Don't give up on Smart

[TrueFan]

It was a nice xmas day gift to be reminded of how good Smart can be if he ever becomes more consistent. He had a really good game and let's see if he can follow it up with another.

[hpantazo]

I agree, Smart is a special player, the kind that you want to have on your side in crunch time. People are too impatient and always looking to move on to the next great prospect, just look at how many of us here wanted to get rid of Bradley in his first 3 years. I believe Smart is going to be great. Hopefully it will be as a Celtic.

[apc]

I agree, Smart is a special player, the kind that you want to have on your side in crunch time. People are too impatient and always looking to move on to the next great prospect, just look at how many of us here wanted to get rid of Bradley in his first 3 years. I believe Smart is going to be great. Hopefully it will be as a Celtic.

Nothing to be impatient about. He is great as he is. if he can add more skills that a bonus. 

[Csfan1984]

I agree he is Jacky Bradley Jr type of guy. Just a decent offense output from him and he becomes huge x-factor. How many coaches and players keep bringing up his name when talking about the Celtics now? They all respect what he brings and does and they know basketball at its highest level unlike most of us. We need to be positive and patient with his development on offense.

[CelticGuardian]

Smart still has the rest of this year and the next to right the ship. One good game is not going to erase the countless 1 for X and 0 for X nights.

[Chief]

When used properly,  he is an efficient offensive player.

[aingeforthree]

It was a nice xmas day gift to be reminded of how good Smart can be if he ever becomes more consistent. He had a really good game and let's see if he can follow it up with another.

No way is our GM giving up on him. So you have nothing to worry about. Defenders & competitors like this don't come around often. You'd have to get a Cousins back if Smart goes.

[moiso]

When used properly,  he is an efficient offensive player.

And when used improperly in the last minute of a close game

Agree with apc's post.  TP.

[BitterJim]

Smart still has the rest of this year and the next to right the ship. One good game is not going to erase the countless 1 for X and 0 for X nights.

I would say four 1 for X or 0 for X nights is not going to erase his countless good games

[chiken Green]

You Cant measure Smarts contribution to this team by the Score Card or the 3 Ball percentage.. He is much more than that, always has been always will be..  He is Great as is, Can his shooting improve, sure.. but he is one of only a handful of players in the league who can effect winning despite the 1 for X...  Successful teams need guys like that to be successful.

[CelticGuardian]

You Cant measure Smarts contribution to this team by the Score Card or the 3 Ball percentage.. He is much more than that, always has been always will be..  He is Great as is, Can his shooting improve, sure.. but he is one of only a handful of players in the league who can effect winning despite the 1 for X...  Successful teams need guys like that to be successful.

Tell me why we won that Knicks game, what did Smart do at the end there to put it away? Let's say he goes 0 for X again that game. Are we winning this game?

[Ilikesports17]

You Cant measure Smarts contribution to this team by the Score Card or the 3 Ball percentage.. He is much more than that, always has been always will be..  He is Great as is, Can his shooting improve, sure.. but he is one of only a handful of players in the league who can effect winning despite the 1 for X...  Successful teams need guys like that to be successful.

Tell me why we won that Knicks game, what did Smart do at the end there to put it away? Let's say he goes 0 for X again that game. Are we winning this game?

Not sure what your argument is.

If Smart had missed 5 more shots thus resulting in us scoring ~10 less points, then yes we probably lose the game.

The point is that Smart makes winning plays and helps the team shot-making aside.

Smart took 2 bigtime charges and ran some of our best offense the whole game out of the post. He also hit a clutch shot, which he has seemingly dont a lot of in his career shooting percentages aside.

As I see it, the point is this. Smart is terrible at shooting and somehow thinks hes good. He will have games where he has a sub 20 fg%. In those games his ability to be a beast defensively, run the offense fairly well from the post or pick and roll, and make bigtime clutch plays and shots make it so he still helps the team or at least mitigates the negative impact his shooting has.

When he plays within himself and makes his shots he can be incredibly valuable and help the team immensely.

[CelticGuardian]

You Cant measure Smarts contribution to this team by the Score Card or the 3 Ball percentage.. He is much more than that, always has been always will be..  He is Great as is, Can his shooting improve, sure.. but he is one of only a handful of players in the league who can effect winning despite the 1 for X...  Successful teams need guys like that to be successful.

