Being benched for 35-year-old Dwyane Wade “absolutely” frustrated Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard J.R. Smith, he told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
Smith said that he talked it through with Tristan Thompson, whom the Cavs are also relegating to the bench. Smith described that talk as “[not] the most positive conversation, but we talked about it and we’ll get through it together.”
Smith wasn’t caught off guard by the change; he told Cleveland.com that he “was pretty much bracing [him]self for it.”
Smith sounds bitter about the change, but it doesn’t sound as though he’ll cause any trouble:
“Was working hard all summer and then coming in and not even really having a chance to earn my spot, but it’s all right,” Smith said. “It is what it is.”
On the bright side, Smith enjoys playing with the bench unit better, as his role increases: “I actually like playing on the second unit better, I’m more of a playmaker and distributor and I handle the ball a little bit more instead of just running to the corner.”
Thompson gave his comments on the change to Vardon as well:
“Me and JR, we know what we’ve brought to this team, what we’ve done the last three years, being in three Finals,” Thompson told cleveland.com. “But at the end of the day, to win a championship you’ve got to sacrifice. We both know that and coming off the bench in that second unit, you gotta be a spark.”
Smith and Thompson have been starters for the Cavaliers for the last three finals, but will now be replaced in the starting lineup by Wade and Jae Crowder.
