Is it safe to say both AB and Smart are already better than TA?

[CelticPride2016]

Bradley, sure.

Smart, unfortunately not yet.  Kinda depressing.  I still think he can make a leap this year despite the rough preseason start.

After asking you that preseason question earlier lar, I looked up smarts preseason stats. Off the bench he has averaged 10 ppg on 47% from the field. Granted its only preseason, but if that is anything but a step forward idk what you want from him.

Smart looks much calmer and therefore smarter out there.  I think he's been playing great this preseason.

This caught my eye:

Smart, unfortunately not yet.  Kinda depressing.  I still think he can make a leap this year despite the rough preseason start.

I've seen this guy post comments that make absolutely no sense as if he is looking for attention and not a serious person.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/2990992/marcus-smart

I thought Marcus has been one of the big surprises this preseason with Rozier, Bradley, Green and Jaylen Brown. Everything else is what I thought it'd be.

Smart has had lousy three point shooting, but his two point % must be off the charts.

He is 16-34, one shot off of 50%. So right there this person has been proven wrong. A three point miss isn't penalized more than a two pointer.

Marcus Smart has definitely made the leap. Now it's a matter of if it's a mirage against inferior talent in meaningless games. He looks great to me.

Four games:
93 minutes
40 points
6-7 free throws
12 rebounds
13 assists
5 turnovers
1 block
7 steals
5 personal fouls

He's driving to the hoop with authority similar to Wade. He is money at the free throw line.

I hope he can keep this up. The other guy has clearly made a false statement. Marcus has made the leap. Can he be consistently this good on offense? We shall see.

I'm not sure how the glass is any less than three quarters full for Marcus Smart. He is on schedule flashing point guard and leadership skills. He'll knock down some threes. I think it's great news he's not going to just shoot those. That was a big part of his problem last year taking too many bad three pointers.

He will be our KG. Maybe he will be our starting point guard with Bradley if Isaiah gets too big of an ego. We definitely need Isaiah for now and we'll see how it goes with Smart and Rozier.

I liked Jackson, too.

We are stacked and will eventually be the best team starting now or in a year or two.

[walker834]

I think Smart is arguably better than Isaiah right now. It just won't necessarily show up in the stat sheet as far as scoring points. If Smart was starting he'd get a load of assists, steals and score 16-17 ppg.  We need isaiah's scoring punch right now.

Smart is a very good starting quality player who is playing off our bench. AB is a quality starter.  TA was a roleplayer and defensive specialist. 

Smart starts and he is in discussions for the allstar team.  He's that good a player. He's just not that for us. He's a bench player and a guy we have playing all over the place right now.  As far as just looking at his talent it's not even close.

jaylen is the same thing. Anywhere else he is in discussions for rookie of the year.  Here he might not be.   

Tony Allen was a roleplayer.  A good one we shouldnt have let go but he was a roleplayer and occasional scorer.  Talented but AB is a quality starter who does things night in and night out.

[footey]

Tony Allen is one of the best defensive players in the NBA the last 20 years. Neither Smart or Bradley have achieved or sustained that level. Yet.

[Greyman]

I'm in the AB is better and Smart is getting there camp. Smart has all the signs of having a big season, he could go beyond TA this season.

[LarBrd33]

Bradley, sure.

Smart, unfortunately not yet.  Kinda depressing.  I still think he can make a leap this year despite the rough preseason start.

After asking you that preseason question earlier lar, I looked up smarts preseason stats. Off the bench he has averaged 10 ppg on 47% from the field. Granted its only preseason, but if that is anything but a step forward idk what you want from him.

Smart looks much calmer and therefore smarter out there.  I think he's been playing great this preseason.

This caught my eye:

Smart, unfortunately not yet.  Kinda depressing.  I still think he can make a leap this year despite the rough preseason start.

As it should.   Smart is 2-14 from three so far.  Not at all an encouraging sign from a player who is coming off the worst shooting performance in NBA history.  He spent all Summer working on his shot.  2-14 from three doesn't seem to show progress.  It's a rough start.  But I remain optimistic he can make a leap this year despite the rough start.

The other stuff is whatever.  He's a good defender and a high intangibles role player.  I'm not overreacting to him performing decently against Brooklyn and Philly's backups in preseason.  The main point of emphasis on whether or not he makes a leap this season is improved shooting.  If he's not showing improved shooting, that's a problem.  It's a problem that will keep him in poor man Tony Allen territory. 

But it's only preseason.  And he hopefully will find his stride.  I'm remaining optimistic something will click and he'll find a rhythm that will justify the #6 selection three years ago.  This could be a huge year for him.  It's a make or break year for Smart.

