Has to be pretty soon. If he's really the point guard of the future for the Celtics, that is. I posted something in another thread awhile back, but I didn't get a reaction, so I'll post it here:
I think ET has been huge for this team. He's accepted his role now, and has single handedly saved us in quite a few games these 2 years.
That being said...
He needs the ball in his hands to be effective. He's not good as a floor spacer or catch and shoot guy. And he seems to have an aversion to deferring to Smart in games. Many times, Marcus is wide open but ET decides to look the other way or to score by himself. Evan is a solid guy off the bench, but I think we need to make something else clear here:
Is Marcus Smart the point guard of the future for the Celtics?
If he is, then we need to give him as much development time on the ball as we can. That means moving on from ET. We might also have to contemplate moving Isaiah either back to the bench or to another team.
If he's not, then I think it's useless to keep him here and stunt his development. He's an elite defender and a great team guy, but at some point you have to wonder: could we get something more important to us if we package him in a deal for, say, a Jimmy Butler. Or a DeMarcus Cousins. Or someone like that.
If Danny trusts Isaiah enough, he could seriously decide to move from Smart while he still has value, and keep Isaiah and Evan. Because the longer Smart comes off the bench and continues struggling to score, the lower his value will be.
Discuss.