Schroder is a better PG but the better player is Smart. Offense aside, Smart is one of the best defensive players in the league imo. My fave aspect of his defense isn’t that he’s a strong individual defender or a switchable one, but it’s that he’s one of the few who can see a play unfolding before it happens (at least on the defensive side). CP3 and Draymond are two other names that come to mind in terms of players who can sniff out what the other team is running and blow it up before it happens. Guys like Gobert (or even TL) are amazing because they’re physically dominant and their timing is elite but Smart’s got a special knack for reading which is hard to teach.
One of my top-of-mind examples is that Raptors game 3, where Anunoby saves the Raps season. When action started, Anunoby cut baseline and JT was about to follow, but Smart motions for him not to. Sure enough, FVV makes the next cut and this blows up the Raptors first option of getting something going to the basket because (guess what) Tatum is in the right position to stop FVV. Siakam then flashes high forcing Smart to pick him up and at this point, Smart is already yelling at Brown and pointing to the corner as if to say “that’s where the shot’s gonna come from”. I’m not sure Brown hears him though because JB waits until the pass sails over his head before making a move. Anunoby makes a clean catch and sinks a miraculous shot over the (still-good) contest of JB. Sure the shot went in but man, Smart had that scouted all the way