Marcus Smart improvements from last season

[LarBrd33]

Still have doubts about his shooting, but he hit a lot of them in his second game.   He's attacking the basket more which is a good sign.  Perhaps there was something to the ankle excuse, but he wasn't attacking the basket in summer league last year (pre ankle injury) either.

So far the signs are very encouraging.  I think he averaged 15, 5 and 5 last year in summer league.  He looks better... which is to be expected.  If he didn't look better, I'd be concerned.  Like I said in another thread, Aaron Gordon averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds in summer league last year and now he's just straight up eating the weak competition alive (21.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 3 assists, etc)

Cautiously optimistic with Smart.

[LGC88]

And he quickly correct his mistake from game 1. He said he push it too much individually and at game 3 he managed to push his teammates with him instead.
Love the 2 passes at the rim and the smooth floater completely unpredictable.
Seeing his attitude, you can tell he already worked very hard in the post season and mature as well.
This man is very hungry. I don't think nba will change that, it's in him. You can feel he's in the process of having a breakout year. He will consistently improve during the year. Now let's see how Brad will use him now in the offense.

[LarBrd33]

And he quickly correct his mistake from game 1. He said he push it too much individually and at game 3 he managed to push his teammates with him instead.
Love the 2 passes at the rim and the smooth floater completely unpredictable.
Seeing his attitude, you can tell he already worked very hard in the post season and mature as well.
This man is very hungry. I don't think nba will change that, it's in him. You can feel he's in the process of having a breakout year. He will consistently improve during the year. Now let's see how Brad will use him now in the offense.

Well... being a bad shooter isn't something you can easily fix.   He's shot horribly in half of his summer league games... so I take that into consideration.  But he's easily been one of the best summer league players this year and that's a great sign.  If Boston is still trying to acquire a real star, we are much better off with Smart showcasing improvement than we would be if he was struggling right now.   Nobody reads too much into summer league, but I imagine his trade value went up a tiny notch based on the perceived improvements.

[Celtics18]

His catch and shoot form looks better.  Still likes to fall down after taking pull-up threes, but I guess that's just a quirk of his.  I think he'll always be streaky when he's creating his own shot, but I'm confident he'll become a solid off-ball shooter.

At least against the competition in summer league, he looks a lot more confident and composed dribbling through pressure and making passes out of the pick and roll.  Seems to be finding a good balance between taking shots and creating for teammates.

The interesting thing to see will be whether he continues to diversify his shot selection, as he has done in summer league, when he's playing with the starters in games that matter. Last year he seemed content to mostly defer and just try to operate off the ball.

His role was rarely to be the primary ball handler.  That role fell to Evan Turner and Isaiah Thomas, and of course Rondo when he was still here.

I think he'll be given the ball more as a lead guard this season.