If Smart is a better version of Tony Allen (except at the pg position), I think it's a no brainer to draft him at 6. Yes, it's possible that he's a better defender, scorer, passer, & overall player than Allen. That's a definite steal to get that type of player at 6.
I don't see how this comparison is possible.
Tony Allen was a very athletic defensive minded guard who had practically zero offensive ability. Terrbile ball handling, terrible passing skills, poor court vision, ghastly jump shot.
Marcus Smart is comparable in terms of height, build and length, but he's an entirely different player. Smart was one of the best scorers in College last season, and while his jump shot has been criticised, it's nowhere even close to as bad as Tony Allen's was when he was young. He actually can hit jumpers from inside and outside the three point line, just that he doesn't excel at it. Allen on the other hand couldn't hit a wide open 15 footer if his life depended on it back in his Celtics days.
Likewise Smart has played PG most of his time in college, and while he's not an elite playmaker, passer or ball handler, he's still a decent one. Tony Allen was not.
Finally Smart has that 'Alfa Dog' mentality that many other players (such as Wiggins/Jeff Green) have been criticised for lacking. He's a guy who WANTS the ball in his hands at the end of a game and a guy who can create his own offense. Tony Allen has never been that type of player. Again, he's pretty much always been a defensive specialist who gets the occasional fast break dunk/layup from time to time.
As another person mentioned, I see Smart much more like a D Wade type. He's a very similar player in terms of his phsical composition, his skill set, and his mentality.
Physically - basically the same height, length, build as Wade. Both very physically strong for their position, both good (but not elite) athletes, but have average size at the SG spot, but very good length.
Mentally - both have a warriors mentality. Wade is a lot like KG - you love him if he's on your team, you hate his guts if he's on the other team. Most Boston fans will hate Wade for his overly aggressive nature, but at the end of the day he has a "do whatever it takes to win" attitude, and if he were a Celtic I'm sure we would love him for the fact that he plays so hard and so aggressively every night. Plus Wade is never scared to take the last shot - ever. Smart pretty much shares all of those same qualities. He's a tough player who will do what it takes to win, and who plays hard on both sides of the floor every single night.
Skills - Wade (like Smart) was criticised out of College for his questionable jump shot and ball handling ability. People questioned whether he could be a good enough passer/ball handler to play the PG spot, or a good enough shooter to play the SG spot. Nobody expected him to become a superstar, everyone thought he'd be a nice player, but a clear step behind Lebron, Melo and (yes) Milicic. I would argue that he has become the second best playeron that list after Lebron. In terms of the skills they DO have...both players are slashers. Both are going to get most of their points by driving to the basket, finishing in a variety of ways, and drawing a LOT of fouls. Both are excellent defensive players (Wade was one of the best defenisve guards in the league in his younger days) and both are good rebounders and decent passers for their position. Both scored at a pretty high percentage from the field, and both struggled from three.
In fact when you look at the two, the similarities are almost uncanny. This is not by any means a suggestion that Smart will be as good as Wade in his prime, but the potential is certainly there I think. I think that worst case would basically be a poor mans D-Wade - I'm thinking around 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists (combined with consistently solid defense) is about where I expect him to be his first couple of seasons.
If we do get Smart I think he could be a perfect 6th man (assuming both Bradley and Rondo stay) in his Rookie year, as he's capable of backing up both guard spots and could give us a nice scoring punch off the bench. By his second season I would guess that Smart would be starting at either guard position (depending on whether both current guards are still here) and will probably become Boston's best or second best scorer (depending on whether we get Love).
I really think Smart has the potential to be one of the big suprises of this draft. It really wouldn't surprise me at all if he became a better player than Wiggins, Exum or Parker when all is said and done. Not saying I'd expect that, but if it did happen I would not be shocked by any means.
Anyhow, I guess we will wait and see.
Right now though I really do see Smart as our most likely choice. The three guys Danny has praised a lot so far (for their personalties) have been Smart, Exum and Gordon. Exum is not likely to be available at 6, so that counts him out. Danny has also made it very clear that he wants a go-to scorer for next season, so that counts Gordon out. Smart makes the most sense so far because he basically covers all the needs Danny has been looking for bar rim protection (obviously)...but due to lack of quality bigs that's not a problem likely to be solved via the draft.
Personally I actually prefer Vonleh right now if it were my choice, but it looks to me Smart will be the guy if he's still available...and I'm ok with that. He'd be my #2 choice, unless one of those top 4 guys drops in the draft and we get a suprise.
Topic: Chad Ford Mock Draft 11 (6/4): Celtics select Marcus Smart (Read 15714 times)