The sad but best comparison to Marcus Smart

[Smartacus]

Disagree.

My best possible outcome for Smart is either Kyle Lowry or Chauncey Billups.

Worst possible outcome I'm not sure.  If he never gets better than he is now, he's still a valuable defensive role player who can hit a three.


It's too early to say what the "best comparison" is for Smart.  I'm pretty confident it's not Lindsay Hunter.

If Lyndsay Hunter is not close

than what do you call , Gary Payton , Wade, or Deron Williams comparison's?

the ones that 95% of Celtics Bloggers give to us?

When I look at Lynday's style of play, how he was used, some of his game footage, what he was known for and lastly his statistics which resemble Smart's almost to a tee.....

He is very much like Hunter,,,,,,im not saying that Marcus can become better or way better...but this comparion even with stats looks good a the moment.


Would you like me to compare Smart with Eric Snow?

Lyndsay guarded bigger guards too, but wasnt strong enough for the 3 positions on defense...

Snow was built more like Smart.

i dont follow your argument here. i am at a loss as to how others being incorrect automatically means your comparison is correct. it could very well be that you have simply joined that other crowd by providing one more poor comparison.

pho above stated very well why this is a questionable comparison at best.

Kind of similar to correlation does not necessarily infer causality. This thread is built on flawed logic.

I think at the very least Smart will never fall off as far as Hunter did. Guy was an after thought for most of the second half of his career, 

The idea that he could have a Gary Payton like ceiling defensively is not out of the question, both are players that use different attributes to reach the same goal. Payton used quickness and agitation to force the opposing ball handler into mistakes. Smart uses his size and quiet disipline to cut off the angles that most players allow.

In this way he actually reminds me of Andre Iguodala.

[celtics2030]

You watch that video, and you tell me how he doesnt look exactly like Marcus Smart

The spot up shooting

The crazy defense


And the out of nowhere come from behind blocks on bigger guys

He is essentially so far, Lyndsay Hunter of this era..

Just check out the video

You wanted a realistic comparison to how he plays at this moment in time.

HEre it is.

Not a comparison to HOF beast like Gary Payton. Wait until Smart averages 10 points a game or something.

Check the stats

Both Lyndsay and Smart were defensive scrappers, both could not shoot, yet were known as spot up shooting point guards ,

Both played tenacious defense...

I dont understand the people who say its a terrible comparison. I think some just want to say its bad for the sake of not agreeing with me.

Gary Payton is a terrible comparison.....nothing in Smart's game shows any type of potential to be Gary Payton

But it definently shows how he can become a Lyndsay Hunter.

Im sorry that it hurts some people's feelings.

Like I said before, Elfird Payton seems way more like a Gary Payton mold.

[KingofDaPlayazBall]

your comparing a players highlights in his prime years to a players highlights rookie year, tell me how is it not retarded to try to determine a players ceiling this way?  are you making the assumption that smart will make no improvements from his rookie year?

[Eddie20]

Alvin Robertson would probably be my best comparison. Good size (6-3). Played a lot of point, but wasn't a natural point guard and played a lot of off guard too. Great defender (1 defensive player of the year award and 7 all defensive team selections) who was a ball hawk (led league in steals 5 times). Made 4 all-star teams. Wasn't the best perimeter shooter, but managed to finish with a career scoring average of 15.9, along with 5.9 RPG, 5.7 APG, and 3.1 SPG.

[sofutomygaha]

Disagree.

My best possible outcome for Smart is either Kyle Lowry or Chauncey Billups.

Worst possible outcome I'm not sure.  If he never gets better than he is now, he's still a valuable defensive role player who can hit a three.


It's too early to say what the "best comparison" is for Smart.  I'm pretty confident it's not Lindsay Hunter.

If Lyndsay Hunter is not close

than what do you call , Gary Payton , Wade, or Deron Williams comparison's?

the ones that 95% of Celtics Bloggers give to us?

I don't really know where you're getting this. I'm on this blog all the freaking time and all I hear about is Marcus Banks and Tony Allen. The Deron Williams thing came up a little bit last fall and then a little bit just now, but otherwise I've barely heard it. I've heard Wade used as a contrast more than a comp, as in "if only Smart was explosive and could finish like Wade, then he like Wade could be a great all-around guard who doesn't happen to shoot the three well." Gary Payton only gets brought up by people who lack either the imagination or the knowledge to name literally any other great defensive point guard.

[sofutomygaha]

to your point, though, Lindsay Hunter does seem like a solid comp for Smart. I would add that Hunter played for a good 15 years or so, and Smart's rookie campaign looked a lot like Hunter in his prime. That doesn't seem like such a bad sign!

