J.R. Smith sentenced to at least 30 days in jail

Associated Press via The Canadian Press: Nuggets guard J.R. Smith sentenced to jail after fatal car crash.

A judge sentenced Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith to 90 days in jail Tuesday night for causing an auto accident that killed his friend, though Smith will likely end up serving only 30.

Municipal Judge Debra J. Gelson suspended 60 days of the sentence providing Smith performs 500 hours of community service consisting of visiting sick children at hospitals.

As a Bulls fan, I can safely say that J.R. Smith is someone I've discussed a lot over the years. J.R. was included by the Hornets, somewhat needlessly, into the Tyson Chandler/P.J. Brown swap that pissed me off for a good few years. And from speaking to my fellow Bulls fans, I know that a lot of you miss J.R. Smith. He has crazy range, athleticism, potential (if not much sense) and a special shot making ability. It would be easier to stomach his loss had the best returning player for him not been Aaron Gray. (The players were; JamesOn Curry, who never played a game for the Bulls; the unguaranteed contract of Howard Eisley, who also never played for the Bulls; and Aaron Gray, who needn't have.)

Scott Skiles didn't even take one look at Smith before deciding he wouldn't tolerate him. Smith never reported to the Bulls, and John Paxson tried to turn him around straight away. The Bulls couldn't get a first round pick for him, though, and instead settled on Eisley and the two second rounders .(They later waived Eisley and used the money opened up to sign Adrian Griffin. Yippeeeeeeee.)

Perhaps we needn't miss him too much, though. In his time with Denver, Smith has been charged with assault, disturbing the peace and destruction of property, had his drivers license suspended three times (all three of which came after the fail accident detailed here, amazingly), crashed teammate Carmelo Anthony's car, and has now seen his troubles culminate in this jail sentence.

In this incident, Smith was charged with of improper passing, failure to stop at a stop sign, reckless driving, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt, but mercifully not of vehicular homicide. He also failed to appear in court for his first hearing back in January, drawing a further fine.

That list of bad times also does not include consistent affronts with his coach, George Karl, whose tolerance for Smith's erratic play and mild entitlement is varied at best. Smith has been suspended twice for a combined 13 games, and benched numerous times on top of that. He has never managed to avoid trouble. Seemingly, he's never really tried to.

And he is, after all, just a backup shooting guard.

Still, it's not all bad news; Smith played sufficient minutes last season to earn himself a $600,000 bonus on his contract for next season. So, at the very worst, it's swings and roundabouts.

Apologies To The Denver Nuggets

I hated the Marcus Camby trade. I hated it. I think everyone did, even Clippers fans. But I really hated it.

I think about trades a lot. I should really have better things to do, but I don't. So I spend a lot of time thinking about trades that have happened, moves that have been made, who would fit on which team, players that certain teams needed, who'll sign where and for what, etc. This is because I don't have many friends. But at not point did I think, "a current DPOY candidate and former winner, on an extremely fair value contract, is going to be moved for nowt more than a trade exception." You just don't consider these as possibilities, do you?

But it happened. And it annoyed the hell out of me.

It annoyed me for one simple reason - the move was financially motivated, and I hate all financial motivated moves. I wrote about as much here, and, in the interests of saving time, I'll quote myself:

When teams make bad personal [sic] moves to save money, purely as collateral damage from their own previous stupid move, then the fans become the victims to the folly that is the NBA and its old boys network.

I hate any move that involves a team giving away an asset just to save money, with them deeming the financial saving as "necessary" due to their own cap mismanagement. That's exactly what happened here - the Nuggets, perennial tax payers, were forced to start saving money by their ownership, and the best way for them to do this was to dump Camby's salary for no return. The moved saved them $20 million this season, plus about the same next season, yet it saw an NBA team literally gifting away one of the best players at a position persistently devoid of much quality. Anyone's outrage at that was justifiable.

However, there was an underlying justification to the move that I, like most people, didn't acknowledge.

Marcus Camby is a very good player. Always was, still is. But the Nuggets had someone who would have been one of the best backups centres in the game last season, were it not for an unfortunate bout of cancer - Nene. In Nene's only three seasons of full health (or, in the case of the 2006/07 season, near to full health), he has proven to be a starting calibre centre in this league, combining power and athleticism with good defensive skill, and some rudimentary offense. He had averaged double figures whenever healthy, an acceptable if mediocre rebounding rate, and some good defense. You don't get many backup centres like that.

The Nuggets gave Nene a very big contract back in the summer of 2006, despite Nene playing only three minutes the previous season. They were denounced for this move; we knew that a healthy Nene was a good player, but a healthy Nene hadn't produced enough to justify a contract that size. The Nuggets had therefore paid Nene based on their expectations of what he would go on to become, but they did so after a 3 minute season and a severe knee injury. It was an unnecessary risk, but they took it anyway. Yet, like the Camby trade, it's worked out.

