Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith recently came off suspension for reckless driving and wanted to turn over a new leaf. J.R. decided that he wanted to be called by the media by his birth name, "Earl Smith the 3rd."
Well, his friends and family were not too happy about that and Smith then had a change of heart back to J.R.
We get more from the Bleacher Report:
According to the Denver Post J.R. Smith announced on Tuesday before the Nuggets game in Chicago that “from now on, he wanted to be called by his given name, Earl.”
"I just felt like changing it. It's been a long time and J.R. has no significance to my name. My name is Earl, so I figured, why not?” Smith explained Tuesday morning.
But after the game, apparently many of J.R.’s friends and family heard the news and Smith claimed, “There was too much controversy with the switch. I got a lot of calls and text messages and e-mails. It wasn't a good move.”
To be honest, I actual like Earl Smith the 3rd, sounds classy on some level but I can understand why his family would be in an uproar about something like this.
So let's remember the statline that JR Smith played as "Earl Smith the 3rd"
29 minutes, 1-9 shooting from the field, 5 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists
I think he made the right decision to stick with J.R.