New Marcus Smart comparison?

[Vermont Green]

I think Smart surpasses Tony Allen but it is hard to find a comparable player.  What Smart has that is hard to find in another player is versatility.  He doesn't play any one position as well as you would like but he can contribute at 3 positions at a pretty high level.

He was picked in the range of Aaron Gordon, Exum, Randle, Stauskas, Vonleh, Payton, McDermott...  None of these players are jumping off the page here.  I am hanging in with Marcus.  Marcus has a better shot than Rondo (I know, not saying much) but is more versatile.  Is Rondo higher than Tony Allen?  I think Smart is higher than either.

I don't think saying a middle class version (something better than "poor man's version") of DJ or Dumars is such a stretch.  Those guys both averaged about 9 pts when they were 22.  Marcus is not all that far behind but yes, he is trailing them at this point and probably won't match them.  But these are stars of their time.  it is a lot to ask for him to catch either of them.

[PhoSita]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

[LarBrd33]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

Do you see him as something like a bigger Tyronn Lue without the shooting ability?  Someone who will bounce around from team to team and make defensive contributions off the bench?  Could find himself on a title team some day causing problems for the opponent's star PG?

This league is flooded with quality PGs these days.  The 2017 draft is thought to be epic and most of the top prospects are PGs.  These days you need a PG who can score/shoot.   Smart will have value as a defensive weapon off the bench, but at his current level of production I can't see a team being that successful with him starting. 

[celticsclay]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

Do you see him as something like a bigger Tyronn Lue without the shooting ability?  Someone who will bounce around from team to team and make defensive contributions off the bench?  Could find himself on a title team some day causing problems for the opponent's star PG?

This league is flooded with quality PGs these days.  The 2017 draft is thought to be epic and most of the top prospects are PGs.  These days you need a PG who can score/shoot.   Smart will have value as a defensive weapon off the bench, but at his current level of production I can't see a team being that successful with him starting.

Lue's career in points per game for a full season was 11.4 in his 8th season. Smart is averaging 10.5 in his third season at age 22.

Lue never even averaged a steal a game his entire career. Smart averages 1.5 this year alone

Lue's career high in rebounds was 2.5 rebounds per game. Smart averages 4.3 this year

Lue's career high in assists was 4.2 per game. Smart is already averaging 3.3 this year.

Smart has already received more defensive praise in 2 seasons than Lue did in the entirety of his career.

Lue was not a dead eye shooter either to offset these weakness shooting 43% for his career (although his 39% from 3 was very solid). Seems pretty silly to compare the two considering Smart will surpass many of the career highs for Lue's 10 year career in his 3rd season coming off the bench. Surely we can do better comparisons than this.

[alldaboston]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

Do you see him as something like a bigger Tyronn Lue without the shooting ability?  Someone who will bounce around from team to team and make defensive contributions off the bench?  Could find himself on a title team some day causing problems for the opponent's star PG?

This league is flooded with quality PGs these days. The 2017 draft is thought to be epic and most of the top prospects are PGs.  These days you need a PG who can score/shoot.   Smart will have value as a defensive weapon off the bench, but at his current level of production I can't see a team being that successful with him starting.

3 of the top 10 prospects according to DraftExpress are point guards. There's 7 other prospects who are either SFs or PFs

[tarheelsxxiii]

In seriousness though, I don't think there's anything wrong with him in Pho's predicted bench role -- may be more realistic given offensive production and even being injury-prone. You can comfortably fill him in as a starter when needed, too.

What's more important to me is that he will close plenty of games because of his intangibles... in that regard, he may end up underrated.  He won the DET game just as much as Horford did, and that's not the first time it's happened.

[LarBrd33]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

Do you see him as something like a bigger Tyronn Lue without the shooting ability?  Someone who will bounce around from team to team and make defensive contributions off the bench?  Could find himself on a title team some day causing problems for the opponent's star PG?

This league is flooded with quality PGs these days. The 2017 draft is thought to be epic and most of the top prospects are PGs.  These days you need a PG who can score/shoot.   Smart will have value as a defensive weapon off the bench, but at his current level of production I can't see a team being that successful with him starting.

