ESPN ranked Smart 114th best

[tankcity!]

If Smart continues to shoot efficiently he will jump up the list and it will be well deserved. Relax, the rankings are truly based on last year. If he doesn't perform well, then we shouldn't be concerned about these stupid rankings. We should be more concerned with the player.

[TrueFan]

A good game tonight will be huge for Smart.

I'd like to see him stretch his points per game average while Crowder and Horford are out.

[celtics2030]

I would take Hood over Smart all day every day

[TrueFan]

Well at least Smart had another good shooting night.

[liam]

Arn't there 150 starters in the league? 114th is in starter range. Not bad.

[kraidstar]

If he develops a more reliable jumper he'll be a very good NBA player. Still a very good prospect. Jimmy Butler didn't hit his stride offensively until he was 25.

Nice to see a good offensive game tonight, he was one of the only guys to show up.

[Big333223]

Through 4 games Smart is averaging 13.3 ppg on .426/.375/.400.

The FT percentage has to go up and a player with his strength should be living at the FT line so getting their only 2.5 times per game in 30 mpg isn't enough. But if he gets this FT% up to 70%, those are the shooting splits I want to see from Marcus in year 3.

Add into the mix his energetic defense that's getting smarter all the time, and I'd say he'll definitely outplay this ranking.

[clover]

If he develops a more reliable jumper he'll be a very good NBA player. Still a very good prospect. Jimmy Butler didn't hit his stride offensively until he was 25.

Nice to see a good offensive game tonight, he was one of the only guys to show up.

Yes, it is still early on Smart and there are some very encouraging ticks up in his O this year (TS% of .491, then .463, but up to .516 so far this year.)

Butler was a bit older than Smart coming into they league, but always above .500 and .574 in his sophomore year. (Higher than anyone on the Celtics, other than Amir's limited O, last year.)

[TrueFan]

I would like to see Smart up his averages a little more but he clearly is outperforming his ranking so far.

Is anyone up for the challenge of pulling some names who shouldn't be ahead of Smart from that ESPN ranking. It would be nice to see how he's out playing these guys who were incorrectly ranked ahead.

[Moranis]

Through 4 games Smart is averaging 13.3 ppg on .426/.375/.400.

The FT percentage has to go up and a player with his strength should be living at the FT line so getting their only 2.5 times per game in 30 mpg isn't enough. But if he gets this FT% up to 70%, those are the shooting splits I want to see from Marcus in year 3.

Add into the mix his energetic defense that's getting smarter all the time, and I'd say he'll definitely outplay this ranking.

and the numbers are all coming down, well except the FT shooting but that was so bad it really couldn't have gotten worse.

[mgent]

I can't believe they have Randle 30 spots ahead

I can.  This confirms what I was getting ridiculed about in the "Revisit Randle vs Smart" thread.  While I still have Smart a hair above Randle due to my homerism, I feel like most people outside Laker/Celtic fandom would already say Randle has leapfrogged Smart.

doesn't confirm a thing. arbitrary ESPN rankings (that we still don't have a link for, btw lol) dont confirm anything. what is the basis of the ranking? what are they using to justify the ranking? until we get the actual link, there's nothing to even look into to confirm.

ESPN ranks players every year.  http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank51100/nbarank-players-51-100

Embiid at #58 already.

thanks for the link (and the shameless Embiid plug lol), still doesnt "confirm" anything. ESPN might be touted as the "experts" or whatever, but their rankings don't "confirm" anything at all.

The rankings don't mean anything.  They have Smart ahead of Okafor, Noel AND Simmons which is obviously nonsense.

Wasn't sure if you were overrating Randle or underrating Smart (probably both) but this makes it pretty clear you're underrating Smart.

Smart is a guaranteed starter on every team except for 3 that I can count with already stacked perimeters (Celtics, Warriors, Bulls).  Top 100 sounds about right for him at the moment, especially considering he's in the discussion with Leonard for best defender.

[TrueFan]

I can't believe they have Randle 30 spots ahead

I can.  This confirms what I was getting ridiculed about in the "Revisit Randle vs Smart" thread.  While I still have Smart a hair above Randle due to my homerism, I feel like most people outside Laker/Celtic fandom would already say Randle has leapfrogged Smart.

doesn't confirm a thing. arbitrary ESPN rankings (that we still don't have a link for, btw lol) dont confirm anything. what is the basis of the ranking? what are they using to justify the ranking? until we get the actual link, there's nothing to even look into to confirm.

ESPN ranks players every year.  http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank51100/nbarank-players-51-100

Embiid at #58 already.

thanks for the link (and the shameless Embiid plug lol), still doesnt "confirm" anything. ESPN might be touted as the "experts" or whatever, but their rankings don't "confirm" anything at all.

The rankings don't mean anything.  They have Smart ahead of Okafor, Noel AND Simmons which is obviously nonsense.

Wasn't sure if you were overrating Randle or underrating Smart (probably both) but this makes it pretty clear you're underrating Smart.

Smart is a guaranteed starter on every team except for 3 that I can count with already stacked perimeters (Celtics, Warriors, Bulls).  Top 100 sounds about right for him at the moment, especially considering he's in the discussion with Leonard for best defender.

Randle is having a great season so far but so is Smart.

I would give the nod to Smart because of what he brings on the defensive end.

Anyone picking Randle over Smart?

[TrueFan]

Smart is even better on D this year then last year. I could see him making All NBA defense if he keeps this up.

No way he's not in the top 70 if he continues to impact games like he is.

[droopdog7]

I can't believe they have Randle 30 spots ahead

I can.  This confirms what I was getting ridiculed about in the "Revisit Randle vs Smart" thread.  While I still have Smart a hair above Randle due to my homerism, I feel like most people outside Laker/Celtic fandom would already say Randle has leapfrogged Smart.

doesn't confirm a thing. arbitrary ESPN rankings (that we still don't have a link for, btw lol) dont confirm anything. what is the basis of the ranking? what are they using to justify the ranking? until we get the actual link, there's nothing to even look into to confirm.

ESPN ranks players every year.  http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank51100/nbarank-players-51-100

Embiid at #58 already.

thanks for the link (and the shameless Embiid plug lol), still doesnt "confirm" anything. ESPN might be touted as the "experts" or whatever, but their rankings don't "confirm" anything at all.

The rankings don't mean anything.  They have Smart ahead of Okafor, Noel AND Simmons which is obviously nonsense.

Wasn't sure if you were overrating Randle or underrating Smart (probably both) but this makes it pretty clear you're underrating Smart.

Smart is a guaranteed starter on every team except for 3 that I can count with already stacked perimeters (Celtics, Warriors, Bulls).  Top 100 sounds about right for him at the moment, especially considering he's in the discussion with Leonard for best defender.

Who, aside from Celtic fan, is discussing smarts defense with Leonard?

[chilidawg]

By Rpm, smart is currently the 170th best player.  Sorry guys.