Tell me why we won that Knicks game, what did Smart do at the end there to put it away? Let's say he goes 0 for X again that game. Are we winning this game?

Not sure what your argument is.

If Smart had missed 5 more shots thus resulting in us scoring ~10 less points, then yes we probably lose the game.

The point is that Smart makes winning plays and helps the team shot-making aside.

Smart took 2 bigtime charges and ran some of our best offense the whole game out of the post. He also hit a clutch shot, which he has seemingly dont a lot of in his career shooting percentages aside.

As I see it, the point is this. Smart is terrible at shooting and somehow thinks hes good. He will have games where he has a sub 20 fg%. In those games his ability to be a beast defensively, run the offense fairly well from the post or pick and roll, and make bigtime clutch plays and shots make it so he still helps the team or at least mitigates the negative impact his shooting has.

When he plays within himself and makes his shots he can be incredibly valuable and help the team immensely.

Well since you didn't know, I'm glad you were Smart enough.

Also didn't he hit the dagger three? Look man, Knicks had 3 guys scoring in the 20s, Smart HAD to hit some shots for us to win. Basketball isn't all putbacks and loose ball dives. Sometimes you gotta put the ball inside the hoop, you know to score and whatnot.

[manl_lui]

You Cant measure Smarts contribution to this team by the Score Card or the 3 Ball percentage.. He is much more than that, always has been always will be..  He is Great as is, Can his shooting improve, sure.. but he is one of only a handful of players in the league who can effect winning despite the 1 for X...  Successful teams need guys like that to be successful.

Tell me why we won that Knicks game, what did Smart do at the end there to put it away? Let's say he goes 0 for X again that game. Are we winning this game?

Not sure what your argument is.

If Smart had missed 5 more shots thus resulting in us scoring ~10 less points, then yes we probably lose the game.

The point is that Smart makes winning plays and helps the team shot-making aside.

Smart took 2 bigtime charges and ran some of our best offense the whole game out of the post. He also hit a clutch shot, which he has seemingly dont a lot of in his career shooting percentages aside.

As I see it, the point is this. Smart is terrible at shooting and somehow thinks hes good. He will have games where he has a sub 20 fg%. In those games his ability to be a beast defensively, run the offense fairly well from the post or pick and roll, and make bigtime clutch plays and shots make it so he still helps the team or at least mitigates the negative impact his shooting has.

When he plays within himself and makes his shots he can be incredibly valuable and help the team immensely.

Well since you didn't know, I'm glad you were Smart enough.

Also didn't he hit the dagger three? Look man, Knicks had 3 guys scoring in the 20s, Smart HAD to hit some shots for us to win. Basketball isn't all putbacks and loose ball dives. Sometimes you gotta put the ball inside the hoop, you know to score and whatnot.

while I think Smart's offensive development is important, I don't think the issue with the Knicks game should be focused on Smart's dagger 3, while it was clutch. My main issue with that game was we were up by 12-14 points in the 4th and lost it and they even tied it. That in my opinion is the bigger issue. You simply cannot lose leads like that in the 4th...it's one thing to lose it in the Knicks game, but a major issue when this actually happened a few times this season. To me i am unsure if that is effort or just poor execution towards the end, but everyone should be held accountable, not just Smart

With that said, Smart's contribution is indeed more than just his scoring. I find his passing/leadership/defense is what wins most of our games and not his scoring. It'll be great if he can step up his scoring efforts though, and I absolutely love his post game, I feel we are quite successful if he is left playing one on one with another guard in the post.

[BitterJim]

You Cant measure Smarts contribution to this team by the Score Card or the 3 Ball percentage.. He is much more than that, always has been always will be..  He is Great as is, Can his shooting improve, sure.. but he is one of only a handful of players in the league who can effect winning despite the 1 for X...  Successful teams need guys like that to be successful.

Exactly.  I'd take Smart shooting something like 1 or 2 for 6 with his defense and intangibles over someone like Rozier or Green shooting 3 for 6

Obviously, you take Smart shooting 3 for 6 over him shooting 1 for 6, but that's irrelevant