Serious Marcus Smart Question

[crimson_stallion]

I was as big of a Tony Allen fan as you will find, have signed pictures of him and the rest, but there is something different about Smart. Tony was a great defender but Smart just has this weird way of knocking a ball loose in a close game with under a minute left, or drawing the offensive foul, just something that wins games I don't know how he does it but it just seems like he is like the Michael Jordan of defense when the game is on the line you expect him to do something defensively to win the game and I don't ever really remember watching a player that did that more than Smart.

i would love to have him stop chucking threes but I still want him in at the end of a close game just has the ability to rise to the occasion and mentally beat other players.

The thing with Smart that is both his biggest strength and biggest curse, is that he always does everything in extremes. 

He's a guy who plays with a great deal of energy and testosterone because he plays the game off emotion and instinct moreso then thinking and calculation. 

The good thing about this is that it often leads to him getting to loose balls that others don't think of jumping for, or knocking away steals that other players don't seen an opportunity for, or finishing big put-backs that other guys don't have the energy to jump for. 

The bad thing is that it also often leads to him committing ill-advised fouls, committing bone-headed turnovers, or taking really poor shots, all at critical moments in the game. 

The net result here is that Smart has a tenancy to impact games in key moments, but he does so for the worst just as much as he does for the better.  For every game he wins with that amazing last minute defence - there's a game he's lost on the back of a unwisely forced offensive foul, a wild pass that has gone straight out of bounds, or an idiotic contested three that never had a hope of hitting anything.   

I think Smart is a great guy to have on the court if you use him right.  It saddens me to say the best way to maximise his usefullness is to have him on the court, but minimise the number of times he ever gets the ball in his hands.  Most of the clutch mistakes he makes happen on the offensive end of the court - turnovers, bad shots, charges, etc.  Take the ball out of his hands and those plays are mostly eliminated, while you still have him there to impact the game off the ball and on defence - areas where he can be a legitimate game changer. 

The problem right now is that Smart gets far too many touches and far too many shot attempts, and that's not an effective way to utilise his strengths.