We are now just over 100 games into Marcus Smart's career. He played 67 games last year, and 38 games so far this year.
Marcus is 21 years old; he'll turn 22 a week from today.
Has he shown improvement since the end of last season?
In many ways, Smart's play this year has been more of the same.His minutes are about the same (27); his assists and turnovers are the same (3 assists and ~1.3 turnovers). His steals and rebounds are up a bit, though those are prone to statistical variance.
Smart has been more aggressive on offense.He's taking two more shots from the field per game, and he's up to 3 FTA per game after averaging 1.9 FTA last year.
What about his shooting?Overall, Smart's shooting is more or less the same. He shoots about 36% from the field overall. He takes slightly more than 4 three pointers a game, and hits on just over 1 of those attempts. Through 105 games, Smart has taken over 400 three pointers, and hit on 31% of them.
Smart's free throw shooting is a bit better (2.3 out of 3, versus 1.2 out of 1.9 last year). For free throw shooting, though, it's a fairly small sample.
What about shot selection?Last year, only 43% of Smart's shots were inside the three point line. This year, over 50% of his shots are two pointers. Over a quarter of his attempts are within 3 feet. That's a welcome development. However, he's only completing about 50% of his shots within 3 feet, which is bad.
In general, Smart is taking more of his shots within 16 feet, but the results of that are a mixed bag.
How about his performance on a game-to-game basis?Using Game Score stats over at Basketball-Reference.com, it's possible to see that Smart has had more frequent standout performances this year as opposed to last year.
A Game Score of 10 is average.
Last year, through 67 games, Smart had a Game Score of 10 or better 12 times, and a Game Score of 20 or better twice. He had zero double doubles or triple doubles. He scored 20 or more points twice.
His best game last year was in Oklahoma City in March. He had 25 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, on 8-14 FG, 7-12 from three, and 2-4 from the line.
This year, Smart again has 12 games with a Game Score of 10 or better, and 2 games with a Game Score of 20 or better, and he's scored 20 or more points three times, while only playing 38 games so far.
His best game this year was also in Oklahoma City. Earlier this year, he had 26 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block on 9-14 FG, 3-5 from three, and 5-8 from the line.
Suffice it to say, Marcus really likes playing in Oklahoma City.Overall, you can see some improvement from Marcus. In particular, he's taken on a larger role in the offense and has committed himself to getting inside more often. That commitment to getting inside more has resulted in more trips to the line. It hasn't, however, resulted in better scoring efficiency aside from the free throws.
While Smart has been more aggressive, it is disconcerting to see that he hasn't shown any really notable improvement in a particular area of his game apart from aggressiveness. The greater frequency of his standout performances, though, gives hope that he has what it takes to make a bigger impact more and more often.
Team-based advanced statistics like ORtg / Drtg and BPM indicate that Smart is helping the team more on offense and defense this year, but it's hard to extricate those stats from the overall play of his teammates, which is also better for the balance of this season compared to the entirety of last season.
The season isn't over yet.If Smart has shown anything, it's that he doesn't shy away from the big moment. The Celts will need him to have some big moments during the stretch run this year and in the playoffs. If the Celts are to go further this year in the playoffs than last year, they will likely need at least a couple big games from Marcus. Whether or not he can come up big when it matters most may shape the narrative regarding his development following his first two seasons in the league.
It will be fun to see what he can do the rest of the way.
