J.R. Smith is the reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, but any positivity surrounding the streaky scorer went out the window following his elbow of then-Celtics reserve Jason Terry in Game 3 of their opening round series.
Since that elbow, Smith melted down for the remainder of the postseason, underwent surgery in the offseason, and earned himself a five-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
In a bizarre revelation, Smith thinks a deity has cast these struggles down upon him, in karmic retribution for his misplaced elbow on Terry.
"I think [the elbow against Boston] probably [ticked] the NBA gods off," Smith said. "When you mess with the game of basketball, the game gets you back. And it definitely got me back."
Smith's problems may have also stemmed from a combination of poor decisions off the court as well as a buildup of fluid in his knee robbing him of strength and explosiveness. No matter what, Smith is missing the first five games of the NBA season, and his head coach's patience is wearing thin. In addition to the sore knee, Smith was rumored to be partying late into the night during the postseason, even drawing speculation of nights out with troublemaking R&B sensation Rihanna.
Woodson spoke like a stern father recently when discussing Smith's antics.
"I'm not going to throw him out to the pasture," Woodson said. "My job is to coach him and make sure something like what happened doesn't happen again. That's what we do as coaches, and I expect his teammates to show him love. But at the end of the day he's got to do the right thing by J.R. and his teammates, and me as a coach and this organization and the fans that support him. I mean, that's what it's all about. He's got to grow up and do the right things."
Indeed, Smith does. He was just locked up to a three-year, $18 million contract.
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