J.R. Smith Thinks The Knicks Have Best Shooting Guard Core
The New York Knicks hosted their media day in Greenburgh on Monday with some new faces and some plenty familiar. Shooting guard J.R. Smith is coming into camp healthy and apparently with a mindset to be more of a leader for this Knicks team. Smith tells the media that he feels the Knicks have a particular advantage over the rest of the league at the shooting guard position, via Fred Kerber of The New York Post,
I think there’s not a team in this league that has what we have at the shooting guard spot, and that’s very unique. Some people look at it as ‘You’ve got to treat it as one or two of them.’ I don’t think you should look at it like that. I think you should look at it as a dynamic trio like people do with running backs in football.
We can hit people from three totally different angles.
Smith touched on his relationship with Iman Shumpert,
I don’t look at it as a rivalry. If I don’t push him and he doesn’t push me, then we’re both wasting our time.
Included in Smith’s claim about the Knicks’ superior shooting guard core is Tim Hardaway Jr., coming off an emerging rookie campaign.
While this may be a decent argument on paper, it’s still on this group to collectively adjust and adapt to Derek Fisher’s system. The versatility of the Knicks’ options at shooting guard can be utilized, but all of the pieces have to be bought in and prepared to execute their individual roles.
The triangle offense will show more two-big sets with Carmelo Anthony at his natural small forward position as opposed to the four, which ultimately means more scarce minutes at shooting guard. Only one can play at a time, so we’ll see who makes the smoothest adjustment to the triangle out of this proclaimed elite mix.
