ESPN ranks Marcus Smart among Rising Stars

[IDreamCeltics]

Congrats to Marcus Smart!! ESPN has him ranked 33rd among players 24 or younger.

Some of his less objective fans might take this as a slight, but a year ago his only claim to fame was being the least efficient offensive player in NBA history so I consider this a big step up.

[Csfan1984]

I think it's completely deserving. He has to get better on both sides of the ball and still mature a great deal. Hopefully he develops into a top 10 guard not just simply a glue guy.

[celticsclay]

Congrats to Marcus Smart!! ESPN has him ranked 33rd among players 24 or younger.

Some of his less objective fans might take this as a slight, but a year ago his only claim to fame was being the least efficient offensive player in NBA history so I consider this a big step up.

Some names he is ranked higher than:
Elfrid Payton
Marquese Chriss
Jahill Okafor (Okafor is actually below even Jaylen Brown)
Kris Dunn
Tobias Harris
Dario Saric
Jamal Murray

He is ranked right behind Nerlens Noel.

[PhoSita]

Congrats to Marcus Smart!! ESPN has him ranked 33rd among players 24 or younger.

Some of his less objective fans might take this as a slight, but a year ago his only claim to fame was being the least efficient offensive player in NBA history so I consider this a big step up.

Some names he is ranked higher than:
Elfrid Payton
Marquese Chriss
Jahill Okafor (Okafor is actually below even Jaylen Brown)
Kris Dunn
Tobias Harris
Dario Saric
Jamal Murray

He is ranked right behind Nerlens Noel.

Yeah, I would not count this as a compliment by ESPN.  He's clearly ranked behind a bunch of players who would not help the Celts win games nearly as much as Marcus does.

[CelticPride2016]

It's been his free throw shooting, passing, posting up and insane defense which has him knocking on the all-star door.

Celtics blogger Chambers wrote in January:

Marcus Smart has shot 94% (31/33) from free throw line in last 12 games.

Some think he will always be a lousy shooter, but I'm not so sure. 31 out of 33 for even free throws shows an ability to shoot. He has also had some rare games where he mysteriously shot at a very high rate, maybe against Oklahoma a couple years ago.

I think Marcus deserves at least one more Summer to work on it before we assume he's another Rondo.

I'd say both Marcus and Jaylen have equal odds at becoming future All-Stars and are in the process of forming the core Danny is machinating.

At some point, Jaylen is going to go off on a serious tear in a game. That's brewing under the surface.

Marcus and Jaylen are especially fun to watch with Avery injured. It's just obvious they need to step it up. Olynyk is starting to sense the team needs him. I hope when Avery comes back, he is eased into it, especially if he's rusty.

The team is getting better and better. We seem relatively healthy with only Bradley and Jerebko as game time decisions.

[mahcussmaht]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

[manl_lui]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

good, show this to Smart and Brown and light a fire under them

[mahcussmaht]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

good, show this to Smart and Brown and light a fire under them

I would not be surprised if this entire series was funded by a rival team to trash our young assets.   The rankings are insultingly low and putting our best young players this close to 76er castoffs and behind every Laker youth seems deliberate to me.  Watch them put Ben Simmons in the top 10 even though he hasn't played a single basketball game yet.

[celticsclay]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

I wouldn't go that far. Don't you think it is pretty impressive that a 19 year old rookie who has been playing like 10 minutes a game is ahead of a guy that was drafted a year earlier and made the all-rookie first team?

If Jaylen develops the potential he has shown he will be a lot higher next year.

[celticsclay]

Congrats to Marcus Smart!! ESPN has him ranked 33rd among players 24 or younger.

Some of his less objective fans might take this as a slight, but a year ago his only claim to fame was being the least efficient offensive player in NBA history so I consider this a big step up.

Some names he is ranked higher than:
Elfrid Payton
Marquese Chriss
Jahill Okafor (Okafor is actually below even Jaylen Brown)
Kris Dunn
Tobias Harris
Dario Saric
Jamal Murray

He is ranked right behind Nerlens Noel.

