Bench Smart / Marcus Calls Out The Jays

[Birdman]

I really doubt Smart finish the season with the Celtics esp if Schroeder continues to play good..can’t call out ur teammates to the media

[Jvalin]

It bothers my that Smart has been made a scapegoat for everything that has been going wrong lately. We were doing the same thing last season with Kemba. It seems like we always need to create a scapegoat.

Pretty much all our players underperform. I would argue this is a strong indication that we are a poorly coached team. The two notable exceptions are Brown and Horford. G-Will had a terrific start to the season, but he ain't even playing that much lately. I mean, he averages 8.5 minutes per game in November. He played only 5 minutes last night. Even Tatum is underperforming and he's transforming into an iso chucker (to his credit, he was great last night).

Brad knew how to put his players in a position to succeed. Hate to say it, but I can't say the same thing about Ime. I've elaborated on this in other threads. Long story short, we run a switch-heavy defensive scheme with 2 drop bigs in our starting lineup. This is madness! We also abandoned our PnR-heavy offense in favour of an iso-heavy style. Feel free to check the numbers yourself. Last season, Tatum was scoring 27.8% of his points via PnR and 18.6 via isolation. The respective numbers for this season are 17.7% via PnR and 23.3% via isolation (ranks 4th in the NBA in iso frequency). Kemba was scoring 47.2% of his points via PnR and 5.5% via isolation last season. Schroder is scoring 31.9% of his points via PnR and 16.6% via isolation this season. We don't know how to use Timelord either. He's a terrific roller, but we don't run the PnR as much as we used to. Our offense is stagnant and ugly to watch. But sure, let's blame Smart. It's easy to blame the guy who just got paid and doesn't fill up the box score.

This is a fan blog.

The team's 3 most important players are A) Tatum, B) Brown and C) Smart.

The team has played badly. You would agree, right?

Most of the comments here have criticized Tatum and Smart. They have both played quite badly. You would agree, right? Their stats would be an absolute disaster if they continued over the long haul.

There are also a substantial number of comments about the coaching.

Sounds to me like this blog is registering just about the correct collective dissatisfaction.

Agreed that Smart has been playing poorly. My point is that we don't put him in a position to succeed on the offensive side of the ball.

Smart is a reliable facilitator out of the PnR. Imo, this is hands down his most valuable offensive skill (if not his only valuable offensive skill). Brad was primarily using him off the ball last season, yet he was scoring 23.3% of his points as a PnR ball handler. Ime is primarily using him on the ball (which I like a lot), yet he's scoring only 20% of his points as a PnR ball handler. This is an abysmal number for a starting PG. It should have been north of 30%-35% at the minimum. Unfortunately, I don't know how to find his assists numbers out of the PnR. If anyone can find them, I'd love to see them.

Is it Smart's fault that we don't run the PnR as frequently as we should? Players follow the game plan given to them by the coaching staff. The way I see it, we don't know how to use our players. It's as simple as that. Smart, Schroder and Tatum are reliable PnR ball handlers. Timelord is a reliable roller. Horford is a reliable popper. PnR and PnP are quite possibly the most devastating team moves in the modern NBA. If you have the right players to execute them, no defensive scheme in the world can stop you. Why on earth don't we constantly run the PnR like we were doing last season under Brad? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Fwiw, here's a high PnR action by Smart and G-Will resulting in an open corner 3 by Tatum. Team-first basketball is a joy to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZbK6gsEovU

[gouki88]

Smart hasn't been made the scapegoat of the failings of this season.

He has been unreliable, overpaid and overrated (chiefly by himself) for a long time.

[Big333223]

Smart deserves plenty of criticism for his play on offense but the team is 3-1 since he came out and criticized the team publicly so if the idea that his doing it was detrimental to the team doesn't seem to be holding up.

[Ogaju]

Smart deserves plenty of criticism for his play on offense but the team is 3-1 since he came out and criticized the team publicly so if the idea that his doing it was detrimental to the team doesn't seem to be holding up.

3-1, and playing much better.

[jbpats]

would probably be 4-0 if we gave Schroder more of his minutes

[feckless]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured, and Dennis became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

[Roy H.]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured and he became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

Yes x100.

[td450]

It bothers my that Smart has been made a scapegoat for everything that has been going wrong lately. We were doing the same thing last season with Kemba. It seems like we always need to create a scapegoat.

Pretty much all our players underperform. I would argue this is a strong indication that we are a poorly coached team. The two notable exceptions are Brown and Horford. G-Will had a terrific start to the season, but he ain't even playing that much lately. I mean, he averages 8.5 minutes per game in November. He played only 5 minutes last night. Even Tatum is underperforming and he's transforming into an iso chucker (to his credit, he was great last night).

