J.R. Smith is hugely important to the Cavaliers defense

J.R. Smith’s versatility on the defensive end is what makes the Cleveland Cavaliers click.

And though it was quite a long time ago now, there was a time when the Cavs were counted among that group of elite NBA defenses. They finished tenth in defensive rating during the 2015-16 season, when they allowed 104.5 points per 100 possessions.

NBA defense is — in the highest-level chess matches between the best teams — more about threat and fit than the individual skills of the players involved. The best defenses truly are greater than the sum of their parts, through force of scheme and flexibility.

Smith’s ability to defend up a position (or two) leaves LeBron James open to play the center field role — with heavy switching — that he prefers at this point in his career. In this year’s Conference Finals, Smith successfully bodied up against Boston’s Jae Crowder, and though Crowder shot 42 percent on 3-pointers in that series, Smith’s impact was visible.

The former Knick and Nugget has learned over three seasons in Cleveland how to improvise. James usually matches up against the opponent’s biggest perimeter threat, leaving Smith with the Crowders of the league. Defending that weak-side corner, Smith moves with an intelligence and confidence that allows the Cavs lesser parts to function at a higher capacity. There is generally less to worry about when Smith is on the floor.

The Cavs’ defense can be chaotic and disorganized when players are operating without a plan and matchups get criss-crossed.

Smith is the only player capable of switching against deceptive screening teams like the Warriors while staying balanced enough to finish the play (at least until Jae Crowder takes the floor on Opening Night).

Despite Cleveland’s top-ten finish in defensive rating two seasons ago, they were actually worse with Smith in the lineup. It’s difficult to see why. A likely guess would include the fact that he played with the starters more often than defense-first players like Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert. The Cavs are also in the top five for points allowed in first and third quarters over the last two seasons.

The perception surrounding Smith is all wrong. His shooting indeed helps Cleveland’s offense reach incredible highs — he has made 34 3s over the last two Finals, which leads the Cavs — and his defense is not so statistically impactful at face value. But he undoubtedly adds value by threat to the Cleveland defense, and that value extends past his single-minded, catch-and-shoot offense.

In this year’s Finals, Smith defended Klay Thompson almost exclusively, and the man who detonated the Cavs so often over the previous two championship series was held to just 43 percent shooting from the field. It’s impossible to pin an offensive player’s poor shooting on one defender’s performance, but Smith being in the right place despite constant probing by Kevin Durant and Steph Curry was one reason the Cavs were able to stay in a few of those games.

He is able to stay on the court in lineups where James is playing point power forward (leaving Smith as the nominal small forward), and makes bigger players pay when they try to take advantage.

Further evidence of Smith’s defensive value is the direction the Cavs have gone when he has missed time. Smith missed half of the 2016-17 season, and Cleveland used journeyman DeAndre Liggins in his place for the majority of the year. Liggins helped power the Cavs to a victory over Golden State on Christmas Day, in large part thanks to his defense on Golden State’s Splash Brothers, who combined to shoot below 50 percent that afternoon.

After the diminishing returns of an all-defense player like Liggins sunk in, Cleveland traded for Kyle Korver, who was a full 360 degrees from Liggins. Korver added almost nothing on defense, and the lack of two-way play from depth pieces like the former Hawk ended up killing the Cavs in the playoffs.

Smith’s efficiency and usage have sunk each season in Cleveland, though injuries make his most recent campaign more difficult to evaluate. This season will be different, however: Kyrie Irving is gone, and with him goes a huge portion of the Cavs’ offense. As part of the return for Irving, Cleveland received Crowder, a player who has the potential to raise their ceiling on defense instantaneously.

The Cavs will be able to put out lineups featuring James, Smith, Shumpert, Crowder and Tristan Thompson, which could be versatile and bruising enough to compete with the league’s best offenses. Again, the threat of what Smith can do against bigger players or running through screens will affect gameplans and decision-making.

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He has proven to be one of the better perimeter defenders over three deep playoff runs with elite Cleveland teams. Without him for much of last season, the Cavs struggled to find a rhythm on either end, and fell to the bottom third of the league in defense.

Now, on a reconstructed roster with the potential for a more dynamic identity, Smith, quietly one of Cleveland’s most important pieces, will be back to try and make his mark on another Cavs Finals run.