I think Smart-haters need to rightfully acknowledge that Smart does some incredible things on the court that seemingly no one else on the team is willing or able to do. If he's not going to play, we will be giving up those plays, etc.
I think the Smart-lovers need to not simply assume that one great play at the end of the game makes up for 4-5 bad plays leading up to that point. I've watched too many game threads where Smart is playing horrible all game (bad shot selection, missed easy shots, turnovers, etc) and then makes a great defensive play in the 4th and we get 20 "That's why you need Marcus Smart" posts. Well, we should probably also consider if we would actually need that great defensive play if not for that dumpster of bad plays before.
If we could sign the Marcus Smart that makes incredible defensive plays, bothers their best scorer, makes solid assists and stays within himself on offense (mostly high percentage drives)...EVERYONE would be on board to resign that guy. Unfortunately, most of this year it's felt like a guy who's agent has told him no one will pay big money to a defense-only guy who's a liability on offense and he's determined to not let that happen.
