Earlier this season I said that I still had hope Marcus Smart could make a leap and show the star potential we drafted him for. The third season is usually a make or break season for a young player. The 3rd season is usually when young guys "break out". Because Smart's first two seasons were limited to injury, I pointed out that he wouldn't have 164 games (two full seasons of NBA basketball) under his belt until his 36th game of the year. It was an admittedly ridiculous assertion and completely arbitrary, but I said I wasn't going to really start judging Smart until his 37th game of the season. I was cutting him a ton of slack. His 37th game of the season would technically be when his "3rd season" started in my eyes. Anything leading up to that was just him getting his 164 game reps.
Using that ridiculous "cutting Marcus some slack" handicap, technically Marcus' 3rd season didn't start until January 13th against Atlanta. At that point he had 164 games under his belt. Atlanta was a pretty rough shooting performance typical of Marcus... 2-13 shooting... but I mean... it was his first game of the season, right? Gotta give the kid some time before rushing to judge him. While we're at it... how about we just write off his first 5 games of the fake season (Jan 13 to Jan 24th). His fake 3rd season had just started... you're just getting in a rhythm your first 5 games of a season. It would be unfair to Marcus to judge him based on what he did that early in his fake 3rd season.
So then we get to Jan 25th against Houston. Marcus has now two seasons worth of NBA basketball under his belt (164 games). He's also gotten through 5 extra games or rust-shaking. It's time to officially start judging Marcus Smart. He's on the clock. If he doesn't show some break-out potential at this point, it's unlikely to ever happen.
Luckily, Marcus showed up and had a solid game. 7 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals with decent 40% shooting ... he made his only 3-pointer. Way to go Marcus. That's how you start your fake 3rd season + 5 games buffer! Keep it up! Boston gets the win.
Since that game, Boston has won 11 of 12 games. Marcus has been a key part of that. His field goal percentage (knock on wood) has been very respectable. His last 6 games suggest that maybe... just maybe... he's finally breaking out.
I was admittedly disappointed with his level of play through 2 seasons, but it was almost entirely based on his offensive ability. It's just highly unlikely a team can be successful in the modern NBA with a starting guard who can't shoot. You can't have an offensive liability at a primary scoring position. The recent Ringer article about Rajon Rondo covers this:
https://theringer.com/well-never-see-another-rajon-rondo-chicago-bulls-nba-b1059da62edf#.d88inpevc ... If Marcus couldn't shoot, he was unlikely to be anything more than a defensive role player. But thankfully, we're seeing signs of his shooting improving. It's no coincidence that during this 12 game stretch, Marcus has shot an respectable NBA-level 44% from the field and a better than respectable NBA-level 37% from three. If he can keep doing that while maintaining the exceptional defense and intangibles we've always known he can bring, Boston will benefit greatly and he could genuinely reach stardom.
It's a tiny sample size and he could follow up these performances by rattling off a 20 straight games bricking 20% from the field, but there's a reasonable case to be made that he's showing real improvement. I really hope that if we keep him, this level of play continues. But if we don't, it's pretty great that his trade value is peaking at the perfect time. If we keep the Brooklyn pick and it lands top 2, we're adding another guard to an already loaded guard rotation of Thomas, Bradley, Smart, and sometimes Rozier. Either Smart or Bradley is going to take a massive minutes hit if that happens. It's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out.
