Smart is not a point guard

[Kuberski1]

I just don't think we can tell at this point (no pun...), as rookie years have so little correlation to future NBA careers.  There are plenty of guys who started off slow and bad, and later become good or even great, and others stay bad and are out of the league in a few years.  I think we need at least 2 if not 3 full seasons to assess what type of player Smart will be.

[dwoumn]

1: Smart cannot Shoot--so he cannot be a shooting guard
2: Smart cannot Drive to the hoop--so he cannot be a point guard

3: He should quit and play football.

Agreed Smart can't shoot but Smart has been driving to the hoop as of late but instead of attacking the rim he's trying to make the extra pass. When he's in the paint he has to look to score. Smart is a combo guard but I see his ceiling as a poor man's D. Wade. Neither are quality shooters but make a living by attacking the rim.

[GreenFaith1819]

Give him time. He'll have PLENTY of that with Rondo gone.

I believe he'll develop into a very good player. I see Dwayne Wade (or something close) one day.

That "one day" may be a few years, though.

[Celtics4ever]

Smart is the typical DA player in that he is a player without a set position.  Ainge seems to like these guys who can plays but are tweeners.

Smart is a motor and effort guy.  He can't shoot is not a pure PG but he will try hard on about every play and win a lot of the hustle plays that win games like diving for loose balls, etc.

[Joe Green]

Smart is a PG or not a starter on any team in the NBA ever....

He is not a "prototypical" PG (ala CP3), but he has the tools to be a playmaker. Was checking out Russel Westbrook's Rookie stats (much more explosive player, but also a "tweener" who dominates his opponents physically).

13 ppg, 39% FG / 27% 3Pt / 5 Rebs / 5 Ast on 32 minutes/ not that far off from Smart.

Before you chew me out - I am not saying Smart will be RW, just that a lot of great PG take a year or two to learn the position...

[2short]

well looking at our roster we have
pressey d league player
turner can play three positions but should be a sixth man type
nelson backup and not a solid one at this point of his career
smart great defender, young rookie with holes in his game

i'm for starting smart at a guard position with our current roster, with bradley or with turner.  We have a few  years to give guys time.  Let him develop.  His defense is first rate nba caliber right away.

[GreenWarrior]

I don't often reply much here anymore, but I lurk and read various posts...  This one caught my attention.

I think a very solid comparison to Smart is Chauncey Billups (as was mentioned a few posts ago).  When you compare body type and style of play, it's a good way to look at Smart.  The one thing NONE of us can know for certain is what kind of potential/ceiling Smart has.  But you CAN look at the early trend of his career and begin to see something:

In college, Smart shot 40% & 42% from the field in his 2 seasons at OK St.  When you look at his 3-point shooting, it's even worse: .290 & .299.

As a Celtic (in limited games) he's showing the trend to show him for what he is: 34% shooter and .292 from 3-point range. 

In college he never averaged 5 assists per game.  He was a bull in a China shop who muscled his way to the rim.  I'm not sure he'll have that capability in the pros.  I honestly think I'd rather have Elfrid Payton on this team instead of Smart, and though I know it's early, I think Danny made a mistake with Smart at that high of a draft choice.  The one thing we know right now is that point guards in the NBA are in ABUNDANCE.  And it's important to find a PG that can SCORE the basketball.  The game is now dominated from the outside in, and not the inside out (as was 20 years ago).  I don't know what Danny saw in Smart, but he won't start - at least for the next couple/three years. 

He appears to be a heady defender who isn't afraid to stick his nose in anyone's business defensively, but he's a horrible shooter and a lousy floor general.

Another thing that concerns me is his lack of taking care of the basketball.  Stevens uses a lot of cross-court passes from the right and left point positions.  Smart continually throws weak passes that are getting picked off, putting the opponent in a good position for 2 one 1 or 3 on 2 fastbreak opportunities.  A smart pg (pardon the pun) would know better, yet Smart seems to not recognize how careless he is with the ball.

