kind of gives you that culture shock. You obviously don\u2019t understand what you\u2019ve lost until it\u2019s gone. I just want to appreciate the moment for what it is, and whether it be next year or never again, I just want to enjoy every possible moment that I get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JR<\/img>
JR Smith<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Smith tried out for the Lakers in February when they had another roster spot available, but the team chose veteran Dion Waiters for that slot. Waiters never got to play for Los Angeles before the season was suspended, and now both veterans are headed to Orlando with the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Coach Frank Vogel was impressed by the way Smith kept himself in shape despite being without a team for an extended period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is really a great story,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cWhen you look at a guy who could potentially be out of the league and was a starter on a Finals team a couple years back, a champion, for him to have the perseverance to stay ready and give himself this opportunity, I think is to be commended.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too soon to tell whether Smith will get significant playing time behind Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso, who are likely to fill the majority of Bradley\u2019s minutes.<\/p>\n

But Smith\u2019s particular set of skills is exactly what the Lakers sought \u2014 particularly his career 37.3% shooting on 3-pointers. With James setting up Anthony Davis as their primary scoring option, the Lakers have plenty of opportunities for well-spaced shooters to get open looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, his nickname is \u2018Swish\u2019 for a reason, right?\u201d Vogel said of Smith. \u201cHe\u2019s a shot-maker, a big-time shot-maker. I think he\u2019s really going to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith is also uncommonly familiar with James, and he knows what to do when LeBron\u2019s competitiveness ramps up in the postseason. Smith and James have played together for years in the NBA\u2019s most difficult situations \u2014 and this time, they won\u2019t have to face the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people that are not going to know how to deal with it,\u201d Smith said of James\u2019 competitiveness. \u201cIt comes off in the wrong way sometimes, and you need that bridge as a player to be able to go to the next player and be like, \u2018Listen man, it\u2019s nothing personal. (It\u2019s not about) who was right, who was wrong.\u2019 It\u2019s just a good balance, I think, between myself and him, because he knows just as well he can challenge anybody else, I\u2019ll challenge him, and vice versa.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If you want to read more Sports News<\/a> articles, you can visit our General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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“#Lakers saved \u2018very depressed\u2019 JR Smith after NBA gave up on him” LOS ANGELES \u2014 JR Smith was not ready to wrap up his 15-year NBA career when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in late 2018, and the ensuing 20 months were not much fun for the veteran shooter. \u201cI went through a very depressed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34044],"class_list":["post-22426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-lakers-saved-very-depressed-jr-smith-after-nba-gave-up-on-him"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}