Being the lightning-rod he’s long been in NBA circles, it figures that J.R. Smith would now find himself cast by some as one with the abilities of a legitimate game-changer and doomed by others as one deserving of the tag of an official piranha.
Smith’s disposition didn’t become any clearer this week when no less than notorious bad boy, yet five-time league champion, Dennis Rodman began heralding the mercurial New York Knicks forward as the latest version of himself. And what that all ultimately comes to mean could make for plenty of combustible nights for both Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher.
Free spirit that he is, Smith seemed more than willing to embrace the comparison when labeled with it over the last several days. “Last time I checked Dennis Rodman’s got what three, four rings?” he said. “I’m not offended by that. It’s an honor. He’s a Hall of Famer. And to be put in the same words as a Hall of Famer is something special. So I’m not offended at all.”
And that’s where the glass half-full, half-empty debate begins in earnest with J.R. Smith. For given all his titles, all his accolades, and all his rebounding prowess, Dennis Rodman arguably remains just as well remembered for all his misguided energy.
It’s enough of a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde development to already have the 69-year-old Jackson sweating bullets. “I don’t know if that’s possible or not,” the 11-time NBA coaching champion (three of them with Rodman) told the New York Post when asked how best to deal with all Smith’s well-documented drama. “He might be one of those guys that’s a little bit like Dennis Rodman and has an outlier kind of side to him.”
Much like Rodman, it’s not as if what Smith, the former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award winner, brings to the table isn’t more than useful— provided he’s on top of his game and perhaps even more importantly in the right frame of mind.
“I’m gonna get to know him as we go along,” said master-motivator Jackson. “We’ll find a way to either make him a very useful player on our organization or whatever.”
Count Rodman among those convinced that it all can and will work out in the best interest of all those involved.
“Sending love to the Zen Master and the Knicks for this season,” Rodman tweeted. “Good luck to J.R. Smith who is the new Dennis Rodman.”
In the end, the fact that Rodman sees so much of himself in Smith could come to make or break the Knicks season.
