I didn’t see any reports stating that Schroder was signing with the understanding that he would be coming off the bench as a 6th man. Pretty sure he was told that he’d be competing for a starting spot and in my opinion he has done enough to secure that. Schroder is clearly the best point guard on this Celtics team.
I don't think it is clear that Schroder is better than Smart at this point.
You mean either - better player; or better point guard. In either case, they both bring different things to the table. Smart doesn't have Schroeder's quickness with the ball or his penetration abilities, but as a secondary ballhandler he's bringing a lot. As a defender, starting him with Schroeder allows him to take the opposition's best wing scorer on defense, freeing up Jaylen's energy for scoring and to roam more on D.
I guess Smart is the better player, but there's only so far thinking about that sort of thing takes you. It's not a one-dimensional game, and putting everybody on a better/worse line ignores most of what wins you ball games.
We often think of this abstract 1-5 set of roles, with players more or less filling one of those roles; but I think we've got it the wrong way around when we do. It's not that Smart, for instance, is a better or worse point guard than Schroeder, it's that they've got a range of skills that a coach can deploy to get shot-creation, shot-making, and all the rest of it. Smart is great at orchestrating an offense, though he doesn't have Schroeder's quickness or finishing abilities. Brad used Smart on the ball (a lot of posting up, for instance) so that IT and Kyrie could play off the ball and use their movement to get open; Schroeder could potentially do that, too.
I see Smart as starting the season as the starting PG, Schroder as the back up. We have a log jam at the PG/Combo guard role so I am afraid that Pritchard loses out some, which is unfortunate.
Schroeder/Smart and Smart/Pritchard combinations look workable, Schroeder/Pritchard less so because of defense. I'm not really seeing a log jam because of Smart's versatility.
If Pritchard and Schroder play more at PG, then Smart will play more as SG, taking minutes from Richardson, Langford, and maybe Nesmith. Someone is going to lose out here.
I guess that's 'a good problem to have'. Yes, someone is going to lose out. But it's a long season, and all of those guys are going to get their chance. Competition is good!