Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

More mature J.R. ready to bounce back

NEW YORK –- J.R. Smith never quite felt like himself last season.

Coming off surgery to repair the patellar tendon and meniscus tears in his left knee, the shooter couldn't get comfortable nor did he have the kind of mobility he had in the past.

Frustration and losses mounted, and Smith admits he only made things more difficult on himself with his shoelace antics, which led to $50,000 in fines.

“I am not going to put it all on the injury," Smith said. "I did some stupid things that could have made it better. But it’s a learning experience.”

“Between that [not being healthy] and the combination of myself –- yeah, I didn’t help the situation with the incidences,” Smith added of the negative perception some might have of him from last season. "But at the same time it was still a learning experience. I will take that."

Smith, 29, knows this upcoming season is critical for him. The Knicks need their former Sixth Man of the Year to have a bounce-back season, and he is eager to prove himself under a new coach and new system.

After he got off to a slow start and saw his scoring average dip from 18.1 points per game in 2012-13 to 14.5 last season, Smith looks forward to starting this season with a bang.

Smith -- who appeared at Charity Day hosted by Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners on Thursday with teammates Iman Shumpert, Shane Larkin, Cleanthony Early, Jason Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cole Aldrich for the Garden of Dreams foundation -- said he is back to being “fully healthy” again.

“I got my bounce back a little bit,” Smith said. “I should start off better than I did last year.”

Smith averaged just 11.7 points and 28.6 percent shooting from 3-point range in the month of November last year.

“It was disappointing,” Smith said. “Because I felt I would come back better than I did after surgery, have more of an impact on a positive note. It just feels really frustrating. When you have surgery, there’s certain things that you can’t do. My pivoting, stuff like that. Certain things I knew I am capable of doing but just couldn’t do at that point in time. That was frustrating.”

That frustration grew as he also got into trouble with the league after untying opponents' shoelaces in consecutive games, leading to the hefty fines.

But Smith was able to finish the season looking more like the former Sixth Man of the Year, averaging 23.4 points and 46.3 percent shooting from 3 in his last seven games in April.

Still, he said he wasn’t able to do all the things he can do when healthy. Now he is looking forward to being able to do those things in the triangle offense with new head coach Derek Fisher. And he’s hoping the triangle will have similar results for him as it did for two other prolific shooting guards who played for Phil Jackson.

“It suits me well,” Smith said. “If you’re a jump shooter and you pass the ball, guys with my skill set, it should be great. The last two guys that were in it became Hall of Famers and got a lot of rings. Hopefully, I’m in that position.”

While Smith has a very long way to go to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, the Knicks guard is ready to start by having a bounce-back season.

“Absolutely,” Smith said of being able to rebound from last season. “I feel like I am capable of doing that.”

As for whether he will do that as a starter or off the bench, Smith said Fisher has yet to tell him what his role will be.

“Find out in training camp,” Smith said. “Of course [I want to start], but whatever they need me to do.”

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