Marcus Smart's historical shooting ranking

[TheTruth]

Heard this today on WEEI.

Marcus Smart ranks Second to last in shooting percentage for all players who have logged at least 3000 minutes over the last 50 years. There has only been one player worst than Smart.

Bobby Hurley.

He is last when compared to all players over the last two years. I believe they said 160 players aproximately logged over 3000 minutes over the last two years. They also said that numbers 150 to 158 went something like 38.4, 38.3, 38.2 and then fell to 35.7 for Smart. So Smart is way below the worst of the worst shooters.

The main problem I see is his lack of vertical when driving. He bulls his way into the lane and then gets caught too far into the trees to get his shot off. He doesn't have any finesse to his drives. All these misses is killing his shooting percentage. Reminds me of when Antoine Walker would over commit and try to go at 7 footers. It's either stubbornness that they think they can get the shot off or just being a knucklehead.

As far as the threes, I'm ok with them. His shot from three actually looks decent. But then again Deandre Jordan has a decent looking free throw shot. So maybe it's one of those looks good but aim is off issues.

Was also listening to Felger and Maz today and they said Smart is a dumb player. Thought it was a bit unfair to go that far but I noticed when Smart gets upset, he starts forcing things on offense and makes boneheaded plays or he tries to force a play on defense and makes a silly foul.

I think if we had another player like Bradley or Turner that Smart would had been benched by now. We just don't have another player who is ready to step in to take his minutes.

I wish Ainge had drafted LaVine.

[Monkhouse]

I wish Ainge had drafted LaVine.

Well Smart may never be an excellent offensive player, but his defense/plus minus clearly makes him the more superior player than Lavine. And I'm not that convinced Lavine will become anything short of a Kevin Martin type of player with better ball handling skills. His lack of court vision, and his tendency to take tough shots tells me he has just as close to worse shot selection as Smart does.

[Csfan1984]

Some said he should be nick named "One-for". That has been very true this year. Darnnnnn Marcus step your game up. I like his drives and when he takes his time on his shots.

[celticmania]

His form is horrible. He brings the ball all the wat down to his knees and it looks as bad as the percentages in my opinion

[alldaboston]

Would it be in his best interest (or even possible at this point in his career) to like completely ditch his form and go for something more fundamentally sound?

[mrceltics2013]

Or ditch shooting and learn to finish at the basket. By the way I also agree, Levine is looking really really good right now.

[greece66]

Heard this today on WEEI.

Marcus Smart ranks Second to last in shooting percentage for all players who have logged at least 3000 minutes over the last 50 years. There has only been one player worst than Smart.

Seriously?

[Otsje P]

Would it be in his best interest (or even possible at this point in his career) to like completely ditch his form and go for something more fundamentally sound?

It has to be corrected, that's for sure. There's no need for a complete make over in my view. Less hasted, with more lift from the legs and more air time to calm it down, would already make a big difference in my opinion.

We have seen Marcus get up high for rebounds and put back dunks. Yet when he takes a jump shot, he just doesn't get up. Get up, stay up, hang up there in balance and release the ball on the apex of your jump Marcus.

Calm that shot down, but never calm on the jump. The leg power should always be put in the shot.

[Roy H.]

Link

His eFG% is a bit better, but not by much.  Still, it falls outside of the bottom-100.

EDIT:  Marcus Smart's career eFG% (.433) is better than Bill Russell's (.431) during the designated time period (1966-present), and only a tiny bit worse than Paul Silas' (.434).  Other bad current shooters:  MCW (.433), Rubio (.405), Ish Smith (.416).

[celts55]

Just wondering, don't the Celtics have a shooting coach? If so, who is it? I mean there must be someone who's working with him on improving his form. It really is ugly. Maybe he could get a private coach?

[HomerSapien]

It's the inability to finish near the rim that is most concerning to me. I actually think his 3 PT. Shot is going to start going in at an avg rate eventually, but not being able to make a 2 footer with any regularity is a big problem for a guy we are hoping can be one of our stars.