Brad knew how to put his players in a position to succeed. Hate to say it, but I can't say the same thing about Ime. I've elaborated on this in other threads. Long story short, we run a switch-heavy defensive scheme with 2 drop bigs in our starting lineup. This is madness! We also abandoned our PnR-heavy offense in favour of an iso-heavy style. Feel free to check the numbers yourself. Last season, Tatum was scoring 27.8% of his points via PnR and 18.6 via isolation. The respective numbers for this season are 17.7% via PnR and 23.3% via isolation (ranks 4th in the NBA in iso frequency). Kemba was scoring 47.2% of his points via PnR and 5.5% via isolation last season. Schroder is scoring 31.9% of his points via PnR and 16.6% via isolation this season. We don't know how to use Timelord either. He's a terrific roller, but we don't run the PnR as much as we used to. Our offense is stagnant and ugly to watch. But sure, let's blame Smart. It's easy to blame the guy who just got paid and doesn't fill up the box score.

This is a fan blog.

The team's 3 most important players are A) Tatum, B) Brown and C) Smart.

The team has played badly. You would agree, right?

Most of the comments here have criticized Tatum and Smart. They have both played quite badly. You would agree, right? Their stats would be an absolute disaster if they continued over the long haul.

There are also a substantial number of comments about the coaching.

Sounds to me like this blog is registering just about the correct collective dissatisfaction.

Agreed that Smart has been playing poorly. My point is that we don't put him in a position to succeed on the offensive side of the ball.

Smart is a reliable facilitator out of the PnR. Imo, this is hands down his most valuable offensive skill (if not his only valuable offensive skill). Brad was primarily using him off the ball last season, yet he was scoring 23.3% of his points as a PnR ball handler. Ime is primarily using him on the ball (which I like a lot), yet he's scoring only 20% of his points as a PnR ball handler. This is an abysmal number for a starting PG. It should have been north of 30%-35% at the minimum. Unfortunately, I don't know how to find his assists numbers out of the PnR. If anyone can find them, I'd love to see them.

Is it Smart's fault that we don't run the PnR as frequently as we should? Players follow the game plan given to them by the coaching staff. The way I see it, we don't know how to use our players. It's as simple as that. Smart, Schroder and Tatum are reliable PnR ball handlers. Timelord is a reliable roller. Horford is a reliable popper. PnR and PnP are quite possibly the most devastating team moves in the modern NBA. If you have the right players to execute them, no defensive scheme in the world can stop you. Why on earth don't we constantly run the PnR like we were doing last season under Brad? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Fwiw, here's a high PnR action by Smart and G-Will resulting in an open corner 3 by Tatum. Team-first basketball is a joy to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZbK6gsEovU

I would agree Marcus has a solid feel for delivering the ball in th PnR and his lack of separation quickness generally doesn't matter, so those actions suit him.

The problem is that he is a well below average threat himself. He's a terrible midrange shooter and doesn't have a reliable floater. He can't jump at all off one foot(although he can jump pretty well off two). If the C's used him in PnR successfully enough, other teams would actually start prepping their defenses against it, and dare him to finish.

I don't see Smart ever being good enough to be good enough.

[Moranis]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured, and Dennis became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

Yes as he should have been all season.  Smart is not a PG and never has been one.  He can play in the role for a few minutes here and there, but he should not be starting in that position.

[gouki88]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured and he became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

Yes x100.

x10000

Someone who can actually get inside off the dribble opens up so much for us. Sure, he turns it over more than we'd like. But he is a very serious plus for our offence when he's out there

[Celtics2021]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured and he became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

Yes x100.

x10000

Someone who can actually get inside off the dribble opens up so much for us. Sure, he turns it over more than we'd like. But he is a very serious plus for our offence when he's out there

I think he’s better not starting with Jaylen.  Schröder is best with the ball in his hands, and that limits some of his value, especially with Tatum also on the court.  I think the team is better suited with Schröder coming in whenever one of the J’s first goes out.

[gouki88]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured and he became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

Yes x100.

x10000

Someone who can actually get inside off the dribble opens up so much for us. Sure, he turns it over more than we'd like. But he is a very serious plus for our offence when he's out there

I think he’s better not starting with Jaylen.  Schröder is best with the ball in his hands, and that limits some of his value, especially with Tatum also on the court.  I think the team is better suited with Schröder coming in whenever one of the J’s first goes out.

I feel like it's robbing Peter to pay Paul a bit. I agree with the premise, but I think our offence stalls a lot when it's Smart-Brown-Tatum-Horford-Timelord

[SparzWizard]

Starting lineup needs to be

Schroder
Brown
Tatum
Horford
Timelord

Smart comes off as the 6th man.

[Celtics2021]

Smart is playing somewhat smarter but Schroder has run the team since Jaylen was injured and he became a starter.  When Jaylen comes back shouldn't Dennis be the starting point guard?

Yes x100.

x10000

Someone who can actually get inside off the dribble opens up so much for us. Sure, he turns it over more than we'd like. But he is a very serious plus for our offence when he's out there

I think he’s better not starting with Jaylen.  Schröder is best with the ball in his hands, and that limits some of his value, especially with Tatum also on the court.  I think the team is better suited with Schröder coming in whenever one of the J’s first goes out.

I feel like it's robbing Peter to pay Paul a bit. I agree with the premise, but I think our offence stalls a lot when it's Smart-Brown-Tatum-Horford-Timelord

I think it stalls just as much when it’s Schröder instead of Smart.

That said, I think Schröder and Smart actually compliment each other well on the court.