J.R. Smith returned to action last night after serving a seven game suspension and I don’t know if he has a new attitude (probably not), but he does have a new name — Earl.
Earl Smith III is his birth name and Smith said there are “a lot of personal reasons” that “I can’t really explain at this time” for the switch. He went with J.R. because he was often called “Junior,” but now he’s going back to his given name as part of an effort to fix an image that’s taken some hits over the years because of a poor driving record that resulted in the suspension.
Like a politician, Smith says he plans to phase in his given name over the next few weeks but his teammates will still call him J.R. However members of law enforcement will still affectionately call him inmate 89433-982.
