I hate watching Marcus Smart play basketball

[liam]

If you don't appreciate Smart go watch a little Kelly Oubre. He makes Smart look like Jordan.

[Somebody]

I took the 30 top PGs for minutes played through 1/26.  Smart was 18th in minutes played, 23rd in TS%, 8th in Assists/TOVs, and (through 1/27) was 9th in Defensive Real +/-. Pretty much matches his reputation as a below-average shooter and an above-average ball-handler and defender. Well worth the money he gets, but he drives me nuts offensively. You definitely would rather see him pass than shoot. In fairness, he makes so many good plays defensively that I think we take them for granted at this point, but nonetheless, his judgment on the offensive side leaves something to be desired.

Defensive +/- data underrates his defence because of how often we have him play up a position or two in smaller lineups. Btw use Estimated Plus-Minus instead of Real Plus-Minus from now on, RPM's founder left a while ago and the numbers have become a bit wonky because of that.

[RodyTur10]

I took the 30 top PGs for minutes played through 1/26.  Smart was 18th in minutes played, 23rd in TS%, 8th in Assists/TOVs, and (through 1/27) was 9th in Defensive Real +/-. Pretty much matches his reputation as a below-average shooter and an above-average ball-handler and defender. Well worth the money he gets, but he drives me nuts offensively. You definitely would rather see him pass than shoot. In fairness, he makes so many good plays defensively that I think we take them for granted at this point, but nonetheless, his judgment on the offensive side leaves something to be desired.

Defensive +/- data underrates his defence because of how often we have him play up a position or two in smaller lineups. Btw use Estimated Plus-Minus instead of Real Plus-Minus from now on, RPM's founder left a while ago and the numbers have become a bit wonky because of that.

Your Estimated Plus-Minus ranking (383 players listed):

20 Jaylen Brown + 3.6
30 Jayson Tatum + 3.0
41 Robert Williams + 2.6
54 Marcus Smart + 2.3
56 Kemba Walker + 2.0
66 Daniel Theis + 1.7
200 Payton Pritchard - 0.7
211 Semi Ojeleye - 0.9
244 Jeff Teague - 1.5
249 Grant Williams - 1.6
261 Carsen Edwards - 1.8
273 Javonte Green - 2.0
286 Tremont Waters - 2.3
342 Tristan Thompson - 3.6
362 Aaron Nesmith - 4.6
... Tacko Fall (not listed, too few minutes) -1,5

It shows Jaylen Brown is playing like an All NBA candidate, Jayson Tatum is an All Star (there are a few guys in front of him on a small amount of games: like Jimmy Butler) but not playing at his very best and Robert Williams has been awesome (thanks for pointing it out Somebody  ). Despite (my  ) criticism Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker have been playing very well and after a tough start Daniel Theis is right back at his level from last year.

This metric shows us that the bench isn't very good with not much separation between these guys, where Payton Pritchard and Semi Ojeleye are the best of the bunch. Jeff Teague, Grant Williams and Tremont Waters are terrible offensively but very solid on defense. And I don't think we expected anything more from Carsen Edwards and Javonte Green than they're giving us.

Aaron Nesmith had a tough time to adjust to the NBA speed and looks to be getting better. Tristan Thompson is putrid and looks like a really poor signing. Seeing this ranking makes me less uncomfortable about my opinion that we should just stop playing Thompson (unless we want to showcase him) and trade him ASAP.

Just using this ranking, we should be splitting minutes Theis and Timelord at center. Start Walker, Smart, Brown and Tatum. And Pritchard and Ojeleye are the best options to fill in minutes from the bench. That's 8 players and then you can look at playing guys with potential: Edwards, Nesmith and Grant Williams. It's simplistic reasoning, but to me this Estimated Plus-Minus does meet the eye-test.

It also shows us that we could use a reinforcement on the wing. Highly ranked options: Bradley Beal (8 ), Evan Fournier (15!!!), Wayne Ellington (35), John Collins (37), David Nwaba (38), Jerami Grant (39), Luguentz Dort (43), Victor Oladipo (48), Aaron Gordon (78), Julius Randle (86), Taurean Prince (92), Larry Nance Jr (93), Davis Bertans (101), Kyle Anderson (109), Harrison Barnes (111), John Konchar (116) and Eric Gordon (122).

Players on a below .500 team who (maybe) could be cheap to get: Evan Fournier (15), Victor Oladipo? (48), Aaron Gordon? (78), Julius Randle? (86), Davis Bertans (101), Harrison Barnes (111) and Eric Gordon (122).

According to the metric Nikola Jokic should be the prime candidate for MVP with an EPM of 8.1 by the way.

[nickagneta]

I took the 30 top PGs for minutes played through 1/26.  Smart was 18th in minutes played, 23rd in TS%, 8th in Assists/TOVs, and (through 1/27) was 9th in Defensive Real +/-. Pretty much matches his reputation as a below-average shooter and an above-average ball-handler and defender. Well worth the money he gets, but he drives me nuts offensively. You definitely would rather see him pass than shoot. In fairness, he makes so many good plays defensively that I think we take them for granted at this point, but nonetheless, his judgment on the offensive side leaves something to be desired.

Defensive +/- data underrates his defence because of how often we have him play up a position or two in smaller lineups. Btw use Estimated Plus-Minus instead of Real Plus-Minus from now on, RPM's founder left a while ago and the numbers have become a bit wonky because of that.

Still some wonkiness in these numbers. Probably due to sample size. Maybe also due to the fact that there really isn't a stat that accurately measures defense. But yes, better numbers. Are these prior informed numbers? Does this model have npi and pi versions?

[Csfan1984]

How would people feel if Smart was playing PG vs SG/SF?

When you ask him to shoot less and create more he seems to be a good option. He also improves the switch ability. I was part of the #juststartsmart group per Kemba signing. If he sticks with the club long term I want him mainly to play PG so hope Kemba is moved. Don't love Kemba and Smart together.

[Spicoli]

Fortunately the games haven’t been close and there’s been no need for Smart to revert to his hero ball tendencies. I suspect this is a big reason why Smart has been playing well.

I think when the team is struggling (or when the game is tight), he feels a need to give more effort, which translates to “putting the team on his back” which then leads to him trying to do too much.

Fascinating theory. I'm going to keep an eye out for this.

How about that Spurs game? Lol

We should have a tally of when Smart goes into hero mode and it sparks a run for the other team.

Lol yes we should keep a tally because it's looking like your theory has some teeth to it!

[Spicoli]

Maybe unpopular opinion but i think Tony Allen was a better offensive and defensive player than Marcus Smart. Better player in every conceivable way. There are only 3 players on this team that should be calling their own number: Walker, Tatum, Brown. That's it. Too often Smart calls his own number when that should never happen. Ever.

I think trading Smart would be addition by subtraction. More responsibility for your two superstars and the team could only be better for it.