Coming out party for Marcus

[Celtics4ever]

After last night, part of me thinks that RR and JS days are numbered here.  It's one game though.

[manl_lui]

After last night, part of me thinks that RR and JS days are numbered here.  It's one game though.

I actually would like to lean towards AB's days are numbered here vs Rondo. Smart is bigger than AB, taller and stronger. If he can shoot the 3 @ 30%, or 25% (more realistic # at this point), he can EASILY replace Bradley.

JS on the other hand, not really...yesterday's game for big men were KO and Bass. Do you feel Bass and KO has anything on JS?

[clover]

After last night, part of me thinks that RR and JS days are numbered here.  It's one game though.

I actually would like to lean towards AB's days are numbered here vs Rondo. Smart is bigger than AB, taller and stronger. If he can shoot the 3 @ 30%, or 25% (more realistic # at this point), he can EASILY replace Bradley.

JS on the other hand, not really...yesterday's game for big men were KO and Bass. Do you feel Bass and KO has anything on JS?

I think KO has an opportunity to ultimately be more special than Sully.

[coffee425]

I'm not nearly as focused on the future of this roster. If Marcus gets healthy by January, there's no reason this isnt a playoff team. Has anyone been watching how bad the East is? He's the key piece in preventing those 4th Quarter collapses.

[hwangjini_1]

His defense and intensity was fantastic. His offense is streaky as hell and C's were lucky he was on a hot spell when he was because some of those shots he was taking were absolute garbage. The types of shots that shoot you out of games.

ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, guys and gals, as i look over the praise and raves in this thread i have to remind myself that our very own fabulous marcus smart has played in exactly EIGHT nba basketball games in his entire live.  eight, 8, ate. count them once, count them twice, count them thrice and it is still 8.

how can someone be streaky of hell, or nominated to the position of starter over an all star, or any sort of meaningful decision be made after such a ssss?

we all can see his potential and we all saw a great game last night. let's hope he continues and someday actually earns a starting position for the celtics. but in the meantime, perhaps we might consider reigning in the bombastic hyperbole.

[Jailan34]

He ran the offense well at times, obviously he scored and defended very well last night. I would like to see him post up smaller guards as he did in college, and try to take a few mid range shots rather than bomb 3's. But if I had to guess I'd say those threes come from coach.

[littleteapot]

The story of Marcus Smart taking 3's was apparently the same in college (I'm not going to pretend I saw a lot of Oklahoma games) - very poor shot selection at times and sometimes he hit but most of the time he didn't. I think it was also a situation where he would look to get to the rim or set a teammate up, but if nothing obvious opened up he would just chuck one up there instead of being patient.

I didn't watch the game last night but I just think that for the next two years he is going to have some games where he's 4/8 from 3 and a lot of games where he's 2/8, and some where he's 0/8. I think him and Rondo will disappoint in the halfcourt until teams respect him from 3, which is a ways away. Both those guys just need to be getting in the lane to really take advantage of their skills. If I'm gameplanning for the Celtics, I would just tell my guards to hover around the elbows whenever Smart and Rondo are on the court together.

We should try to make it work with those two together - it should be an AWESOME open court pairing, but we also need to use Smart as a PG way more than we do, which is IMO what he's best at.

[Tr1boy]

I really like the Smart and ET backcourt combination. Prefer it over the Rondo, AB combo. 

[RJ87]

I think it can.

I thought from the beginning that Marcus was our best chance to upgrade the 2 guard spot as a Wade-lite. I think he and Rondo can play together - the Dallas game showed a glimpse of that. I don't know why fans believe we can only have one talented player on the roster at the time. If Smart can establish himself, we're that much closer to getting back to contention.

After last night, part of me thinks that RR and JS days are numbered here.  It's one game though.

I think Jared is fine - he's been our best big for the majority of the season. He's been rebounding well and his shot is coming around. Sometimes, your bench guys get it going when your starters falter and change the momentum of a game. Let them play it out, but don't go trading away starters because you jumped to conclusions.

[Celtics4ever]

Do you feel Bass and KO has anything on JS?

  Yes, Bass is a better defender and KO does not play hero ball like JS.

[RJ87]

Do you feel Bass and KO has anything on JS?

  Yes, Bass is a better defender and KO does not play hero ball like JS.

I definitely disagree - I think Jared has been our best big. He's pretty much been the most consistent. KO is intriguing, but he plays so passively. When he's aggressive, he's good but he doesn't do it on a consistent level. My biggest gripe with KO is he passes up a lot of open looks. How many times does he headfake the open 3 pointer, drive into paint and then forces a contested shot during a game?

Sully getting more minutes this season, and he's pretty much responded. His percentages are up significantly from last year (shooting 48% from the field and 37% from 3) and he's a great offensive rebounder.

[Rosco917]

I really enjoyed the Smart - Turner backcourt.

At times Turner can be out of control, but his experience, ball handling, and aggressive mid-range game takes pressure off Smart. I really think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg in reference to Smart. As he becomes an NBA professional his rebounding, scoring, and passing will greatly improve.

If Smart's shooting improves at the rate of Avery Bradley's, he will be a valuable asset. 

[BDeCosta26]

I really enjoyed the Smart - Turner backcourt.

At times Turner can be out of control, but his experience, ball handling, and aggressive mid-range game takes pressure off Smart. I really think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg in reference to Smart. As he becomes an NBA professional his rebounding, scoring, and passing will greatly improve.

If Smart's shooting improves at the rate of Avery Bradley's, he will be a valuable asset. 

I absolutely agree on Turner. He plays wildly, puts silly passes out there, takes bad risks on D, but he's the only player on this team who can even pretend to go ISO. And his all around game actually suits this uneven roster very well actually. I'd like to see more of the Smart-Turner pairing as well. Particularly at the end of games. Turners ISO ability and Smarts combo of first class defense and Alpha dog personality would serve us well.

If Marcus Smart can develop his shot like Avery did, he will 100% be a star in this league and the C's future will be on the serious up and up

[kozlodoev]

It also somehow seemed that Smart was taking fewer (if any) pull-up three pointers (that are definitely not his forte). Don't know whether this was from playing with Turner, or just a general adjustment he made.