The J.R. Smith Redemption Tour Reaches Its Peak

It's hard to remember now, but there was once a time when Earl Joseph Smith III was not universally beloved.

There was a time when we didn't speak of "J.R." Smith lifting small children in the air, or discuss his presidential aspirations. Instead, we chose to focus on questions like "What does 'You trying to get the pipe?' mean?" or "Is Rihanna speaking honestly when she says Smith has been hungover during playoff games?"

J.R. Smith, at one point, wasn't greeted everywhere with raucous cheers from adoring fans, but with questions about why he unties opponents' shoelaces during games, or why he tweeted and then deleted a photo of a butt, or why he hit Glen Rice Jr. in the groin, or just this month, in the middle of the NBA Finals, why his team launched a Kickstarter to get him his own reality show.

But that's all in the past now. J.R. Smith can no longer do wrong. He is an NBA champion, one who walks among the people of Cleveland like a king walks among his people.

But he is more than that now, too. He is not just their leader, but our leader, our king, our eyes and our ears. J.R. Smith has reached the mountaintop, and he's never coming down, do you hear us? Never.