Chauncey Billups' worst problem early in his career was that he shot the ball on the way DOWN after his jump.  Instead of getting the ball off at the peak of his leap, he shot it coming down and he was a mess for about the first 5 years of his career.  The first three years of his NBA career, Billups shot 37%, 39% and 34%.  His 3-point shooting was below those figures.  I might be in the minority, but I thought trading him for Kenny Anderson was a wise move for that team.  One could second-guess the move (maybe out of simple hatred for Pitino), but Kenny knew how to run a team (though his character might have been a question mark on such a young ball club).

If I'm Danny, I really look at the options out there for a scoring PG.  I think Smart is a 3-5 year backup, not a starter.  Nelson isn't the answer either, as he's a backup anymore who would fit nicely on a contending team needing reserve help.

I've been watching the NBA closely since 1982, and Smart simply doesn't have the ability to handle what's been thrown at him right now.  I'm not sure he'll ever be a good shooter, and I fear that everyone allowed that ONE GAME get them all giddy and over-react. 

I miss Rondo.  I think Danny made a bad move, but could redeem himself by what he does next (either before this upcoming trade deadline and the offseason).  But this team is an utter mess right now, and if the Celtics want stability it will come through finding a PG who can score in this motion offense that Stevens runs.  But I don't see Smart being the answer as I'm not sure he'll ever be a shooter or a good floor general.  He's a hard-nosed defensive guy that you play in short bursts when you need a spark...  But I guess time will tell, and I hope I'm wrong.

good post. but I disagree with the theory that "we need a scoring PG because everyone else has a scoring PG in order to be competitive".

in fact that makes Smart even more unique and valuable imo, because you need someone to defend these other teams scoring PG's. i'd also argue that I really don't think there is a PG in the league right now that has shown the level of defensive ability Smart has. with being able to defend multiple positions and getting calls a seasoned vet would get...in his rookie season.

as far as his shot goes. I haven't watched his form or anything like that. but from what I've seen his major problem imo is something that just about every rookie suffers from - "shot selection".

it seems smart makes his shots that are the right shots to be taking, in the flow of the offense. then he has lapses and just takes a dumb shot. this is something Billups struggled with for yrs. too.

Imo, shot selection is something that comes with time. the only thing I fear is this team as a whole has poor shot selection and it's encouraged apparently. there's no one for him to learn behind(nelson takes bad shots, so did Rondo), and Stevens again is more likely to continue to encourage it than he is to punish it. 

[Vermont Green]

I felt that Smart was improving at an astonishingly fast pace.  From his first summer league game to that Wizards game, he had shown incredible improvement and promise in my opinion.  That seems to have come to a screeching halt since the second injury (he first hurt his ankle, then missed a couple of games with some sort of Achilles problem).  He has probably hit a sort of rookie wall.  He has already played about a full college season and is not even half way through the NBA grind.

As far as position, I think his future is at PG.  He will need to get back on his improvement trajectory that we saw before the injury but that is no different than any other rookie.  I think we will see continued steady improvement from him for maybe 3 seasons before you will start to see what his ceiling might be.  I don't think anyone on this Blog is smart enough to declare Smart a bust or a star at this point.  He might still be either but it is like trying to track where a hurricane is going to hit shore 7 days in the future.  You have some idea but there are just too many variables to be exact.

Smart right now is our untouchable.  I bet plenty of teams would highly value him in a trade but no way Ainge is going to give up on him.

[greece66]

What Smart is on the offensive end is (and will probably remain for a couple of years) an open debate. I do not think he is as bad as some people make him out to be, but I do hope for some improvement.
Having said this, Smart is already a good hustle player and a good defender. Both his effort in the games and his numbers (charges + steals) speak volumes.
He is also the kind of player who leads by example and I respect this a lot.
Finally, please take into account that he probably has not yet fully recovered from the ankle injury.

[Sketch5]

It drives me nuts people are this impatient with players. 15 freaking games, some of them coming off of injury, which he still doesn't look like he's back to 100%.  Wasn't it a few weeks ago this kid help lead the team against the Wiz in a come back and scored 24 points?

It's funny how people are on him for not being good right away, and DA for picking him over guys like Payton. I'm sorry, but none of the rookies this year are lighting the world on fire. Smart is 20 years old with a strong work ethic. Give him the year to learn the speed of the game, get adjusted, and the summer to work on his body, dribbling and shooting and see wee he's at next season before we claim he can't play in the NBA.

