DENVER, Jul. 20 -- The Denver Nuggets have acquired G J.R. Smith from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for G Howard Eisley and two second-round draft choices, team Director of Player Personnel Mark Warkentien announced today.
“J.R. is an athletic young talent who can really shoot the basketball,” said Warkentien. “He still hasn’t seen his 21st birthday and his potential excites us.”
Smith, 6-6, 220, was acquired by the Bulls on July 14 from the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, with whom he spent his first two NBA seasons.
Originally the 18th overall pick of the 2004 NBA Draft out of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J., Smith has appeared in 131 career games, averaging 9.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg and 1.5 apg in 21.7 minutes. The 20-year-old has made 133 career three-pointers and raised his three-point field goal percentage from .288 (81-281) to .371 (52-140) this past season.
As a rookie in 2004-05, Smith averaged 10.3 ppg and was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month three times.
Eisley appeared in 19 games for the Nuggets last season, averaging 4.8 ppg and 2.3 apg in 14.8 minutes. He signed the first of consecutive 10-day contracts with the Nuggets on March 3 and signed for the remainder of the season on March 23.
The Nuggets sent Chicago two second-round picks in the 2007 NBA Draft – their own and the pick the team acquired from Boston in exchange for the draft rights to Leon Powe on June 28.