Nene averages 15.0 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks on the season, averaging career highs in field goal percentage (61%) and free throw percentage (73%). Points per shot fans (such as me, and perhaps only me) will be delighted to know that Nene is averaging 1.64 points per shot this year, which is the high echelon territory of a prime Shaquille O'Neal, or Yotam Halperin. He leads his team in plus/minus by a long way, and this is a team that features both Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. (In fact, you can add Billups and Anthony's plus/minus statistics together, and Nene's is still higher.) Nene's PER is a very healthy 21.6, good for second on the team, and his opponent PER is a decent 15.5. While Nene might not be exactly the most creative or skilled offensive player, relying largely on opprtunity and rhythm to score his points - he is also one hell of a powerful finisher, with some touch and grace to go with it. He can also get out and run better than almost all of his peers at the centre position, creating easy offense just through trying hard. And you can never have too much of that.

Put simply, on both ends of the court, the artist formerly known as Maybyner Hilario can play.

This wasn't sufficiently considered, though, by critics of the Marcus Camby trade. We knew Camby could play, but we forgot that Nene could, too. Kenyon Martin's long overdue return to full health has further helped to cope with Camby's absence, and Chris Andersen's hugely effective play off of the bench has Camby almost completely redundant. The financial aspects of the trade still effing stink, and the trade was still financially motivated (if it wasn't, the Nuggets could have found a better value trade for Camby that involved at least one decent player coming back, or even a first rounder, but this didn't happen because they wanted the absolute and complete salary dump), yet even the books are now balanced. The TPE created by the Camby trade facilitated the Allen Iverson trade with Detroit, allowing them to take back Antonio McDyess; his subsequent buyout, along with the Chucky Atkins/Johan Petro swap, sees the Nuggets finally under the luxury tax threshold. And because of those same moves, they're an even better team now than when they were above it.

(Note: OK, yes Mr Anal, they could have done the McDyess trade without the TPE. But they didn't. As a result, they were able to create a new TPE for $9.7 million - the difference between Iverson and Billups's salaries - which expires next November. Financial flexibility such as that is extremely powerful. And they wouldn't have had it otherwise.)

The last point before the small font bracketed bit is key. Denver were shamed and villified for the Camby deal, as it was seen as a triumph of ownership over fandom, of the big man over the little people, of corporations over hippies. But subsequent high quality moves, both in free agency and via trade, have seen the Nuggets build a more conventional team than they had before, and a higher calibre team than they had before, while also saving the money that they so needed to do. The Camby trade was a big part of this, as is Nene's continued breakout. I did not see this coming.

And for this, I am sorry.

Hy-pathetical Situation

You're 49-32, fighting for the 8th seed in the playoffs. The team you're battling is 48-32. Even though you have the tiebreaker, you really need to win your last game to ensure the final spot. And it's not going to be easy. It's All Hands On Dick time, with the playoff intensity needing to be in full swing.

What's the first thing that you need?

A drink, obviously.

What a really stupid time for that. A really, really stupid time. There's never a good time, but this is a particularly stupid one.

If I was earning $13 million this year, I'd get some hired help on the driving. I really would. At the very least, you'd get one of your millions of hangers-on to help you out. That's what they're there for, isn't it? Make them earn their free tickets.

It really is amazingly stupid that DUI's (or DWI's, depending on what state you're in. So to speak.) continue to be so rife in the world of professional sports. And I have no idea why it continues. At least no one died, or crashed while watching porn. So that's something.



In other NBA news, I don't know why this is funny, but it is, and it needs posting, but doesn't merit its own post. So we'll make it an addendum to this one.



I don't do captions. Apply within.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Denver

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Chucky Atkins (3 years, $9.72 million)
Steven Hunter (acquired from Philadelphia)
Bobby Jones (acquired from Philadelphia)



Players acquired via draft:

None



Players retained:

Anthony Carter (waived, then re-signed, saving about $800,000)
Eduardo Najera (opted in)



Players departed:

Reggie Evans (traded to Philadelphia)
Steve Blake (signed with Portland)
DerMarr Johnson (signed in Italy)
Jamal Samspon (signed with Dallas)



Bobbins:

When you spend $162 million on only three players in one offseason, you're generally making a commitment to those as core players. Denver did this last offseason with Nene, Carmelo Anthony and Reggie Evans, investing in two power forwards despite also having the massive contract of Kenyon Martin firmly entrenched at the position, as well as Joe Smith and Eduardo Najera on hand to stand around looking sheepish.

When you then trade your only significant expiring contract and both first rounders this season (and Andre Miller) for soon-to-be-fading star Allen Iverson, you're making a subsequent commitment to for it all with what you have. You're foregoing the few assets you have, placing yourself deep into luxury tax territory to try and put your team over the top.

