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George Karl riffed on coaching J.R. Smith for 5 seasons, calling it a "fight'' and recalling "pain.'' Karl: "J.R.

is spectacular,'' Karl said. "His talent/skill level is at a scary level. He’s one of the top 30 players on what he could be. But the growth process of JR and George Karl, there was a lot of pain because of the good and bad that comes with watching him play. There’s a time frame on that. Time frame for him. Time frame for me as coach. Somehow they wanted to keep me as coach. They thought it was a healthier, better situation for him to go someplace else. As a coach, I’m the one who gives the minutes. For me to give him a lot of minutes, he had to give me some simple, solid fundamental. I think that was the fight we had. The fight was he wanted more freedom and opportunity to express his offensive skills. I wanted more basic, solid simple.''