Yeah, I would not count this as a compliment by ESPN.  He's clearly ranked behind a bunch of players who would not help the Celts win games nearly as much as Marcus does.

Phosita, just to be clear he was listed as better than all the guys I mentioned. We have seen a lot of threads on this board suggesting Smart is worse than those guys so it is nice to see him in front of them by Pelton if for no other reason.

I am disappointed he has not developed his shooting more this year and don't really have a lot of hope it will improve.

[mahcussmaht]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

I wouldn't go that far. Don't you think it is pretty impressive that a 19 year old rookie who has been playing like 10 minutes a game is ahead of a guy that was drafted a year earlier and made the all-rookie first team?

If Jaylen develops the potential he has shown he will be a lot higher next year.

No.  First of all, Jaylen is not 19.  He's 22.  Second, Jahlil Okafor is the worst player to ever play the game.  He's a poor man's Yinka Dare.  Putting Jaylen even with him is a savage insult.  Putting our best prospect outside the top 40 behind numerous losers is a hate crime against the Boston Celtics.

[celticsclay]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

I wouldn't go that far. Don't you think it is pretty impressive that a 19 year old rookie who has been playing like 10 minutes a game is ahead of a guy that was drafted a year earlier and made the all-rookie first team?

If Jaylen develops the potential he has shown he will be a lot higher next year.

No.  First of all, Jaylen is not 19.  He's 22.  Second, Jahlil Okafor is the worst player to ever play the game.  He's a poor man's Yinka Dare.  Putting Jaylen even with him is a savage insult.  Putting our best prospect outside the top 40 behind numerous losers is a hate crime against the Boston Celtics.

Well in this instance we were both wrong. He was 19 when the season started but I didn't realize he turned 20 in October. However, he certainly is not 22... where did you get that?

BTW I like your passion on this. Hate crime lol

[Smartacus]

UGH.  It's pretty upsetting that none of our young players make the top 30. 

It has Jaylen Brown and Jahlil Okafor basically even in the 41 and 43.

It has Marcus Smart and Dario Saric basically even at 33 and 34.

And it has Nerlens Noel ranked ahead of all our young guys at #31. 

That makes me angry.  This was obviously written by a Sixers fan.  Either that or a Lakers fan.  It has Jordan Clarkson ranked ahead of all our guys at #32 and I don't see Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle or D'Angelo Russell on the list yet, so I'm guessing they will all be in the top 30 above all our young players.   

This is a Celtic hit job.

I wouldn't go that far. Don't you think it is pretty impressive that a 19 year old rookie who has been playing like 10 minutes a game is ahead of a guy that was drafted a year earlier and made the all-rookie first team?

If Jaylen develops the potential he has shown he will be a lot higher next year.

No.  First of all, Jaylen is not 19.  He's 22. Second, Jahlil Okafor is the worst player to ever play the game.  He's a poor man's Yinka Dare.  Putting Jaylen even with him is a savage insult.  Putting our best prospect outside the top 40 behind numerous losers is a hate crime against the Boston Celtics.

Proof positive that user Mahcussmaht is posting from the future! A world where Jaylen is a 22 year fringe all star and Jahleel Okafor ate himself into an uncerimonious early retirement.

Either that or the gentleman is a Jaylen Brown birther, per wikipedia...
Jaylen's Birthday - October 24, 1996 (age 20 years)

He was 19 when he was drafted. A little confused am I missing some sarcasm here?

[Moranis]

Smart is 2.5 years in and still a terrible shooter.  It seems pretty likely he will never develop the shot based on where he is currently at.  The fact that he is ranked ahead of someone like Tobias Harris shows how good Smart's defense is and how much respect he gets because of it. 

[SHAQATTACK]

Shooting is far from the story , the guy just finds ways to improve his teams chance to win.....he is a winner period.

He does not come into a game an sulk and stand around and watch because his shot is off .....he puts on his hard hat gets to work. Doing every possible dirty job to help his team

This is my type of player.

Every coach wants a Smart on his team