Marcus, unfortunately, is held to a different standard than Jaylen and most anyone else on this team for 1 reason - he was the "answer" to our entire tanking year. We suffered through an entire year hoping to land Embiid or Wiggins (and to some degree Parker), and were left with Marcus Smart.
I don't agree with that at all.
Smart has been held to a different standard than Jaylen Brown because:
1. Smart was a seasoned college player who was supposed to be one of the most NBA ready players in the draft. Brown was a 19 year old freshman who was recognised universally as a raw athletic wing, and was seen by most as a high risk, high upside pick. I don't think anybody expected much at all from him this year, and I would say he's exceeded those expectations by actually contributing on a fairly consistent basis.
2. Smart is now in his third season. He's played in 207 regular season games, 13 playoff games, and has never averaged less than 27 MPG for a season. Point here is that he has has logged a LOT of playing time and gained a LOT more experience then most third year players do. Yet to this point, he has still not shown any major signs of progression.
When Smart entered the league, his biggest knocks were his ball handling ability, his shooting ability, his decision making, and his lack of great athleticism. That hasn't changed, three years in. He still struggles handling the ball, he is still one of the worst shooters in the league (statistically), he still makes poor decisions far too often, and I still see quicker guards blow by him pretty regularly.
He's largely still 90% the same player he was on draft day - same strengths, same limitations. We all know he has the reputation of a tireless worker, so if the guy is putting in that much effort and his game isn't really progressing, then what does that say? To me this indicates clear warning signs that Marcus Smart just doesn't have that much raw talent, doesn't have a whole lot of upside, and pretty much is who he is.
By comparison, Jaylen Brown has only played 78 games (at 17 MPG) as a rookie, and already we have seen him progress significantly on both ends of the court. He finished his rookie season averaging Per 36 stats of 13.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists per 36 minutes on 45% / 34% / 69% shooting - he wasn't playing at anything close to that level in the two months of the season, so the progression is there. Progression aside, those numbers are very respectable for a rookie - especially a rookie who was drafted as a 19 year old freshman, with the reputation of being a raw athlete who can't shoot.
So this is why Smart held to a different standard to guys like Brown, Rozier, etc. He's been given all the opportunity in the world to play major minutes on a competitive team - those minutes are so much more valuable (from a learning perspective) than the type of minutes a guy like Wiggins or Embiid is getting on their respective teams. Yet despite that, he's just not showing that his making any real progression.
I honestly don't get the "Marcus isn't a great athlete" thing.
He makes plays on defense I've literally never seen before. He is heavy and rugged, and yet he still shifts and readjusts his weight with remarkable agility and quickness.
Yes, he is exceptionally intelligent, but he also has good physical tools.
He has good physical tools for a small forward or power forward (strength, length, power). Unfortunately, he is a combo guard.
Now I will agree, that he moves pretty well for a guy of his build. But he still doesn't move well for a guy of his position. For a 22 year old combo guard, his mobility is average at best.
Already in this series I have seen plays where Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade have blown by him like he was standing still.
Rajon Rondo I can somewhat accept since he's always been a very quick and athletic guy, and a crafty ball handler. But Dwyane Wade is just as solid as Smart is (at 225 pounds or so), he's not an elite ball handler, he's 35 years old, and he's seemingly always playing with half a dozen injuries. There should be no occasion where he should be able to blow by a 22 year old, defensive minded combo guard like Smart. It was a pure isolation play too, so there were no screens or distractions of any kind working to Wade's benefit.
As for the intelligence comment...I agree, but only on the defensive end. I would say it's Smarts defensive IQ, and his ability to anticipate what an opponent will do before he does it, that makes him such a good defender. But on offence, his basketball IQ is average at best.
For anybody who truly believe Smart is a stand out playmaker, I urge you to do one of two things:
a) Watch him play
b) Look at this stats
It doesn't matter which you do, because if you do either with an objective mind his average point guard skills will be plain to see.
Lets start with his assist / turnover ratio. A simple stat that says a ton about a player's ability to control an offence and make smart plays.
Smart's career Assist/Turnover ratio is 2.3 which is on the average side for an NBA PG. Also he's made no progression there - every single season in his career so far, he has had the exact same Assist/TO ratio - 2.3 year by year.
His assist rate (18.5%) is well below average for a PG, and his turnover rate (14.2%) is decent, but not spectacular. Smart's PG numbers are by no means POOR, but they certainly aren't standout.
By comparison, Elfrid Payton for his career has double the assist rate (33.7%) and only a slightly higher turnover rate (17.6%)...and lets be honest, Elfrid Payton isn't exactly CP3 from a playmaking perspective.
Victor Oladipo has a lower Assist/TO rate for his career, but he has the same assist rate (18.5%) and practically the same turnover rate (14.3%) and nobody is mistaking Oladipo for a skilled playmaker.
Al Horford is a PF, and he has career averages of:
1.9 Assists / TO
15.1% Assist Rate
11.2% Turnover Rate
Granted Horford is one of the best passing bigs in the game, but he's still a big...and he;s effectively just as good a playmaker as Smart is.
So to all of those people who keep insisting that Smart is an excellent playmaker, an outstanding passer, a fantastic decision maker, etc - lets come back down to earth, please.
As a PG, I would say Marcus Smart is a below-average-to-average playmaker
As a combo guard I would say that he is an average-to-above-average playmaker
In no stretch of anybody's imagination is Smart a standout playmaker, and his ball handling skills are seriously limited.