Cleveland Cavaliers' general manager David Griffin is "very confident" that the reigning NBA Champions will be able to re-sign JR Smith before the new season starts in October despite rumors that their starting shooting guard is being pursued by several teams including rivals Miami Heat.
The Cavs incredibly defeated the then defending champions Golden State Warriors in this year's NBA Finals coming back from a 1-3 deficit which gave the city of Cleveland their first professional sports title in more than 50 years. After that, everybody expected the team to try and keep all of their players next season to defend the title all together.
However, it was not the case as two Cavaliers were already gone two weeks into the free-agency period when Timofey Mozgov was allowed to join the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks' offer sheet to restricted free agent Matthew Dellavedova was not matched.
Veteran Richard Jefferson is shunning retirement and will come back, but as of the moment, unrestricted free agents LeBron James and JR Smith still have not signed for Cleveland next season, which makes a lot of fans anxious whether they will return to defend their crown.
Of course, there is no question whether LeBron will be back or not, but with regards to Smith, it is an entirely different scenario.
For Cavs GM Griffin, the fans should have nothing to worry about because he is "very confident" that the team will not lose Smith to another in this summer's free agency, according to CBS Sports' Zack Harper.
Harper said that this is "a stark contrast to the free agency situation of Smith a year ago" when Smith "gambled" on choosing unrestricted free agency hoping for a bigger offer from other teams, which did not come because he did not show enough during the season.
This time, though, he is coming off an impressive Finals stint, improving on defense and displaying the kind of outside shooting needed by teams that can go deep in the playoffs. He was one of the keys that helped the Cavs unlock the Warriors and pull off the most improbable comeback in the NBA Finals to date, so it is expected that offers from other teams will come.
Fansided indicated that the Heat could reach out to Smith as a potential replacement for the home-bound Dwyane Wade.
The article noted that while Smith is still the deadly outside shooter everyone knows about, his defense "has greatly improved" and "was a part of the reason Curry and Thompson performed relatively poorly in the finals".
Smith is said to be the cheaper and temporary option for Miami to start at the shooting guard position while looking for a long term replacement for their departing superstar.