J.R. Smith has never been shy and, unsurprisingly, the New York Knicks swingman didn’t put his filter on before talking to Ian Begley about comments new Brooklyn Net Paul Pierce recently made.
Pierce recently said that the Nets will take over as New York’s team, but Smith isn’t so sure that’ll be the case as he reportedly described Pierce as “a bitter person just getting out of Boston.
"(Pierce) doesn’t really know what New York is all about,” Smith told Begley. “Just know that his words have consequences and he’s going to have to pay for them.”
Smith also added that he’s hoping he’ll be healthy enough to play in training camp after offseason knee injury, but that isn’t the end of Saturday’s Smith news.
The New York Knicks will have at least two Smiths on their training camp roster, apparently, because Begley also reports that Chris Smith will join his older brother J.R. when the Knicks begin preparing for the NBA’s regular season.
The younger Smith had an underwhelming college career at Louisville, but used his connections to play for the Knicks’ Summer League squad last season en route to five points per game and a training camp invite. The 24-year-old rookie was unable to make good on that attempt, however, due to a knee injury in October that was expected to keep him out from three to six months.
Chris Smith never ended up playing professional basketball last season, however, so he’ll be a 25-year-old rookie attempting to make his professional debut when the Knicks open up camp.