Nuggets guard J.R. Smith has been in a shooting slump as of late, but coach George Karl wants him to keep shooting.
Smith made 10-of-17 three-pointers against the Hawks on Dec. 23, but since then he's just 11-for-50 from downtown.
"No," Karl said when asked if he's asked Smith to shoot less.
"Yes, you want the mentality to be team-oriented, but the options sometimes are taking him out of the game or run different plays and put him in different places. And my decision is J.R. is too valuable to take out of a game. ... Not only is he missing 3s, but he's missing wide-open 3s. Hopefully, it's just a slump. Statistically, J.R. has played better after the all-star break, so maybe we're hoping it's just his personality taking time. And being suspended for the first seven games probably pushed it a little longer."
Smith said that he is trying to perfect his touch to fight the slump.
"I've got a certain spacing I like my hand to be on the ball, and lately it hasn't been on the sweet spot, so I'm trying to do that in the games as well as in practice," the guard said.
Smith is averaging 15.3 points on 40.7% shooting this season.