It's noble. And they could not realistically turn down the Iverson deal because of the small price tag. But, in the short term at least, it hasn't really worked.

Denver hasn't had their shooting guard position solved for a number of years. The days of the Kiki Vanderweghe era saw such greats as Predrag Savovic and Vincent Yarborough blemish the position, and while Vanderwghe did pursue a number of options to fill the position (ranging from Manu Ginobili to Clyde Drexler, of all people), the best he could manage was a brief flirtation with Voshon Lenard. New GM Mark Warkentein picked up The Prodigy Formerly Known As J.R. Smith from Chicago as a potential solution to the problem, but all that brought Denver was a tidal wave of emotions: from amusing highs (career high 37 points vs Chicago) to humiliating lows (being benched for stupidity during the playoffs, being called out by his coach, killing his friend in a car accident). And the two headed monster of Yakhouba Diawara and Von Wafer isn't getting it done.

You would think that trading for Allen Iverson, one of the finest scoring guards of all time and still at the peak at his game, woud solve the problem. Yet Denver is currently experiencing what Philadelphia had to figure out for all those years: it's all right having Allen Iverson, but who do you put alongside him?

Iverson and Steve Blake made for an effective offensive pairing for their brief time together last season, with Blake's pass-first nature complimenting the pass-last style of Iverson, and with Blake's jumpshot making a brief return after a half season away. But defensively, the duo combined to give Marcus Camby his inaugral Defensive Player Of The Year award, unable to keep anybody in front of them and without the height to in any way trouble shooters.

So what did the Nuggets do to rectify this?

They lost Blake to Portland, and replaced him with the aptly named 5'11 Chucky Atkins, a man with Iverson-like delusions but with Chucky Atkins-like ability.

Brilliant. There's the needed compliment right there.

In their only other offseason move of note, Denver made another trade with Philadelphia (note to all GM's out there - they're onto something here. It's good to trade with Billy King), swapping 85th string power forward Evans (by the way, why DID they pay their fourth stringer that much? Did we ever get an answer on that?) for Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones. Jones, should he make the roster, adds abslutely nothing of value, but does have an unguaranteed contract, which could turn out to be a nice saving for a team mired deep into luxury tax territory. And Hunter, if nothing else, is a man capable of playing the center position, even if he does play it very badly while rebounding without due care and attention. More importantly, they save on a year of salary, even if that saving is three years down the road. Every little helps, and all that.



Next season:

It would be nice if I was able to open this stanza with a comment along the lines of "A lot depends on whether star Kenyon Martin can bounce back from injury and finally fully realise his potential". But I can't. Because it's not happening. Not only is Kenyon Martin not a star, but he's also not getting back to where he was - microfracture surgery in each knee can do that to a man. A player who relied almost exclusively on explosiveness isn't much good when you take that explosiveness away. If Martin can return as a rebounding role player, he can help the team. But if he doesn't, he's just dead weight. Very expensive dead weight, at that.

Still, only 4 years and $60 million to go.

Being without Martin didn't hinder the Nuggets on-court progress, though, as Nene had something of a breakout season last year. Given a 6 year, $60 million contract despite only having played three whole minutes the previous season - bad business that they've gotten away with so far - Nene performed well, putting up 12 points and 7 rebounds in only 26 minutes a game, while providing good interior post defense. The pairing of he and DPOY winner Camby went some ways to counteracting the Nuggets pourous perimeter defense, while also making for a decent offensive pairing.

If nothing else, the Nuggets can boast a starting lineup of Camby/Nene/Anthony/Iverson/whoever, one of the league's most talented lineups out there. Who the "whoever" is going to be, though, remains a concern. If it's Atkins, they have problems - the man is a bench scorer, pure and simple. If it's J.R. Smith, they have problems - the man is an idiot, pure and simple. If it's Yakhouba Diawara, they have problems - the man is not very good, pure and simple. And if it's someone else, I'll be amazed.

More important than who the fifth starter is, though, is the age old question of whether Iverson and Anthony can co-exist (and by "age old", I mean "9 month old"). This question was never definitely answered last year, and it's the key to Denver's entire future.

If they can co-exist effectively, and if the team stays reasonably healthy (they'll never be truly healthy. I mean, they have Iverson, Camby and Martin, for God's sake) they could drag a Denver team into a position to surprise a few people, winning homecourt advantage and maybe making some inroads in the playoffs.

But if they don't bring the best out of each other, and if the Nuggets have their usual woe with injuries or worse, then this Nuggets franchise is again looking at a low playoff seed and a first round exit. And at that point, they're possibly a season away from losing Iverson and starting again.

With a youth movement currently consisting of J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza, they could do with avoiding that kind of mediocrity.

(Well, and Carmelo. He's useful, I guess.)