Chris Tomasson of AOL's Fanhouse reports that Chauncey Billups will step up and talk with J.R. Smith.
With Smith again being in the news for something negative, Billups is taking a more calm approach. The Nuggets are pondering whether to suspend Smith for Monday's game against Charlotte due to his sulking on the bench when he played little Saturday against New Orleans.
Billups said he plans to talk with the guard on Monday. But it will be more to keep his head up.
"We'll talk absolutely,'' Billups said. "He's like my little brother. We'll talk.''
"I think J.R. is old enough and mature to know what's wrong,'' Billups said in an interview Sunday night with FanHouse. "I think he made a bad choice in judgment, and I think his emotions overcame him a little bit. But it happens. It could happen to me. It could happen to (Denver's Carmelo Anthony), to (Denver's Kenyon Martin). It's just so that it happened with his priors. When you think about his reputation, it's escalated ... He knows he made a bad choice. He'll be fine, though.''
If anyone can get in J.R.'s ear and make a difference ... it's Billups. We all know Billups was in Las Vegas to work out with Smith during the offseason and we can point to that to say, "it didn't work." But just remember, this kid is 24 years old and talks will probably need to keep happening until Smith either gets it or until Billups gives up on him. I think it's a good sign that Billups is still willing to get in Smith's ear.
