There Has Never Been A Better Time To Be Cleveland's J.R. Smith

This article is part of VICE Sports' 2016 NBA Playoffs coverage.

Did you ever think you'd hear LeBron James get asked if he'd like to play like J.R. Smith for once? Did you think he'd field that question with Smith sitting right there next to him, having just had himself a Podium Game and smiling ear-to-ear after drilling seven three-pointers in a 25-point blowout victory in the second round of the playoffs? Did you think that James, in responding, would rave not just about Smith's shooting ability but also his defensive prowess?

The question was not asked as a joke. None of this is a joke. James' laughter upon hearing the question was authentic, too. It was a good question. It's been that kind of postseason, for Smith in particular and the Cavs in general.

"He's the only one on the team that has the ultra-green light," James said. "Like fluorescent. Coach says, 'J.R. Shoot it. Shoot it. Shoot it.' And I just think it puts him at ease, when he's able to know, 'Hey, when I'm open, or sometimes when guys are even not close enough, just to let it go.' I think what's getting overlooked in this whole thing is the other side of the floor with J.R. Obviously his reputation is shooting threes and making threes. I know he had multiple games with eight made threes, but people are overlooking what he's doing defensively since he got here."

This happened in real life, people. There's video evidence.

Smith made a few more threes over the weekend as the Cavs completed their sweep. He's 31 of 61 from deep in the playoffs now, which means one of the NBA's most infamously not-so-efficient players is ripping nets with Steph Curry-like regularity. He also defended his ass off against Kyle Korver in Cleveland's four-game sweep of Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semis, top-siding every screen and not letting the Hawks sniper shake free for an open look. Smith is contributing at a high level, to a high-level team that has championship aspirations once again. All of which is to say that 12 years and four teams into his career, Smith has become the kind of contributor he was drafted to be in the first place.

Why? Because he's finally on a team that doesn't actually need him to be anything more than J.R. Smith, One of the Best Catch-and-Shoot Artists In The Game. Behind all the stepback jumpers and the offense-hijacking and the elbow-throwing and the neck tattoos and the pipe-related DMs hides one of the best shooters in the NBA. No less an authority than Korver himself named Smith as one of his four most underrated shooters in modern NBA history. Korver and J.J. Redick marveled about Smith's ability to shoot the rock for about three minutes on Redick's podcast in early March.

Redick: "When he has his feet set and his body square, I feel like every time he shoots the ball, it's going in."

Korver: "He can shoot it from half-court and it looks like he's shooting a free-throw. He's got incredible range. He can shoot it off the dribble, he can shoot it off catch-and-shoot, he can shoot it spinning backwards from like 28 feet. He is a really, really good shooter."

When you've got those guys in your corner, you're doing something right with your shot. We have the evidence that Smith is a catch-and-shoot maestro now, too, thanks to the NBA's SportVU data. In the three years of the SportVU era, Smith has knocked down 43.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes … and only 40.2 percent of all other shots. On those pull-up jumpers, he's been especially terrible: 33.6 percent.

But now Smith's on a team with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson and LeBron Frickin' James. The Cavs don't need Smith to create offense, so those pull-ups have gone the way of a flip phone. Cleveland has plenty of people that can do that, whether with off-the-dribble creativity (Irving), post brutality and outside shooting (Love), offensive rebounding (Thompson), or otherworldly talent in all areas of the game (guess). Smith's sniping ability is a small piece of Cleveland's offense. And that's always what he's been best at anyway.

The unfortunate stroke of Smith's career is that he has always had so much talent that it seemed like he should be able to do more. And so teams asked him to do more, and he obliged, all too happily. They asked him to create for himself, and sometimes to create for others, and so Smith got to work creating for himself, and then for himself some more. He can still create any shot he wants; that club is in his bag, and always will be. If you want him to get the ball up, he will get it up. Will it be a good shot? Maybe, but probably not. Will it go in? Maybe. Probably not. But Smith can damn sure get that shot if you ask him to.

It's a great skill to have, but a lousy one to need. Turning Smith's knack for shot-creation from a necessity into a luxury is the best thing that's happened to his career, aside from being fortunate enough to land on the same team as James, who is arguably the most unselfish on-court superstar we've ever had. Because his team doesn't necessarily need him to do anything at all, Smith has been able to do so much more.

In lieu of needing to do anything, he is free to spot up around the arc, slide in and out of passing lanes where James or Irving or Love can find him, and let it fly when he's open. If he's not open, he can just keep it moving. Not having to do anything more than fire away or give it back to the guys that are actually responsible for the offense has freed Smith to put in more effort defensively, as well. Does he always do it? Of course not. He's still J.R. Smith. But he's brought it during these playoffs, and did so especially in this series against Atlanta.

Smith did this for the first few rounds of last year's playoffs, too. He connected on 39.6 percent of his threes during the Eastern Conference playoffs, knocking down three of them a night. Then the Finals came around, and with Kevin Love already out, Kyrie went down, too. All of a sudden Smith's ability to create shots went from an option to "This is the only way we can create a look that doesn't involve LeBron." He launched 77 total shots and 51 triples in six games, connecting on only 22 from the field (31.2 percent) and 15 from three (29.4 percent). He was asked to do too much, and his game fell apart. You remember how all that worked out.

But that was last year. These Cavaliers are stronger, healthier, and better. They will need to ask very little of Smith, and they know that he'll be able to give them a whole lot more.