No one wants to ride the pine, but it’s a possibility that Sixth Man of the Year JR Smith may spend more time there in the future … if he doesn’t step his game up. Hopefully he uses this as motivation. Check out what coach Mike Woodson had to say about the possibility of Smith seeing less time…
Via Ian Begley at ESPN:
New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson didn’t rule out the possibility of cutting Smith’s minutes in light of Smith’s recent shooting struggles.
“I’ll gauge J.R. as we go along and if I feel he’s not giving me anything, I could always turn to other guys on that bench,” Woodson said Wednesday in an interview on ESPN New York 98.7 FM’s “The Stephen A. Smith & Ryan Ruocco Show.”
“I feel good about the guys that come in off that bench just like I feel good about J.R. But if he’s struggling and I feel the need (that) I’ve got to pull him, then I will do that as the head coach and then other guys have got to come in and step up and play.”
It doesn’t appear as if a reduction in Smith’s playing time is imminent.
But the fact that Woodson didn’t rule out benching Smith indicates how badly the Knicks’ sixth man has struggled. He shot 3-for-15 and scored just eight points in Tuesday’s Game 2 win over the Indiana Pacers after missing 11-of-15 shots in the series opener.
“He’s missing shots and he’s not playing well from an offensive standpoint,” Woodson said of Smith, who is averaging 31.9 minutes per game in the playoffs. “I think he’s giving us a lot defensively. And that’s why he’s staying out there on the floor because he’s holding his own defensively and he’s rebounding some for us at his position.
“But he is and has struggled offensively. And it’s my job as the coach and my staff and his teammates, we’ve got to get him out of this funk and get him back to playing like we know he’s capable he’s playing.”
Smith has struggled since coming back from a one-game suspension for elbowing Boston’s Jason Terry in Game 3 of the Knicks’ series with the Celtics. In the four games since the suspension, Smith is averaging 13 points on just 26 percent shooting and has missed 18 of his 25 3-point attempts.
(Story Continues…)
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