Really, NFL!?!: A Rant on Taunting and Terrelle Pryor’s Ball Flip
September 19, 2016Browns sign QB Charlie Whitehurst
September 19, 2016Whether or not he is wearing a shirt is unknown, but free agent J.R. Smith is still without a contract. While the Cleveland Cavaliers and guard J.R. Smith remain far off in contract negotiations, the sharpshooter will miss the team’s minicamp in California this week, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
Prior to training camp, star LeBron James is hosting the Cavs for pre-camp workouts in Santa Barbara to not only get the team all back together, but to also build camaraderie and begin playing together again for as much time as possible before they start their run to defend their NBA title.
Smith and the Cavs aren’t close on a deal, as Windhorst said almost two weeks ago, and the negotiations – or lack there of at the moment – could linger into the preseason or even the beginning of the regular season. Smith and James share the same agent, Rich Paul, and cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon believes that the length of the deal is what’s holding things up, not money.
The Cavs are already more than $22 million over the the NBA’s $94 million salary cap. By league rules, they can go over the cap to retain Smith, but couldn’t replace him with a free agent who would command a similar contract.
While neither Smith nor Paul has ever confirmed this figure, it is believed he’s looking for a contract worth about $15 million annually. The two sides may not be arguing over money so much as the length of the deal — the Cavs would likely prefer a shorter contract.
Comparatively, shooting guards Kent Bazemore (four years, $70 million), Eric Gordon (four years, $53 million) Jamal Crawford (three years, $42 million), Courtney Lee (four years, $48 million) and Joe Johnson (two years, $22 million), among others, all signed big-time deals this off-season, which is most likely why Smith continues to holdout while waiting for the contract length and amount of money to be up to his standards.
Paul isn’t afraid to keep his players out of the preseason. Just last summer, Tristan Thompson sat out the entire preseason while the two were at a stalemate and didn’t re-sign with the wine and gold until just before the start of the regular season. Smith wants to sign with the Cavs and the team wants him back, but until the two come much closer in negotiations, the 30-year-old will likely stay away from the team during preseason.
Smith bet on himself last season and it paid off. In 77 regular season games (all starts) last season, Smith averaged 12.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.2 steals in 31.1 minutes per game while shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and 40 percent from beyond the arc. But, when it mattered most, the guard stepped up for the wine and gold in the postseason on both ends of the floor. On the way to an unforgettable Cavaliers title, Smith averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 34.8 minutes per game all while shooting 43.6 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three-point land and also locked up his opponent on the defensive end of the floor as well.
Missing a starter like Smith from the workouts will hurt, but he is likely to resign prior to the start of the regular season. The Cavaliers host the New York Knicks on NBA’s Opening Night on October 25 when they are expected to hoist the franchise’s first NBA Championship banner into the rafters.
1 Comment
He needs to stay at the house, so when those $15m contracts start rolling in, he doesn’t miss any.