Shouldn't we give Marcus Smart the chance to emerge as another Jrue Holiday?

[Vermont Green]

A lot of analytical stats that to me boil down to what you can see by just watching the games.

If Smart wants to be a successful PG, elevate his game to perhaps the Jrue Holiday level, he needs to shoot/score more efficiently.  Smart is certainly not a pure shooter or anything like that but shot selection is as least as much of the issue as shooting ability. All these advanced stats show that whether it is correlated to shot clock, distance, degree defended, there is a subset of his shots that he should continue taking and others that he should not.

Shot selection can be coached.  I think Smart will do whatever they tell him to do.  If they tell him to shoot less and be more of a PG, I think he will do that.  And when I say less, what I really mean is more selectively.  Smart can hit 3s.  He should take 3s but take good ones and cut down on the bad ones.

That is not like a huge adjustment.  If he can eliminate a could of bad shots a week, his numbers will look a whole lot better.

[Vermont Green]

I think you're overlooking a bit of Jrue's versatility.  He's capable of being a full-time PG, as that's perhaps his most natural position.  However, he hasn't played there exclusively.  In fact, over the past three years in New Orleans, he's played PG less than 5% of the time.  He's played more time at SF (!!!) there than PG.  Yes, it was bad coaching, but the guy was a gamer, and was an elite defender even against SFs.

In 2018, he was the SF, with Rondo being the primary PG and Etwaun Moore getting 80 starts at SG (crazy, right?)  Then in 2019, he started (at various times) alongside Tim Frazier, Elfrid Payton, and Moore.  In 2020, Lonzo Ball came to town.

The Pelicans should be ashamed.  They had two legitimate building blocks for a great team in Anthony Davis and Holiday.  Both are gifted, two-way players.  And yet, the team could never build a team around them, usually adding bad draft picks and journeymen.

This is the two-edged aspect of being versatile.  All of this applies to Smart as well.  It is great to have a Swiss Army Knife player like Smart, starter-off the bench, defend pretty much any position, PG-SG, whatever.

The problem for Smart, just like Roy described for Holiday, is that when you play the utility role, you are not able to refine a singular role.  If Smart is able to play PG and focus on that role, I believe he will improve.  He will still have his moments, no doubt, but if that is his role and it is clear right from the first day of preseason, he will be able to better prepare for that role.

Last season, Marcus averaged 1.9 3s on 5.9 attempts.  In a week, that is about 6 for 18, 33%.  This is below average and below what you would like from a starting PG.  If through better shot selection, he is able to eliminate just 2 bad shots a week (two assumed misses), that is 6 for 16 and 37.5%.  Or if he continues to take 18 3s but makes 7 instead of 6, that is 39%.  These are not unrealistic expected improvements.

Overall, Smart averaged 13 pts, 5 assts, 2 turnovers, pretty much the same the last two seasons.  I think he can bump that to 15 pts, 8 assts as a full time PG.  If he can provide this with decent efficiency, he will probably be a top 15 PG, maybe top 10 and the right type of PG (not focused on scoring) for this team.

[Kuberski33]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

[Celtics2021]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

[td450]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

That would be a very big mistake. It is not a good plan to settle on him as your 4th best player. That means your team has problems that need to be solved.

[Celtics2021]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

That would be a very big mistake. It is not a good plan to settle on him as your 4th best player. That means your team has problems that need to be solved.

That's silly.  With the exception of the Durant-era Warriors, no recent title team hasn't had a 4th-best player with an obvious imperfection.  If an All-NBA defender isn't qualified to be a starter on your team, your expectations are frankly unrealistic.

[Roy H.]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

That would be a very big mistake. It is not a good plan to settle on him as your 4th best player. That means your team has problems that need to be solved.

That's silly.  With the exception of the Durant-era Warriors, no recent title team hasn't had a 4th-best player with an obvious imperfection.  If an All-NBA defender isn't qualified to be a starter on your team, your expectations are frankly unrealistic.

Yeah, I'm okay with Smart and Fournier as our 4th and 5th best players going forward.  It's all about finding the guy who slots in as our 3rd best player. 

Looking at our starting lineup:

Horford
Tatum
Fournier
Brown
Smart

I really like the balance there.  In fact, if Horford was a handful of years younger, I'd be completely fine with that team as my core.

[Rondo9]

Similar on defense, pretty good facilitator (but not necessarily elite), and can emerge as a secondary shooter ...

When you have J & J, isn't Jrue 2.0 the best type of point guard? Watching tonight's game and wish we had him for J&J. But, maybe we already have him?

I believe so, but am interested in other perspectives and rationales. I think we should give him the point guard job and see if he can be  Jrue 2.0.  If he can't, move him at the deadline.  If he can, resign him next summer and and the job is his.

I think this is the summer where either he'll get extended or traded. His value is high, the question will be does Brad and Udoka value Smart as much as they say they do?

[Rondo9]

A lot of analytical stats that to me boil down to what you can see by just watching the games.

If Smart wants to be a successful PG, elevate his game to perhaps the Jrue Holiday level, he needs to shoot/score more efficiently.  Smart is certainly not a pure shooter or anything like that but shot selection is as least as much of the issue as shooting ability. All these advanced stats show that whether it is correlated to shot clock, distance, degree defended, there is a subset of his shots that he should continue taking and others that he should not.

Shot selection can be coached.  I think Smart will do whatever they tell him to do.  If they tell him to shoot less and be more of a PG, I think he will do that.  And when I say less, what I really mean is more selectively.  Smart can hit 3s.  He should take 3s but take good ones and cut down on the bad ones.