[moiso]

Why is it a make or break year for Smart?  It's not.  Is it a make or break year for Embiid?  Randle?  Of course not.  You just hope the young players keep improving.

[max215]

I think Smart is arguably better than Isaiah right now. It just won't necessarily show up in the stat sheet as far as scoring points. If Smart was starting he'd get a load of assists, steals and score 16-17 ppg.  We need isaiah's scoring punch right now.

Smart is a very good starting quality player who is playing off our bench. AB is a quality starter.  TA was a roleplayer and defensive specialist. 

Smart starts and he is in discussions for the allstar team.  He's that good a player. He's just not that for us. He's a bench player and a guy we have playing all over the place right now.  As far as just looking at his talent it's not even close.

jaylen is the same thing. Anywhere else he is in discussions for rookie of the year.  Here he might not be.   

Tony Allen was a roleplayer.  A good one we shouldnt have let go but he was a roleplayer and occasional scorer.  Talented but AB is a quality starter who does things night in and night out.

I mean, sure, but he'd have to take 16-17 shots per game.

[walker834]

I think Smart is arguably better than Isaiah right now. It just won't necessarily show up in the stat sheet as far as scoring points. If Smart was starting he'd get a load of assists, steals and score 16-17 ppg.  We need isaiah's scoring punch right now.

Smart is a very good starting quality player who is playing off our bench. AB is a quality starter.  TA was a roleplayer and defensive specialist. 

Smart starts and he is in discussions for the allstar team.  He's that good a player. He's just not that for us. He's a bench player and a guy we have playing all over the place right now.  As far as just looking at his talent it's not even close.

jaylen is the same thing. Anywhere else he is in discussions for rookie of the year.  Here he might not be.   

Tony Allen was a roleplayer.  A good one we shouldnt have let go but he was a roleplayer and occasional scorer.  Talented but AB is a quality starter who does things night in and night out.

I mean, sure, but he'd have to take 16-17 shots per game.

Probably yeah. His 3 point shot isnt there yet.  He'd have to carry the load.  He'd shoot alright.

I don't think Marcus is anywhere near a tier 1 player right now.  But he's a very good starter if he were to start and would put up numbers.

I still think he is potentially a better player than Isaiah.  Could end up just a really good roleplayer.  But I think his potential is more than that.

TA was good but not that good.  Really tough player and underrated scorer. Still a roleplayer at best.

TA's long range shot was broken and he did not have it period. Marcus still can and hits big shots.  He was a volume scorer in college but he still was the leader of his team that way.  TA was not that good. Same colleges.  Love them  both. I love guards from Oklahoma State. TA was a scorer though underrated that way. He maxed his ceiling.  Bradley is still growing.  I love how we draft guards. They are tough and good defenders.

[chambers]

Yes, that is a fair assessment.

TA was a great defender but Avery is also an All Defensive player who is a better scorer/facilitator than TA. I believe Smart's defense is better than both of them and his offense looks great so far this year. If he averages 10 points on 45%+ and defends the way he does now, then he's 100% better than Allen.

I think he'll get those stats pretty easily this season.

[LarBrd33]

Why is it a make or break year for Smart?  It's not.  Is it a make or break year for Embiid?  Randle?  Of course not.  You just hope the young players keep improving.

if role players like smart don't show significant improvement by their 3rd year, all reasonable hope of them developing into stars typically disappears.  If he doesn't make a leap this year, it doesn't guarantee he will never make one - but the future star label will essentially go away.  If he puts up similar stats to last year, his trade value will plummet.

[mr. dee]

Why is it a make or break year for Smart?  It's not.  Is it a make or break year for Embiid?  Randle?  Of course not.  You just hope the young players keep improving.

if role players like smart don't show significant improvement by their 3rd year, all reasonable hope of them developing into stars typically disappears.  If he doesn't make a leap this year, it doesn't guarantee he will never make one - but the future star label will essentially go away.  If he puts up similar stats to last year, his trade value will plummet.

I'm pretty sure you can say the same with Kyle Lowry and Chauncey Billups. These players didn't exactly made leaps in their first four years.

Not saying either Smart or AB will be guaranteed All-Star bound, but Billups and Lowry were getting traded from team to team until they excelled on the right system and materialized their potentials that their previous teams couldn't do.

[bopna]

TA is an excellent defensive specialist with a horrible 3pt shot.. Smart is already at TA level defensively but also pretty bad three point %...so are they in the same league..id say yes.

[timpiker]

yes