J.R. Smith is frustrated about being benched for Dwyane Wade

The mercurial sharpshooter isn’t happy about coming off the bench this year, but understands that he has a role to fill.

Much like a stacked NBA 2K roster, this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers are dealing with the first-world problems of having too much talent to play in a 48-minute NBA game.

With the acquisitions of Dwyane Wade and Jae Crowder this offseason, two starting lineup casualties are J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson. Apparently neither are very happy about it, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com:

"J.R. Smith said “absolutely” he is frustrated that he lost his place in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup to Dwyane Wade, though neither he nor Tristan Thompson aim to make trouble now that they’re both coming off the bench.“We talked about it,” Smith told cleveland.com. “It wasn’t the most positive conversation, but we talked about it and we’ll get through it together.”"

Not exactly a mutiny, but it certainly doesn’t paint a great picture of the atmosphere in the Cavs locker room at the moment. At any rate, Smith does seem to be embracing the sixth man role again (which, ironically, was the role that he filled in arguably his best season as a pro):

"“I actually like playing on the second unit better, I’m more of a playmaker and distributor and I handle the ball a little bit more instead of just running to the corner,” Smith said, referring to the catch-and-shoot role he’s played for three seasons here."

Thompson voiced frustration over losing his starting spot as well, but also gave the idea that he understands that sacrifices have to be made for the good of the team:

"Thompson said he and Smith wanted “everybody to know” they weren’t “upset or angry” over their new rules. There certainly is a difference between personal, human frustration and anger projected awkwardly toward teammates."

It seems that LeBron James — the reason that this particular superteam was even able to come together — will have to continue to captain the ship and keep personalities in check this season.

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So, it does seem like all is okay in paradise — unless, of course, the Cavs start the season slow, in which case tempers might not be so mellow. Should make for some good theater either way!