Nuggets News: J.R. Smith

The Nuggets are about to sign J.R. Smith, formerly of the Hornets to shore up their woeful shooting guard problems. Smith is somewhat notorious at this point for supposedly having a bad attitude and not being as accurate from behind the arc as he thinks he is.

I'm pretty excited about this though, for a variety of reasons:

1) Even if he wasn't as accurate as he could be, he still shot better from 3 than anyone from last year's team.

2) He's an offensive threat, and at least demands attention on the perimeter. He should stop defenses from packing the lane against the Nuggets and double- or triple-teaming Melo.

3) He's an incredible athlete, and definitely brings some excitement to a team that needs some.

4) His contract is small, and he's got a lot to prove.

I'm a little worried about how he'll get along with Karl, because Smith is a pretty awful defender right now. But it seems like a kid with that much athleticism just needs some motivation to be a good defender. He's 6'6", so it's not as though he is physically incapable of guarding other 2's in the NBA.

Good move by the Nuggets.

Here's some highlight mixes of J.R. on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CumeGVCEftE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_wYrAVqWos