Smart Takes Too Many Bad Shots

[Fafnir]

Smart is valuable on defense because he generates more steals, turnovers, deflections, crazy hustle blocks etc than other defenders. He's also very good at ball denial and otherwise blowing up actions as called as well.

The best defenders often don't wow you by stopping a guy, they erase potential good positions from the opposing offense. If you don't know what the other team is trying to run its hard to properly evaluate if this even happens.

Anyways if you think he's bad against quick PGs, I guess everyone in the NBA is bad against them? Most of the time he's getting "beat" by quick guards its on the high screen and roll I assume? Given how the NBA allows such screens to be set, that's not really on Marcus himself the whole team has to defend that action properly. (The big man has to help, the wings have to dig down, and everyone has to recover)

He definitely hasn't been as good since coming back from all his injuries on defense, but man one game where a guard has a good shooting night and suddenly 5 years of work in the NBA is discounted....

[SHAQATTACK]

smart never seen a bad shot

[Rondo9]

Smart is valuable on defense because he generates more steals, turnovers, deflections, crazy hustle blocks etc than other defenders. He's also very good at ball denial and otherwise blowing up actions as called as well.

The best defenders often don't wow you by stopping a guy, they erase potential good positions from the opposing offense. If you don't know what the other team is trying to run its hard to properly evaluate if this even happens.

Anyways if you think he's bad against quick PGs, I guess everyone in the NBA is bad against them? Most of the time he's getting "beat" by quick guards its on the high screen and roll I assume? Given how the NBA allows such screens to be set, that's not really on Marcus himself the whole team has to defend that action properly. (The big man has to help, the wings have to dig down, and everyone has to recover)

He definitely hasn't been as good since coming back from all his injuries on defense, but man one game where a guard has a good shooting night and suddenly 5 years of work in the NBA is discounted....

But Buddy Heild lit him up for 41 points! That definitely means he's an overrated bum and must be traded!

[MikeB12]

I find this topic so amusing...how long have people (including me) been complaining about Smart's lack of shooting ability...forever. 

Last year Smart did improve some but he will NEVER be a good shooter.

He helps the team as a defender but he hurts the team as a shooter...since he was given a long term contract we will see a lot more games where Smart shoots O'fer or 1-6 etc.

MikeB

[td450]

Smart is valuable on defense because he generates more steals, turnovers, deflections, crazy hustle blocks etc than other defenders. He's also very good at ball denial and otherwise blowing up actions as called as well.

The best defenders often don't wow you by stopping a guy, they erase potential good positions from the opposing offense. If you don't know what the other team is trying to run its hard to properly evaluate if this even happens.

Anyways if you think he's bad against quick PGs, I guess everyone in the NBA is bad against them? Most of the time he's getting "beat" by quick guards its on the high screen and roll I assume? Given how the NBA allows such screens to be set, that's not really on Marcus himself the whole team has to defend that action properly. (The big man has to help, the wings have to dig down, and everyone has to recover)

He definitely hasn't been as good since coming back from all his injuries on defense, but man one game where a guard has a good shooting night and suddenly 5 years of work in the NBA is discounted....

There are a number of guards in the league who can stay tighter on the ball and can recover faster than Smart can on the perimeter, and unfortunately, there are some great scorers who really know how to work that area. No one is good at everything. He is still an elite defender.

[Fafnir]

I find this topic so amusing...how long have people (including me) been complaining about Smart's lack of shooting ability...forever. 

Last year Smart did improve some but he will NEVER be a good shooter.

He helps the team as a defender but he hurts the team as a shooter...since he was given a long term contract we will see a lot more games where Smart shoots O'fer or 1-6 etc.

MikeB

The really amusing part of this is that if he shot 4-10 instead of 3-10 this thread wouldn't exist.

[Moranis]

I find this topic so amusing...how long have people (including me) been complaining about Smart's lack of shooting ability...forever. 

Last year Smart did improve some but he will NEVER be a good shooter.

He helps the team as a defender but he hurts the team as a shooter...since he was given a long term contract we will see a lot more games where Smart shoots O'fer or 1-6 etc.

MikeB

The really amusing part of this is that if he shot 4-10 instead of 3-10 this thread wouldn't exist.

Smart should never shoot 10 3's in a game though.  It just isn't a good shot.  Even if he is 10-10 at some point he will go 0-20 to even it out.  Bad shooters shouldn't shoot (or at least shouldn't shoot like they are good shooters).

[No Nickname]

I find this topic so amusing...how long have people (including me) been complaining about Smart's lack of shooting ability...forever. 

Last year Smart did improve some but he will NEVER be a good shooter.

He helps the team as a defender but he hurts the team as a shooter...since he was given a long term contract we will see a lot more games where Smart shoots O'fer or 1-6 etc.

MikeB

The really amusing part of this is that if he shot 4-10 instead of 3-10 this thread wouldn't exist.

Smart should never shoot 10 3's in a game though.  It just isn't a good shot.  Even if he is 10-10 at some point he will go 0-20 to even it out.  Bad shooters shouldn't shoot (or at least shouldn't shoot like they are good shooters).

Haha, I told my son the same thing last night after Smart hit two threes.

He'll go 7-10 from three one night and feel like he could win the 3-pt Competition.  Then he'll go 1-8 the next night, 1-7 the following night, and 1-8 again the next night.  10-33 overall.

