The header of the Instagram page for J.R. Smith reads as follows:
“I’m just me! An I’m perfectly fine with not being perfect!”
The irony, of course, is the lack of spelling perfection displayed. (Well, that and his less-than-perfect on-court actions.)
Smith was suspended two games for the backhand punch he landed to the face of Jae Crowder during Cleveland’s Game 4 win in Boston on Sunday. It was a costly play, because the Cavaliers had already seen Kevin Love leave the game due to injury, and since he’ll now be unavailable for at least the entirety of their second-round series, Smith should have been smarter in not doing anything that could jeopardize his team having to play with another starter out of the lineup.
That’s the situation Smith placed his team in, however, and shortly after the news of the suspension was announced, Smith posted an apology of sorts to his Instagram page.
“Not the player I want to be not the player I want my teammates an family to see not the person I want the fans to see but I will be better! I must be better as a player an as a Person!”
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Smith started in 45 of his 46 regular season appearances for the Cavaliers, and averaged 12.7 points on 42.5 percent shooting in 31.8 minutes per contest. That’s a lot of minutes to replace, and the threat of him as a shooter is far greater than that of someone like Matthew Dellavedova, who could get the bulk of the minutes replacing Smith in the starting lineup.