While the Cleveland Cavaliers extended Kevin Love and expect a superb season from him, it might be JR Smith who has the breakout season. Smith, following some phenomenal shooting in the 2016 NBA Finals, has been awful these past two seasons.
Even for Smith’s standards, his percentages were low and his efficiency just wasn’t what fans grew accustomed to over his first two seasons in Cleveland. Many didn’t think after his 2016-2017 campaign that it could get much worse, but he proved them wrong in 2018.
Smith made arguably the biggest mistake in Cavaliers history.
While that might be overdramatizing his miscue, Smith, assuming Cavs were up one and dribbling the clock out the last few seconds of Game 1 resulting in an overtime loss ultimately, might’ve packed James’ bags en route to a Finals sweep.