[Beat LA]

The only guy like Lindsey Hunter on our team, imo, is Bradley, except that Avery is a better shooter while Hunter could at least dribble and pass, haha .

Now, I don't know if anyone else on here has ever seen 'keeping up appearances,' but every time I see Smart shoot, the rather violent way in which his legs just go out from underneath him reminds me of Onslow's car backfiring, lol . Observe -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H5_xt8ZOzk

[KG Living Legend]

The sad thread title that makes me depressed is this one. Sheesh show some optimism for our best Young player.

[LarBrd33]

Interesting comparison.  Hunter was the 10th pick. Averaged almost 27 points in college.  Similar rookie stats to Marcus.  It's possible.

I think Smart will be a servicable player for a long time and may even be a long-term starter.  He seems to have a mentality conducive to improving so I'm holding out hope he can make leaps.  I was disappointed in his rookie season. I thought we'd see more progress out of him over the second half.  But you never know... He could be a major player some day.  Or he could end up being our Lindsay Hunter/Rodney Stuckey.

[chlldaddy]

You compare him off of a 2 minute clip? I could prob take a 2 minute clip off of 100 guards and say he is similar. Everyone compares to someone so does it really matter? All NBA players can play. A lot of the game is mental and I think Smart is well above average in that category.

[colincb]

Not a very good comparison as rookies and Hunter was 3 years older (and 50+ pounds lighter.)

http://bkref.com/tiny/1pirb

You can expect the difference in shooting (TS%) to be persistent over their careers. Hunter got 4% better on average off his rookie season to average 48%, which is below average. Figure 3-5% TS% improvement for Smart to 52-54% which is average.

Smart also started off as an above average defender. Hunter did not and his career numbers reflect that. Most players get much better defensively than they were as rookies. Expect Smart to.

Advanced stats are all in Smart's favor too. Smart's advanced stats edge out Elfrid's too BTW.

[BballTim]

You watch that video, and you tell me how he doesnt look exactly like Marcus Smart

The spot up shooting

The crazy defense


And the out of nowhere come from behind blocks on bigger guys

He is essentially so far, Lyndsay Hunter of this era..

Just check out the video

You wanted a realistic comparison to how he plays at this moment in time.

HEre it is.

  I don't think people were looking for a realistic comparison to how he plays at this moment in time, more a comparison to the type of player he'll be in a few years.

[colincb]

Interesting comparison.  Hunter was the 10th pick. Averaged almost 27 points in college.  Similar rookie stats to Marcus.  It's possible.

I think Smart will be a servicable player for a long time and may even be a long-term starter.  He seems to have a mentality conducive to improving so I'm holding out hope he can make leaps.  I was disappointed in his rookie season. I thought we'd see more progress out of him over the second half.  But you never know... He could be a major player some day.  Or he could end up being our Lindsay Hunter/Rodney Stuckey.

[Edit. You should actually look at the comparative rookie stats before you say they're similar.]

[Smartacus]

You watch that video, and you tell me how he doesnt look exactly like Marcus Smart

The spot up shooting

The crazy defense


And the out of nowhere come from behind blocks on bigger guys

He is essentially so far, Lyndsay Hunter of this era..

Just check out the video

You wanted a realistic comparison to how he plays at this moment in time.

HEre it is.

Not a comparison to HOF beast like Gary Payton. Wait until Smart averages 10 points a game or something.

Check the stats

Both Lyndsay and Smart were defensive scrappers, both could not shoot, yet were known as spot up shooting point guards ,

Both played tenacious defense...

I dont understand the people who say its a terrible comparison. I think some just want to say its bad for the sake of not agreeing with me.

Gary Payton is a terrible comparison.....nothing in Smart's game shows any type of potential to be Gary Payton

But it definently shows how he can become a Lyndsay Hunter.

Im sorry that it hurts some people's feelings.

Like I said before, Elfird Payton seems way more like a Gary Payton mold.

Ya I based my username off Smart so my feelings are hurt because you said he wasn't guaranteed to be a first ballet hall of famer. Excuse me while I go off and cry in the corner.

If you read what I and others actually wrote in stead of repeating your forced me against the world agenda you might see that I was referring to defensive impact not nessarily play style. A poster here Defense Wins Championships showed through statiscal analysis that Smart may not have put up the Stats that Payton did but graded out as a much more impactful defender.

I also nevet said your Hunter comparison was a bad one only that Smart would have a way better career than Lyndsey did. We can never know until we see how it plays out but I don't think he's going to spend the last year's of his career scraping by riding the bench on minimum contracts like Hunter did,

[Forza Juventus]

I like the Kyle Lowry comparison