The problem is Smart is being asked to do too much given all the injuries and absences, leading him to have to do things on a larger, full-time basis that he’s not capable of doing.
I expect him to get back to his usual ways now that we are starting to get guys back in Kemba and Tatum.
See, this makes sense. People are all crazy because Smart is taking to many shots, trying to create his own offense and ball handling too much.
But with Kemba out for 10 games and on a minutes restriction upon his return and Tatum missing the next three games, Smart is the team's third option. He has often been the first option when playing with the bench.
Thing is, Smart, when starting, plays best as a 4th offensive option, where he can put most of his energy into playing defense, distributing and taking open shots. When playing with the bench he is best as as a second or third option on the offensive side.
Once the team is healthy and they can recreate the chemistry from last year, I think we will see a better balanced Marcus Smart.
Smart is taking 0.3 more shots a game this year as opposed to last year. His 3PT attempts are actually down 0.8 per game. In other words, Smart isn't shooting more. And sure his 3 point percentage is down this year, but it is still above his career average so he is more just regressing to the mean.
The simple truth is Smart just isn't a very smart offensive player. He never has been and pretty clearly never will be.
So far this year, Smart has been this team's #3 overall offensive option. And when he plays with the bench, he is, at times, the #1 option.
Last year, he was the team's overall 5th offensive option and, at best during various games, when playing with the bench the #2 option but also, he played a ton of minutes as the #3 option during bench minutes because Stevens played him a lot with two of Jaylen, Tatum, Hayward and Kemba.
So same amount of shots or not, he has had to play a different role offensively.