Then he'll go 7-9 the next night and feel like he's on a hot streak.  Followed by 0-5, 1-6, 2-9.

[tstorey_97]

Smart plays with emotions. He is and always has been "all over the place" it is his nature.

He is a master flopper, but, only because he gets rewarded for it (by refs) fairly often. 

On defense, Smart plays the entire opponent's offense. If he "has a guy" and it is an important moment Smart will cover him like a blanket and, he is as good as anybody at smothering a good shooter.

If he switches onto the opposing center, he will make his life miserable in any way he can....and often succeeds.

While watching an opponent handling the ball, if Smart spots any "slop" he'll knock it out of his hands. If he knows a guy and his "lean" on a move he will throw himself into the opponent's path and draw a foul or bad pass or a redirect. His is as good as it gets with disrupting an opposing team's flow. Then? He'll take a game off.

He has some "national TV" in him. Not bad though, but, he likes the bright lights.

As far as "is Smart any good"?

In his sixth year he has played in every critical moment of any and all games...unless he was out with an injury (which he has had plenty of BTW).

If there is 1:10 left in a tie game Smart is on the court breaking his butt trying to win it and all of his mates know it.

 

[Spicoli]

This guy plays too many minutes and has too much leeway in this teams offense. His role on this team either needs to be scaled back or he needs to be traded. The other posters are correct. If Smart makes his first shot he will take another 9 or 10 regardless if they are good looks or not. This cannot continue to happen.

[Rosco917]

This guy plays too many minutes and has too much leeway in this teams offense. His role on this team either needs to be scaled back or he needs to be traded. The other posters are correct. If Smart makes his first shot he will take another 9 or 10 regardless if they are good looks or not. This cannot continue to happen.

Exactly. ^

Marcus needs to realize who he is and what his strengths are. He's not out there to shoulder the offensive load like Kemba, Tatum and Brown. He needs to be the straw that stirs the drink, sets defensive tone, and facilitate. His shooting percentage is well below NBA average, he needs to take easier, open shots.

Stevens needs to have a little sit-down with him and re-establish what is expected of him. That's what coaches are supposed to do.

[PhoSita]

I find this topic so amusing...how long have people (including me) been complaining about Smart's lack of shooting ability...forever. 

Last year Smart did improve some but he will NEVER be a good shooter.

He helps the team as a defender but he hurts the team as a shooter...since he was given a long term contract we will see a lot more games where Smart shoots O'fer or 1-6 etc.

MikeB

The really amusing part of this is that if he shot 4-10 instead of 3-10 this thread wouldn't exist.

Smart should never shoot 10 3's in a game though.  It just isn't a good shot.  Even if he is 10-10 at some point he will go 0-20 to even it out.  Bad shooters shouldn't shoot (or at least shouldn't shoot like they are good shooters).

See I don't think this is true.

If you take shots like you think you're a good shooter, and you go through stretches where you hit shots like a good shooter, then opponents will tend to defend you like you're a good shooter.

See: J.R. Smith, for example.


The value of shooting is not just the points you score when the ball goes in.  It's also the way that having shooters on the floor changes the way the opponent defends.

Opponents treat Smart like a shooter even when he's cold. 



All of that said, is it bad when Smart takes an early clock three when he's barely open?  Yeah.  There's no real justification for that shot.  But as I've said before, I think that goes hand in hand with the fire and confidence that Smart brings to the table with everything that he does on the floor.  I would never, ever want him to change that.

[gouki88]

I find this topic so amusing...how long have people (including me) been complaining about Smart's lack of shooting ability...forever. 

Last year Smart did improve some but he will NEVER be a good shooter.

He helps the team as a defender but he hurts the team as a shooter...since he was given a long term contract we will see a lot more games where Smart shoots O'fer or 1-6 etc.

MikeB

The really amusing part of this is that if he shot 4-10 instead of 3-10 this thread wouldn't exist.

Smart should never shoot 10 3's in a game though.  It just isn't a good shot.  Even if he is 10-10 at some point he will go 0-20 to even it out.  Bad shooters shouldn't shoot (or at least shouldn't shoot like they are good shooters).

See I don't think this is true.

If you take shots like you think you're a good shooter, and you go through stretches where you hit shots like a good shooter, then opponents will tend to defend you like you're a good shooter.

See: J.R. Smith, for example.

Quite a bad example in my opinion. Smith is a career 37% three point shooter on over 5 attempts per game, and in a 15 year career (in which he won the 6MOTY award based on his scoring) he shot below 35% over the course of a season 4 times - 2 of those seasons were ones where he played 11 games and 35 games.

Smith is Ray Allen compared to Marcus

[nickagneta]

Smart only had one okay year at shooting the three. In the other years he has been beyond terrible. Teams realize he might get hot on one night but the smarter teams will drop off and let him shoot. You can rest assured that if Smart has another ~30% year shooting the three, playoff teams will fall off him and let him take 10 threes a game performing that than Kemba, Gordon and the Jay's taking those shots

[Kuberski33]

Would it be sacrilege to suggest that Smart the last two years has been prone to giving less than his best effort in some games you figure will be easy wins?  Up till last year he would always it seemed, pick the team up.  He doesn't always do that now.

Not sure whether it's him being wise to being susceptible to injury when he goes all out, the contract or just a natural progression in his career - but he doesn't bring it as often as he used to.