That is not like a huge adjustment.  If he can eliminate a could of bad shots a week, his numbers will look a whole lot better.

Well.... first the Celtics need to get healthy if they don't want Smart to shoot a lot.

[tarheelsxxiii]

I'll say this much, I prefer him as a PG than as a SG. If we don't find a trade or FA that's a clear improvement, I'm very comfortable entering the season with Smart focusing on his role as a PG... I just been of mind that if for some reason or another our starters with Smart as our PG works offensively, then I'd be hard pressed to find a better solution for us considering the defense he brings as well.

But comparing him to Jrue is nonsense.

Cosigned.  Of course he's not Holiday or Lowry, nor does he need to be.  With the talent we had and will have this year, we should win the East, even without a 3rd all-star next to the Js.  And no team wins a championship without at least one Marcus Smart. 

All sports seasons during COVID need to be asterisked, and the NBA is the best example; I appreciate the parity, but the Suns and Bucks have no business in the NBA Finals. Our blog could assemble an equally competitive team.   

[footey]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

That would be a very big mistake. It is not a good plan to settle on him as your 4th best player. That means your team has problems that need to be solved.

That's silly.  With the exception of the Durant-era Warriors, no recent title team hasn't had a 4th-best player with an obvious imperfection.  If an All-NBA defender isn't qualified to be a starter on your team, your expectations are frankly unrealistic.

Yeah, I'm okay with Smart and Fournier as our 4th and 5th best players going forward.  It's all about finding the guy who slots in as our 3rd best player. 

Looking at our starting lineup:

Horford
Tatum
Fournier
Brown
Smart

I really like the balance there.  In fact, if Horford was a handful of years younger, I'd be completely fine with that team as my core.

But he's not.  Which is why Ime should start Rob Williams over Al Horford.  And probably will.

[Moranis]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

That would be a very big mistake. It is not a good plan to settle on him as your 4th best player. That means your team has problems that need to be solved.

That's silly.  With the exception of the Durant-era Warriors, no recent title team hasn't had a 4th-best player with an obvious imperfection.  If an All-NBA defender isn't qualified to be a starter on your team, your expectations are frankly unrealistic.

Yeah, I'm okay with Smart and Fournier as our 4th and 5th best players going forward.  It's all about finding the guy who slots in as our 3rd best player. 

Looking at our starting lineup:

Horford
Tatum
Fournier
Brown
Smart

I really like the balance there.  In fact, if Horford was a handful of years younger, I'd be completely fine with that team as my core.

But he's not.  Which is why Ime should start Rob Williams over Al Horford.  And probably will.

I disagree.  Williams is brittle and fragile.  The best way to limit his wear and tear is to bring him off the bench when the match-ups are better and make more sense.  Also, having Horford start just makes so much more sense for the starting lineup given his ability to stretch the floor and pass.  Horford should absolutely start.

[#1P4P]

The "Marcus Smart has to be traded for a Point Guard" narrative is overblown. JT has been groomed to be the primary/secondary playmaker for the past 2 seasons, has demonstrated the ability to fill that role, and will continue to fill the role regardless of who the PG is. Last season, JB assumed the primary/secondary playmaking roles for multiple games and demonstrated the ability to do just that. Also, with Al's return, a portion of the offense will run through him at the high post, add to that Udoka bringing components of the Spurs system, and the necessity for a ball dominant guard is considerably diminished.

Marcus will bring the ball up the court, make the first pass, shoot open 3s, be the ball handler in pick & roll situations, pass well to the roller, and post up smaller guards. He'll offset inefficient shooting with elite, versatile defense at a position that's littered with subpar defenders. The base of this team is a Top 5 defense that will get even stingier in the playoffs and I'll roll with that 5 against any other team in the NBA.

[86MaxwellSmart]

No, trade him now....he shoots too much and he usually misses 1/4 of the season with an injury anyway.....TRADE HIM.

[gouki88]

The elephant in the room is his extension...what do you pay him for that chance to emerge?

He's likely expecting in the ballpark of 4 yrs 100 mil

When he plays the way he's capable of playing, he's injury prone - and also not getting any younger. 
But on top of that, last season he stopped playing with the same intensity that he has in the past.  Maybe a new coach can draw that out of him again, but then we go back to my point.

Time to move him.

The most the Celtics can offer him as an extension this summer is 4 years, 74.4 million guaranteed, with another $2.7 million in potential incentives.  I think that’d be a fair deal for both side — the Celtics win by keeping him from hitting free agency where he could get more, and he protects himself against injury, which we’ve seen is a real threat to most any NBA player lately.  That’s NBA starter money, but not NBA star money, and is a perfectly reasonable amount to play your 3rd or 4th best player.

That would be a very big mistake. It is not a good plan to settle on him as your 4th best player. That means your team has problems that need to be solved.

That's silly.  With the exception of the Durant-era Warriors, no recent title team hasn't had a 4th-best player with an obvious imperfection.  If an All-NBA defender isn't qualified to be a starter on your team, your expectations are frankly unrealistic.

Yeah, I'm okay with Smart and Fournier as our 4th and 5th best players going forward.  It's all about finding the guy who slots in as our 3rd best player. 

Looking at our starting lineup:

Horford
Tatum
Fournier
Brown
Smart

I really like the balance there.  In fact, if Horford was a handful of years younger, I'd be completely fine with that team as my core.

But he's not.  Which is why Ime should start Rob Williams over Al Horford.  And probably will.

He shouldn't really. Horford is a better passer and much better shooter. I think he makes the Jays better than Williams does, not to mention Williams' propensity to get hurt when playing big minutes