NBA

J.R. Smith says winning East is ‘realistic,’ surprised he wasn’t axed

J.R. Smith is confident the Knicks have a chance to win what is suddenly a wide-open Eastern Conference, with the splintering of the Big 3 in Miami.

“Extremely realistic,” the Knicks shooting guard said on “First Take” on Wednesday morning, when asked how realistic it was that the Knicks could win the East. “I’m confident. I don’t play to lose.”

After winning 54 games, the Atlantic Division, and a playoff series two years ago, the Knicks floundered to a 37-45 record and missed the playoffs  last season. Smith was one of the culprits in the collapse. He said he would not have been surprised to be dumped by Phil Jackson this summer.

“I was playing like a person who didn’t want to be there, not looking as focused as a person who should be,” he said.

Before the season, while recovering from knee surgery, he was suspended for five games due to a positive marijuana test. Once he returned to the court, Smith was abysmal for two months, shooting 32.8 percent in November and 36.8 percent in December, far off his career field-goal percentage of 42.5 percent.

“I’m not going to make any excuses for myself, but knee surgery is a tough thing to come back from,” he said. “I didn’t expect to be [back to] where I was.”

As the season wore on, discord engulfed the team. Smith alluded to a rift between Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler.

J.R. Smith (from left), Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton stew on the Knicks bench in March.Getty Images

“We had a lot of confusion going on with what we were going to do, with schemes and stuff,” Smith said. “Whenever you have your point guard and leading defender [not on the same page] — a lot of pick-and-roll situations we weren’t agreeing on, and that right there will kill you. That’s the toughest play to guard in basketball. They were a part of it, but I can’t blame it [all] on them because there were another three people out on the court.”

Smith said personal issues affected Chandler’s mood. As the Knicks continued to struggle, Chandler became openly frustrated. After the season, Chandler and Felton were traded to Dallas.

“Tyson was going through a lot of things with his mother,” Smith said. “It’s really hard to focus — I know if I was going through that with my mother, I wouldn’t be able to focus on basketball or anything else. In his defense, he had so much going on, and absolutely, frustration got the best of all of us.”

Mike Woodson was relieved of his duties after the season ended, but Smith absolved his former coach of the blame.

“I’ve been saying from Day 1, I don’t think it’s his fault,” Smith said. “If anything, we go out there and play. We have an obligation to go out there and play to the best of our ability with the most focus and intensity that we can. We obviously didn’t do that, so I can’t blame that on Woody.”

Among Smith’s reasons for optimism now is new coach Derek Fisher.

“I love Derek. I’ve known him since I was a rookie,” Smith said. “First day I met him until now, he’s the most consistently professional person around this business. I can’t wait to play for him.”

Smith is also encouraged — if not shocked — by Carmelo Anthony’s decision to re-sign with the Knicks.

“I just wanted to let him make his own decision and do what’s best for his family,” Smith said. “We’re in a great place. Melo is obviously the biggest piece to the puzzle. He’s the captain of the boat, and we’re just trying to turn the machine.”