Sometimes when your reputation is bad, it is easy for people to pile on and just agree with anything that is said about you.
For example, if I said “sources say” that Rihanna was drunk and passed out in a club last night, you would probably believe it. Not necessarily because you believe my sources, but because of what you think about Rihanna. That is the problem facing JR Smith.
We know JR Smith likes to hit the club, drink, hang out with video models and smoke a little weed from time to time. He was out and about during the playoffs (once he was falsely accused of being out when he wasn’t). So when these rumors about him doing cocaine started to filter out, people started to automatically believe it.
Incarcerated Bob, Full Court Pumps and others quoted sources that JR was doing cocaine during the playoffs and that was the reason for his poor play and illness.
I have heard crazier things about players in the past, so I didn’t dismissed it, but I checked around with people who know JR Smith well, but don’t necessarily like him and they said it is 100% false. If he was doing cocaine they would have been happy to let me know.
I don’t speak in absolutes, so you have to take it for what it is worth, but I have been told that JR has done some people (mostly women) wrong and this is their way at trying to get back at him, by slandering his name and putting these rumors out. There are a lot of things that you can be critical of JR Smith about, but I don’t think it is fair to lie about certain things because you are carrying a grudge.
I learned a long time ago, normally the most truthful answer is the simplest one. JR Smith just played poorly, there is no way of knowing if outside forces helped contribute to that, but I feel comfortable saying one of those outside forces wasn’t cocaine. Unless someone has some real evidence against him, he should be given the benefit of the doubt, because these are serious accusations.
It is one thing to say he clubs too much or he’s having problems with women, it is a totally other thing to say someone is using coke during the playoffs. That is a serious claim and one people should be very careful just casually putting out there.