3 of the top 10 prospects according to DraftExpress are point guards. There's 7 other prospects who are either SFs or PFs

Interesting.  I guess there's no consensus amongst the mocks right now.   Nbadraft.net has 6 of the top 11 guys as PGs.  And I've read that the top 11 guys in this draft would all go ahead of the #3 pick in 2016.

[Ilikesports17]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

Do you see him as something like a bigger Tyronn Lue without the shooting ability?  Someone who will bounce around from team to team and make defensive contributions off the bench?  Could find himself on a title team some day causing problems for the opponent's star PG?

This league is flooded with quality PGs these days. The 2017 draft is thought to be epic and most of the top prospects are PGs.  These days you need a PG who can score/shoot.   Smart will have value as a defensive weapon off the bench, but at his current level of production I can't see a team being that successful with him starting.

3 of the top 10 prospects according to DraftExpress are point guards. There's 7 other prospects who are either SFs or PFs

Interesting.  I guess there's no consensus amongst the mocks right now.   Nbadraft.net has 6 of the top 11 guys as PGs.  And I've read that the top 11 guys in this draft would all go ahead of the #3 pick in 2016.

whered you read that?

Also, that sounds like classic future draft hype.

[celticsclay]

He is what he is, methinks. 

I like him as a utility guy off the bench, 20-28 mpg, makes clutch defensive plays, good to have in a 5 man group so long as there are 2-3 scorers beside him. 

Not the kind of upside you'd like to see in a top 10 pick, but the 2014 lotto had plenty of less than super impressive guys.  Lots of teams passed on Zach Lavine.

Julius Randle is looking like a quality PF.  I think the Celts missed a good one there, but it's understandable why they didn't look that way at the time.

Oh well.  Smart's fun to have around.

Do you see him as something like a bigger Tyronn Lue without the shooting ability?  Someone who will bounce around from team to team and make defensive contributions off the bench?  Could find himself on a title team some day causing problems for the opponent's star PG?

This league is flooded with quality PGs these days. The 2017 draft is thought to be epic and most of the top prospects are PGs.  These days you need a PG who can score/shoot.   Smart will have value as a defensive weapon off the bench, but at his current level of production I can't see a team being that successful with him starting.

3 of the top 10 prospects according to DraftExpress are point guards. There's 7 other prospects who are either SFs or PFs

Interesting.  I guess there's no consensus amongst the mocks right now.   Nbadraft.net has 6 of the top 11 guys as PGs.  And I've read that the top 11 guys in this draft would all go ahead of the #3 pick in 2016.

whered you read that?

Also, that sounds like classic future draft hype.

I read it had 4 tiers, but Chad Ford was coming up with new tiers because the old ones were not working. May retroactively change past tiers.

[jambr380]

His offense may never materialize into what we once all had hoped, but Marcus seems like the kind-of guy any coach would want on the floor for as much time as possible.  The term 'role player' seems to be getting thrown around pretty loosely in this thread. Are we just insinuating that if a player does not become a star that he is automatically a role player?

Marcus is a selfless player who does anything to win. Lumping in him in with the Tyronn Lues of the world seems a little disingenuous. He is a unique player and I am happy to have him.

[celticsclay]

His offense may never materialize into what we once all had hoped, but Marcus seems like the kind-of guy any coach would want on the floor for as much time as possible.  The term 'role player' seems to be getting thrown around pretty loosely in this thread. Are we just insinuating that if a player does not become a star that he is automatically a role player?

Marcus is a selfless player who does anything to win. Lumping in him in with the Tyronn Lues of the world seems a little disingenuous. He is a unique player and I am happy to have him.

That was my exact sentiment when I saw it. Smart already does things at more elite level than Lue ever did in his entire career. If we wanted to compare him with players like Bowen and Allen that were at least elite at one thing that makes a bit more sense than the horrible misguided and flat out embarrassing Lue comparison.

[LarBrd33]

His offense may never materialize into what we once all had hoped, but Marcus seems like the kind-of guy any coach would want on the floor for as much time as possible.  The term 'role player' seems to be getting thrown around pretty loosely in this thread. Are we just insinuating that if a player does not become a star that he is automatically a role player?