I think his confidence in his handle is on part of the problem. Whenever he dribbles aggressively enough to attack the rim he often looks like he is just barely maintaining control of the ball and I think that may affect how confidently he gets off a shot.

The other problem though is that he looks like he has the same amount of touch as Tony Allen. And unlike dribbling skills, I'm not sure that is something that a person can learn.

[TheTruth]

Monkhouse,

Lavine is shooting almost 39 percent from three and 45 percent overall. Those are great numbers for a 21 year old who is still finding where his shots are on the court.

I think if the draft was done again that almost every GM would take Lavine over Smart. His upside is much greater than Martin who you compared him to. LaVine is quicker and has better ups.

[Greyman]

If Smart can't improve his shooting what is his value? For all his energy and prowess on defence, can he be the player the Celtics need him to be in a contending team? I like his attitude so much in past posts I have been more pro Smart and concentrated on what he has done to help this present squad.

If I am to look at a contending team, as is hopefully the case after the draft and off season, Smart starts to look more like a trade chip than a keeper. The squad has the depth to cover for Smart as he is. I do wish though that baskets would drop for him and increase his two way value.   

[TheTruth]

Greece,

The guys from WEEI were questioning the report also but the one host kept saying the source is very reliable.

Think about it tho. Over the last 50 years, only one player was a worse shooter than Marcus. That is crazy.

Would love to see him get back around 38 percent but that's far from where he should be still.

[rollie mass]

marcus has tried floaters ,pullups all wide open-nice moves, timed  right-nothing goes the one layup almost popped out
tommy thinks he is taking off like in college and needs to take another step
smart is giving bigs too much time to react
marcus is getting taught a lesson by refs,not getting any calls
maybe its sophomore jinx BUT
i believe it is a result of crowder going down and that stretch of losses  and having to go toe to to with george ,durant,westbrook and derozan
he had to play aggressive,frustrating defence and he shouldered too much, without jerebko and kelly and the stress and emotions and losing forced him to make bad decisions-he just turned 22
lets see how he works out of this and reacts to crowder coming back-
its a long season, things have not been going well  AND HE IS JUST 22
the press has flogged this kid -quick change since that run of wins and spectcular comebacks
too much pressure and  trying to play against THE SUPERSTARS without help caused marcus to make unwise decisions AND HE IS JUST 22
dave cowens quit once and drove a cab
the media lynchmob are stirring the pot and throwing fuel on the fire and playing on fans emotions-THATS WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO
danny and brad can handle this and a call to silver and league front office might be in order-don't allow the refs to rob us of his defensive genius the refs are clearly letting him get hammered on offence
an easy game against suns might do the trick
 rob ryan you will drive to la guardia for cousins but call marcus a jerk because he had him pegged wrong- just a rookie who stood toe to toe with demarcus over his aggressive getting over the top of his screens
the 6-4  kid tasked to stop 7-3 porzingis AND HE DID
the same kid, who helped with his aggressive defence win three comeback victories and stole the ball on a missed free throw,who gets hipped everytime he fights over a screen or has elbows whistling under his chin by a very powerfull westbrook
or george posting him up using his height advatage,durant the same -the kid has one year in nba-what the F do you guys want a choirboy- to be bludgeoned in press for bad decisions made in heat, of lets call it battle-
 perkins was sent out to blindside crowder, what is a flop compared to what happens in playoffs,hard fouls on layups -hooking ,grabbing shirts,moving screens and hip checks
-byombo decked isaiah  that looked flagrant to me
-westbrook threw that elbow,thank GOD it didn't connect
drawing offensive fouls you are taught to be going backward just as hit -its all timing-smart embellishes the pulls tugs and grabs but they are happening and hinder his defence -
bob ryan is throwing marcus under the bus but will chauffer cousins to boston from la Guardia
the press has no values- just anything for the sake of a story