J.R. Smith added to Knicks backcourt
This March 12, 2011 file photo shows Denver Nuggets J.R. Smith (5) talking to a teammate during an NBA game against the Detroit Pistons, in Denver. Credit: AP
How much has Jeremy Lin changed the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden? Seven games into Lin-sanity, Knicks management became confident enough about the way the team is playing that it was willing to risk altering the chemistry created by the winning streak.
The Knicks officially announced before Friday night's game that they have signed J.R. Smith, a free agent who had been playing in China. Smith had beaten them to the punch by a good eight hours, tweeting "New York Knicks It Is" on his twitter account in the morning.
Is Mike D'Antoni worried about upsetting team chemistry? "We're adding a lot of talent,'' he said. "It's a great problem to have."
Smith is an excellent outside shooter and gives the Knicks a powerful scoring threat off the bench. Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald said before Friday night's game that he doesn't anticipate making more additions to the team and that he hopes the current group can contend with Miami and Chicago in the Eastern Conference.
"I hope so,'' Grunwald said. "We're going to find out. We have a lot of good basketball players, a very good coach and we have a season that seems to be coming together. We will find out how good we are in the next couple of months."
Smith averaged 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 24.9 minutes off the bench for the Nuggets last season. During the lockout, he decided to play in China. He was not available until after his Chinese team's season ended.
Smith is expected to arrive in New York on Saturday night. D'Antoni said he will not play in Sunday's game against the Dallas Mavericks because the Knicks want him to have a practice with the team first.
Smith got a thumbs-up from former Nuggets teammate Carmelo Anthony. "We had people that had, let's say, inside personal experience with J.R. and they all came out in favor of this move,'' Grunwald said, mentioning director of pro player personnel Mark Warkentien, the Nuggets' former general manager. "We talked to a lot of people.''