Marcus is a selfless player who does anything to win. Lumping in him in with the Tyronn Lues of the world seems a little disingenuous. He is a unique player and I am happy to have him.

That was my exact sentiment when I saw it. Smart already does things at more elite level than Lue ever did in his entire career. If we wanted to compare him with players like Bowen and Allen that were at least elite at one thing that makes a bit more sense than the horrible misguided and flat out embarrassing Lue comparison.

I agree that it's embarrassing a #6 pick in a loaded draft can reasonably be compared to Tyronn Lue.

Again, still crossing my fingers Marcus makes an improbable leap.   

[celticsclay]

His offense may never materialize into what we once all had hoped, but Marcus seems like the kind-of guy any coach would want on the floor for as much time as possible.  The term 'role player' seems to be getting thrown around pretty loosely in this thread. Are we just insinuating that if a player does not become a star that he is automatically a role player?

Marcus is a selfless player who does anything to win. Lumping in him in with the Tyronn Lues of the world seems a little disingenuous. He is a unique player and I am happy to have him.

That was my exact sentiment when I saw it. Smart already does things at more elite level than Lue ever did in his entire career. If we wanted to compare him with players like Bowen and Allen that were at least elite at one thing that makes a bit more sense than the horrible misguided and flat out embarrassing Lue comparison.

I agree that it's embarrassing a #6 pick in a loaded draft can reasonably be compared to Tyronn Lue.

Again, still crossing my fingers Marcus makes an improbable leap.

But he cant. Again still crossing my fingers you stop posting the same nonsense every day.

[LarBrd33]

His offense may never materialize into what we once all had hoped, but Marcus seems like the kind-of guy any coach would want on the floor for as much time as possible.  The term 'role player' seems to be getting thrown around pretty loosely in this thread. Are we just insinuating that if a player does not become a star that he is automatically a role player?

Marcus is a selfless player who does anything to win. Lumping in him in with the Tyronn Lues of the world seems a little disingenuous. He is a unique player and I am happy to have him.

That was my exact sentiment when I saw it. Smart already does things at more elite level than Lue ever did in his entire career. If we wanted to compare him with players like Bowen and Allen that were at least elite at one thing that makes a bit more sense than the horrible misguided and flat out embarrassing Lue comparison.

I agree that it's embarrassing a #6 pick in a loaded draft can reasonably be compared to Tyronn Lue.

Again, still crossing my fingers Marcus makes an improbable leap.

But he cant. Again crossing my fingers you stop posting the same nonsense every day.

If he can't... we need to cut ties with him.  He's bottom 5 on the team in PER.  His lack of offense outweighs his bursts of defense.   

I need to believe that he can make a leap.  I can't stomach a world where this is the final form of a guy we used a #6 pick on.  Not while several players from the same class are now leapfrogging him.

[celticsclay]

His offense may never materialize into what we once all had hoped, but Marcus seems like the kind-of guy any coach would want on the floor for as much time as possible.  The term 'role player' seems to be getting thrown around pretty loosely in this thread. Are we just insinuating that if a player does not become a star that he is automatically a role player?

Marcus is a selfless player who does anything to win. Lumping in him in with the Tyronn Lues of the world seems a little disingenuous. He is a unique player and I am happy to have him.

That was my exact sentiment when I saw it. Smart already does things at more elite level than Lue ever did in his entire career. If we wanted to compare him with players like Bowen and Allen that were at least elite at one thing that makes a bit more sense than the horrible misguided and flat out embarrassing Lue comparison.

I agree that it's embarrassing a #6 pick in a loaded draft can reasonably be compared to Tyronn Lue.

Again, still crossing my fingers Marcus makes an improbable leap.

But he cant. Again crossing my fingers you stop posting the same nonsense every day.

If he can't... we need to cut ties with him.  He's bottom 5 on the team in PER.  His lack of offense outweighs his bursts of defense.   

I need to believe that he can make a leap.  I can't stomach a world where this is the final form of a guy we used a #6 pick on.  Not while several players from the same class are now leapfrogging him.

Lol he won our last game for us.