J.R. Smith is the Sixth Man of the Year after misgivings

“I think there comes a point in time in your life where you’re almost forced to grow up, you’re almost forced to mature. You’ve got to be willing to want to do those things. I think right now, this season, J.R. has done that. I think J.R. was forced to grow up, he was forced to be mature and he was willing to take on that challenge, too.” – Carmelo Anthony.

The New York Knicks were the hottest team to start off the season. And although they cooled down considerably after their blazing start, they were still able to maintain a high degree of consistency. Ironically, a major contributor towards their consistency was an inconsistent force. Not to say that Smith was unreliable and inconsistent. His particular brand of inconsistency is less about not performing and more about the manner in which he does it. He is a loose cannon, an unpredictable scorer with zero conscience who is just as likely to bury you under a barrage of three pointers as he is to slam down a reverse jam or throw up a flurry of mid range jumpers after crossing you up.

Initially, Smith was less than enthusiastic about coming off the bench. But his coach assured him that he would play in the crucial stretches of the game and in the fourth quarter. Slowly, Smith came to accept his new role and revel in it.

“He is the second guy over there after Carmelo. I’m just a piece of the bench,” said fellow sixth man of the year candidate, Jamal Crawford.

Although Jamal Crawford came off the bench for the Clippers this season, he was third in minutes played behind Griffin and Paul. Coming off the bench doesn’t mean that he plays reduced minutes. Same is true for Smith who averaged 34 minutes off the bench this season.

“He went through a phase when he was just shooting jump shots and jump shots and finally a green light went off and he started taking the ball to the bucket” – Mike Woodson, Knicks’ coach.

J.R. Smith set the tone early this time. To start off the season, he went on a tear, averaging 18 points and shooting 74 percent from three-point range as they won their first six games. There was a point in the season when Smith hit two game-winners in the course of three weeks. Later in the season, the Knicks ripped through the league with a 13 game win streak. A major reason for that was the inspired play of Smith. During that streak, he averaged 23.2 points per game on 49 percent shooting. Before the streak began, Smith averaged 16.7 points per game on 40 percent shooting.

“I think you’ve got to put him in the right positions and you’ve got to be demanding with him and not let him off the hook, and I’ve tried not to do that with him. Sometimes I can get away with things I say to him and sometimes I can’t.”- said Mike Woodson.

One possibility why players seem to thrive coming off the bench is that they get to go up against the second string of the other team. Or even when they are up against the starters of the other team, they get to come in fresh when the starters are winded. Putting a talented star player in a sixth man role makes him the leader off the bench. When the starters need a breather, the sixth man comes in. That’s the kind of role a 6th man is usually called upon to live up to, that of the leader of the second string.

“I just wanted to show everybody that I could be a team guy and it’s all about the team.”- J.R. Smith.

Smith averaged 18.1 points for the season while shooting 42% from the field and grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game. While he did buy into the team approach, his game is more about being a lone gunner, and coming off the bench lets him do that when Carmelo needs a breather.

“Couldn’t have happened to a better guy. I’m so proud of him, in terms of buying in to what we wanted him to do earlier in the season. And it started this summer. I wasn’t going to start him, coming into this year, and I knew that. And he bought in. He didn’t like it, but he bought in. And it couldn’t have happened to a better person, because he put in the time and he worked his b*** off to get to this point, and he got rewarded for it. I’m happy for him.”- Mike Woodson.

Only three players in the history of the New York Knicks have won a sixth man of the year award. In addition to Smith this year, John Starks won it back in 1996-97 season and Anthony Mason won it in 1994-95 season. Some do feel that Smith winning the award has a bit to do with the fact that he plays in New York. And the closest competitor of Smith for the award this season, Crawford, plays in the West coast for the Clippers. Because of the schedules, the East coast writers don’t always watch every game of the Western Conference teams. That’s one theory why Crawford may have been neglected.