Some of the problem is Stevens takes guys out after a mistake some times instead of letting them work threw issues on the court. Like last night Smart stepped away from some one driving to the hoop in the beginning of the 3rd. Stevens took him out 2 minutes in. Instead he should have told him what he did wrong and see if he adjusts. IF not then take him out. But benching guys who make mistakes but are still playing hard can hurt their conference. And rookies like Smart need confidence  to succeed.

[Joe Green]

Lets give Smart at least until the end of the Season huh?

A. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain
B. We have mediocre to bad options behind him
C. Although painful to watch, he is young and has the tools and the mental attitude to become our team leader

By trade deadline we will see JG, Bass and Likely one or both the Wallace's gone. Maybe we will even find a taker for Jameer.. Then we let the core guys run and see where they are at the end of the year.

[droopdog7]

My opinion has little to do with numbers or being rookie bad.  It has everything to do with skills.  I see very little.  And that isn't going to change dramatically in the nba.

Guys refine their game in the nba.  They don't transform it.

[GreenWarrior]

My opinion has little to do with numbers or being rookie bad.  It has everything to do with skills.  I see very little.  And that isn't going to change dramatically in the nba.

Guys refine their game in the nba.  They don't transform it.

chances are Smart will never be a Russell Westbrook, or All-Star type. doesn't mean anything if he isn't. if he becomes a decent to solid player offensively that averages 8 & 9 and can control the offense like a stable PG then it's a win. it's his defense where he'll be a superstar and where the "skills" are.

[Rosco917]

As for some of you missing Rondo, please remember this, HE DIDN'T WANT TO PLAY HERE. He wanted out, he didn't like you enough to stay here.

It seems to me every time a guard comes out of the  NBA draft and has that tweener label, he seldom ends up a quality point guard. It almost never fails, they end up journey men. I hope this is the exception.

We're going to have to give Smart the benefit of the doubt. It's not like this team is going anywhere.

I remember Kelly last year, the first half of the year he was lost, the game was moving way way too fast for him. He alway had the deer in the head light look in his eyes. He's come a long way.

You have to wait the Marcus Smart situation out. We have many other problems to contend with.

[nacceltic]

These kinds of threads are the ones that will take 4-5 years off my life...

1) The habit of evaluating young talent, not just in basketball, after such a small sample size drives me nuts...Good or bad. Remember Ron Jaworski calling Colin Kaepernick an MVP before last season? The attention span is SHOT in 2014...Someone doesn't produce in the first 1/4 of their first season, they're "done"...Comical.

2) The PG position is the toughest position in the league to learn/handle, especially at 20...The fact that he's stepping into Rondo's shoes makes it even more tough. The fact that he's played most of this season at less than 100% makes it even that much tougher. To judge him long term as a player/PG, after starting 4 or 5 games at the position, is ludicrous.

3) STOP comparing him to Rondo...He's not Rondo and he'll never be Rondo. Two completely different players in practically every way. Rondo is singular in that league regarding his skill set. The fact is, many PG's in the league now are complete opposites of Rondo...Rondo was a throw back - A "pure" handle and dish '1'. Smart is in the role of combo guard, which is how the position is evolving with bigger and better athletes on the floor.

4) Looking at any of Smart's stats right now & shooting percentages and using those numbers as a basis that the kid is a "bust" is a waste of time...It's basically making the statement that this kid CAN'T improve over the next 2-3 years, which is silly. How many players come into the league and don't wow you with their shooting, only to improve over the next few years? Too many to make a list here...

5) In Stevens' offense, you don't need to pound the ball on the deck for 20 seconds...You need to handle the ball well enough to be trusted and have good enough vision to take advantage of certain situations...Smart can and will do that. Again, we're not looking for Rondo II, so to speak.

6) You know what defines 98% of rookies? Inconsistency. There's a reason why one game they look unreal (Smart v. Wall in Washington weeks ago) and why they'll look slightly lost in the next. It's part of maturing as a professional. Did we expect Smart to be unstoppable night in and night out? When's the last time that happened with a rookie, let alone the #6 pick? And, how often does it happen?

Give. It. Time.

I believe Smart will be an All-Star caliber player...I also believe too many fans and even pundits want to grade guys right away and because of that, expectations become unrealistic.