J.R. Smith always had been content to be a backup — the mercurial sixth-man gunner. Not this October. The controversial Smith made it clear he prefers to start for the first time in his career.
He has a good chance, because free-agent signee Ronnie Brewer had knee surgery in early September and won’t start practicing for two weeks. Iman Shumpert, incumbent starter at shooting guard, may not be back until January as he rehabs from ACL surgery. The shooting guard position is Smith’s for the taking. He admitted concern about being pegged as a bench player, perhaps because of a bad-boy rep.
“I’d rather start. I’ve been playing [eight] years, coming off the bench,’’ Smith said yesterday. “Whether it stays [that way] or goes, I’m going to be same person I am. I prefer to start. I’d rather be a starter. If not, I understand that.’’
Smith could never crack the Nuggets starting lineup full time. In 538 career games, he has just 130 starts, but 81 of them came in his first two seasons with New Orleans.
Smith is listed in the training camp guide as “one of the game’s premier sixth men.’’ He started just once with the Knicks last season.
“It gets frustrating after a while,’’ Smith said. “People saying, “he’s a sixth man, sixth man, sixth man’’ when you believe you’re a starter. But you have to understand, it’s a team game and have to put individual goals aside.’’
Nevertheless, Smith came into training camp — for the first time — with starting in mind.
“My goal was come in here and be a starter and try to play with the other four guys on the floor,’’ he said. “As of right now we’ll see how up in the air it is. The last seven years coming into camp, I knew I was going to be Sixth Man. It’s a different approach this year. It’s better to think of it like that.’’
Smith has said he took less to return to the Knicks in July. He declined to exercise his player option in late June and became a free agent. But he reupped for a two-year deal starting at $2.8 million. The second year is a player option, and it was the most the Knicks could pay him under collective bargaining rules since they signed him last February after his China stint.
Smith will reacquire his early Bird rights this summer so it’s in his best interests to be known as a starter since he likely will become a free agent again in 2013 if he excels. There’s speculation he also took less with a gentlemen’s agreement his brother, combo guard Chris Smith, would be offered a contract.
“I wanted to show it’s not about the money,’’ Smith said. “It’s about the winning. I’ve been in this league nine years and I haven’t won anything. Sacrifices off the court and on the court have to take place. It’s a huge way to show it. If we win, it will all takes care of itself. If we win, the endorsement deals and big contracts will come.’’
Smith also has to clean up his act. He got fined last season for posting a photo on his hyperactive Twitter account of a naked woman lying on his Milwaukee hotel-room bed. Last week, Smith wrote a 4 a.m. twitter message about being surprised at a $2,000 bill for ordering one bottle at a nightclub.
Woodson has given lip service to making Smith “more professional’’ but he simply loves Smith’s innate ability to score. Whether Woodson likes Brewer’s defensive steadiness better will be the question of camp.
“I knew I wanted to be here, I knew where I fit in,’’ Smith said. “I looked at other situations, but it wasn’t the right situation for me. There were a lot of teams who were very interested, but it was a matter of who I was interested in.’’