If you’re an NBA player in a contract year, the last thing you want to be described as is a “malcontent.” Unfortunately for JR Smith, that’s exactly what’s happening. Smith’s current team, the Denver Nuggets, have begun to seek a trade to unload Smith, who was quoted earlier this week as saying that he’s “not trying to be a cancer.” It’s no secret that JR Smith and Nuggets coach George Karl don’t get along, and moving Smith is probably best for the team. Unfortunately, rumors of this trade only reinforce Smith’s image as an immature, foolish, and un-coachable young player — a malcontent.

JR Smith has shown moments of greatness in his brief professional basketball career. On a Dec. 8, 2006, game against the Heat, Smith hit 7 of 9 from behind the arc and outscored Carmelo Anthony with 37pts to Melo’s 32. As a rookie in New Orleans, Smith lit-up the Memphis Grizzlies in March of 05′ scoring 33 pts and stroking 6 of 9 from behind the three point line. The fact is, JR Smith has a lot of talent and he can be a very good player. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story.

In his second season, JR clashed with coach Byron Scott. Scott disliked Smith’s poor defense and his overall lack of effort. According to Scott, Smith was often late to practice, ignored his coaches, and was unwilling to work on his game. When Scott and Smith couldn’t resolve their differences, JR was parked on the New Orleans bench and eventually traded to the Nuggets.

Smith’s career with Denver started well enough, but Denver’s acquisition of Allen Iverson in Dec. 2006 signaled the beginning of Smith’s troubles. Smith’s minutes dropped steadily, and it was clear that George Karl was irritated with Smith’s lack of defense and poor shot selection. Karl’s frustrations with Smith boiled over in the playoffs, when Karl benched JR saying that he was a “good/bad player” that had “insulted the dignity of the game.”

JR Smith will start his fourth NBA season in less than two weeks, and in that time two different coaches have derided him for poor defense, poor shot selection, poor attitude, and a lack of maturity. Granted, both George Karl and Byron Scott aren’t known for being “player’s coaches”. Karl is known as one of the grumpiest coaches in the league, and Byron Scott had a well-publicized personal problem with future hall-of-famer Jason Kidd. Neither of these coaches are known as “easy going”. Nonetheless, JR Smith wasn’t able to get along with either one of them.

Even though Smith doesn’t get along with his coaches, that isn’t enough to kill his career. But when you combine his malcontent reputation with his off-court problems, Smith’s days as an NBA player could be numbered. In a highly publicized accident earlier this year, Smith ran a stop sign and caused an accident that ultimately resulted in the death of one of his passengers, childhood friend Andre Bell. Accidents happen, but Smith’s culpability in his friend’s death is hard to ignore. Smith’s reputation also suffered when he started a fight with NY Knick Mardy Collins, leading to a brawl and suspensions for Smith, Carmelo Anthony, and others.

So – if you haven’t been keeping score, here’s the bottom line:

1) Smith doesn’t like to play defense – Not a terribly unique trait in the NBA, but one that serves to diminish his value.

2) Smith makes poor choices on offense – Both of his coaches have sighted poor shot selection and poor decision making with the ball as reasons to bench JR.

3) Smith is uncoachable – According to Byron Scott and George Karl, Smith doesn’t listen.

4) Smith is very immature – If his on-court troubles weren’t enough, his off-court persona, decision making, and his tendency to become emotionally involved (sulking in New Orleans, fighting in NY), all point to someone who needs to grow up.

So, ask yourself, if you’re an NBA general manager, are you going to take a chance on someone who’s a poor defender, a poor decision maker, takes terrible shots, is uncoachable, and generally immature? Don’t get me wrong, JR Smith has a tremendous upside, but there are a lot of question marks surrounding him. We’ll have to wait and see just how valuable Smith is this summer when he becomes a restricted free agent, but my guess is that he’ll have a hard time finding a deal better than your average role player. That’s too bad, because Smith has the talent to be a big-time player. If only he had the brains to go along with it…

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