“Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love. But always meeting ourselves.”
-James Joyce, Ulysses
"Don't get me wrong kobe bryant is great but not when he play me."
-Earl James Smith III, Twitter February, 2010
J.R. Smith of the New York Knicks has yet to not only not realize his potential on the basketball court, he has yet to realize that he should want to pursue said potential on the basketball court. Leaving many to wonder, how often does he think about it?
Is it every time he pulls up 6 feet behind the three point arc?
Or does he ponder it when he takes an opponent's air ball out of bounds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk_IkUYP3wU, or does things of that nature on the basketball court?
Or is it only when he drops incendiary quotes about Kobe Bryant, the Chinese Government's condemnation of Freedom of Speech via restricting their citizenry's use of the Worldwide Web, or just because somebody is listening and willing to record his words?
Earl James Smith III's life has a simple narrative for most people. He's a stoner. A tweeter who shut his twitter account down because he was accused of being a gang banger through his use of the letter "k," by the Denver media. A man who in the early evening of June 9, 2007, while driving drunk, collided with another car and killed his good friend. A player who once "disrespected the game itself" right in front of the tenured Denver Nuggets Head Coach George Karl. The brother of the woman who showed such blatant disregard for the tenuous nature of Sino-US relations, that she went Ron Artest on a crowd during a game in Tianjin. Etc.
The "etc." is the key. The story of Earl James Smith III is one, that if not easy, is at least familiar, and that narrative is what most likely J.R. neglects to break away from when he does these things that harm the blessed dignity of professional basketball. For the average fan, he is just another in the chain of tattooed thugs that have entered the pantheon of misbegotten talent that will never reach for the highest highs of Larry Legend, Magic Johnson, M.J., as well as many others, and reap the spoils of celebrity endorsements. That narrative would be the perplexing "it" which J.R. should most likely think about, and the why behind Earl James' squandering of his basketball talents has captivated and frustrated fans since his jump from St. Benedicts.
But, in the words of Gladys Knight (and sampled by the Tang of Wu), "can it all be so simple then?"
No. No, it cannot. For this viewpoint ignores the life that Earl James Smith II laid out for his son, with a long career as a brick layer himself (hell, the senior EJS owns a brick laying company). A career that has provided the younger Earl James with motivation to avoid a legacy of brick laying (YES, all puns intended and truthful). The elder Earl James Smith's profession provided for a proud large family that has stayed involved in EJ3's life, while encouraging him to stay close to home.
Further, as a basketball player, we see a man so committed and close to his team that his teammate (with both the Nuggets and the Knicks, but, sadly, not with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls) Carmelo Anthony that he named him godfather of his two children, that was such a willing participant in Zhejiang that he gladly played off the bench in 28 of 34 games despite averaging over 34 points per game, and this summer took less than market value to continue under the tutelage of Knicks' coach Mike Woodson in the 2012-13 season.
In short, these people have conspired to give a life that directly conflicts with the stereotypes that surround J.R. Smith. One full of so much balance and familial harmony, that perhaps when Hoosiers is remade, to include positive views of Black people, Earl James Smith III's life story can form the basis for the shooter going around the Picket Fence (Jimmy Chitwood in the original).
Neither portrait is wholly accurate or wholly false.
But from both viewpoints, we see a man with conflicting personal and professional histories, that may simply not have time to engage with the stereotypes and standards of society, as he skirmishes with the ghosts of his past and his future, through a sometimes jarring lack of solemnity both on and off the court, because frankly he perhaps sees the public eye as one full of cataracts, while he pursues his true self.
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