Vegas Summer League: Game 1 Celtics (0-0) vs Blazers (0-0) 7/11/15

[LarBrd33]

Somehow Smart looks like he's doubled his point guard instincts/ball-handling ability since the season ended.

Yeah it's almost like he's playing against people 1/5th as good as he was at the end of the year, or something.

How is better ball-handling, better court-vision, and shooting off of the dribble (while being contested) affected by who he's playing against?

You just want Smart to suck so bad you're blind to how good he actually is.

I definitely don't want him to suck.   I hope his progress is real... but it's summer league.  He looks better than he did a year ago in summer league.  I don't know if he's better than he was at the end of the year, though.

Or how about he's been given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game?

I think all of that is true... and we aren't certain yet if he'll be given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game in the big leagues.  And we don't know if he's capable of playing on this level in the real NBA yet.   But he's putting up stats, which is nice.  He's shooting 37% in the summer league.  I don't think he'll get the freedom to jack up 17 shots a night in the NBA.   His offense still needs work.

For sure it still needs work. As long as Turner is not at the 3 with Smart starting at the 1, I think he'll start being the primary ball-handler this year. A big like Lee or Olynyk can also help him out from the high post, too.

Smart has unquestionably been one of the best summer league performers.  It's reason for optimism.  I'm excited to see what kind of growth he displays next year.  I'm just trying to keep my expectations low.  He shot 37% last year in the NBA and he's shooting 37% in summer league.  That's not going to cut it. 

[max215]

Somehow Smart looks like he's doubled his point guard instincts/ball-handling ability since the season ended.

Yeah it's almost like he's playing against people 1/5th as good as he was at the end of the year, or something.

How is better ball-handling, better court-vision, and shooting off of the dribble (while being contested) affected by who he's playing against?

You just want Smart to suck so bad you're blind to how good he actually is.

I definitely don't want him to suck.   I hope his progress is real... but it's summer league.  He looks better than he did a year ago in summer league.  I don't know if he's better than he was at the end of the year, though.

Or how about he's been given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game?

I think all of that is true... and we aren't certain yet if he'll be given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game in the big leagues.  And we don't know if he's capable of playing on this level in the real NBA yet.   But he's putting up stats, which is nice.  He's shooting 37% in the summer league.  I don't think he'll get the freedom to jack up 17 shots a night in the NBA.   His offense still needs work.

For sure it still needs work. As long as Turner is not at the 3 with Smart starting at the 1, I think he'll start being the primary ball-handler this year. A big like Lee or Olynyk can also help him out from the high post, too.

Smart has unquestionably been one of the best summer league performers.  It's reason for optimism.  I'm excited to see what kind of growth he displays next year.  I'm just trying to keep my expectations low.  He shot 37% last year in the NBA and he's shooting 37% in summer league.  That's not going to cut it.

From what I've seen, the shot selection still needs (a lot of) work. The good thing is, that's easily fixable and we know we have a very capable coaching staff. I'd probably rather have someone like Smart, who has the confidence to put up shots, as opposed to someone like Olynyk, who is too timid to shoot even when he absolutely should. Another positive, he is probably not going to be relied upon for scoring (yet) like he is on the SL team, so there's reason to believe he'll be more selective during the regular season.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Somehow Smart looks like he's doubled his point guard instincts/ball-handling ability since the season ended.

Yeah it's almost like he's playing against people 1/5th as good as he was at the end of the year, or something.

How is better ball-handling, better court-vision, and shooting off of the dribble (while being contested) affected by who he's playing against?

You just want Smart to suck so bad you're blind to how good he actually is.

I definitely don't want him to suck.   I hope his progress is real... but it's summer league.  He looks better than he did a year ago in summer league.  I don't know if he's better than he was at the end of the year, though.

Or how about he's been given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game?

I think all of that is true... and we aren't certain yet if he'll be given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game in the big leagues.  And we don't know if he's capable of playing on this level in the real NBA yet.   But he's putting up stats, which is nice.  He's shooting 37% in the summer league.  I don't think he'll get the freedom to jack up 17 shots a night in the NBA.   His offense still needs work.

For sure it still needs work. As long as Turner is not at the 3 with Smart starting at the 1, I think he'll start being the primary ball-handler this year. A big like Lee or Olynyk can also help him out from the high post, too.

Smart has unquestionably been one of the best summer league performers.  It's reason for optimism.  I'm excited to see what kind of growth he displays next year.  I'm just trying to keep my expectations low.  He shot 37% last year in the NBA and he's shooting 37% in summer league.  That's not going to cut it. 

I wouldn't be too worried about shooting percentages, but with shot selection... he's bombarding a lot of 3s, many of them contested.

I'll say this though, at least for the last game, the degree of difficulty for all his shots were sky high, at many times being double and triple teamed from inside the 3-point arc.

I for one would like to see him being more efficient, but it's really not much a priority for me. I want to see him drive to the basket more and be wiser of when to shoot and when not to. I think his shot is quite good when taken when appropriate, has been very accurate with it. Just needs to be smarter about it, no pun intended.

[jpotter33]

Somehow Smart looks like he's doubled his point guard instincts/ball-handling ability since the season ended.

Yeah it's almost like he's playing against people 1/5th as good as he was at the end of the year, or something.

How is better ball-handling, better court-vision, and shooting off of the dribble (while being contested) affected by who he's playing against?

You just want Smart to suck so bad you're blind to how good he actually is.

I definitely don't want him to suck.   I hope his progress is real... but it's summer league.  He looks better than he did a year ago in summer league.  I don't know if he's better than he was at the end of the year, though.

Or how about he's been given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game?

I think all of that is true... and we aren't certain yet if he'll be given a larger role, main control of the point guard duties, and the freedom to go out and play his game in the big leagues.  And we don't know if he's capable of playing on this level in the real NBA yet.   But he's putting up stats, which is nice.  He's shooting 37% in the summer league.  I don't think he'll get the freedom to jack up 17 shots a night in the NBA.   His offense still needs work.

For sure it still needs work. As long as Turner is not at the 3 with Smart starting at the 1, I think he'll start being the primary ball-handler this year. A big like Lee or Olynyk can also help him out from the high post, too.

Smart has unquestionably been one of the best summer league performers.  It's reason for optimism.  I'm excited to see what kind of growth he displays next year.  I'm just trying to keep my expectations low.  He shot 37% last year in the NBA and he's shooting 37% in summer league.  That's not going to cut it. 

I wouldn't be too worried about shooting percentages, but with shot selection... he's bombarding a lot of 3s, many of them contested.

I'll say this though, at least for the last game, the degree of difficulty for all his shots were sky high, at many times being double and triple teamed from inside the 3-point arc.

I for one would like to see him being more efficient, but it's really not much a priority for me. I want to see him drive to the basket more and be wiser of when to shoot and when not to. I think his shot is quite good when taken when appropriate, has been very accurate with it. Just needs to be smarter about it, no pun intended.

I keep saying that he's reminded me of Westbrook a lot in that regard. To me, that's just one of those things that you have to take the good with the bad. I'm betting he'll always some questionable shot selection to his game, but an aggressive smart is worth a couple of bad shots a game.