Did Turner really stunt Smart's development?

[Beat LA]

With Evan Turner taking his talents to Portland, many people on here have expressed relief due to the fact that Smart can now, at least theoretically, be entrusted with the responsibility of being the second unit's primary ball handler.  Here's my issue with this line of thinking - even relatively recently, I've argued that RJ Hunter, for example, should have gotten more minutes during the season when we had injuries to key players, and the response that I kept getting was that 'Stevens knows best' and that 'if Hunter had been better, he would have played more', which is fine.  I accept that.

The only problem with this train of thought, however, to me, at least, is that we saw in the playoffs how Terry Rozier received far more minutes than Smart as the primary ball handler off of the bench after Bradley's injury.  Is this not an indication that Stevens thinks that Smart just simply isn't good enough to be given the keys to the offense?  Otherwise, why would he entrust those duties to a rookie, even in the postseason?  I get that Turner's skillset was never a good fit with Smart, but why isn't the same thought process regarding RJ Hunter not receiving playing time applied to this situation?  Don't you think that if Smart was good enough that he would have taken that job from ET this past season? 

[CFAN38]

I voted no but in a way he did positively, by allowing him to take his focus off the ball I believe he gave him the room to focus defensively without the burden of running the offense.

This is now a big year for smart and time to pull it all together. His minutes will go up and his offensive role will expand. His improvement will be a key part of the Cs continued success.

[Drucci]

I voted no but in a way he did positively, by allowing him to take his focus off the ball I believe he gave him the room to focus defensively without the burden of running the offense.

This is now a big year for smart and time to pull it all together. His minutes will go up and his offensive role will expand. His improvement will be a key part of the Cs continued success.

Agreed but I remember that  Evan Turner would always refuse to give the ball to Marcus even when he was wide open so his departure should help in that regard. I'm all in for more responsibilities for Smart in Year 3.

[LilRip]

Rozier came off the bench because he was the next best player, IMO. He handled the ball because he can't play SG, whereas smart is versatile enough to be a PG/SG. But then again, it's not like Rozier was ball dominant anyway. The bench moved the ball.

[Who]

Nope. Smart had more than enough opportunities to do more within the offense than he was actually doing but he was unable to take those opportunities. It was his limitations that were the problem. Not Evan Turner.

[dixielott02]

No way. I'd say thats a lame excuse to account for Smart's "progression" as a player. You are always going to have competition in the sport in your position. Its on YOU as the player to take responsibility and step up your game. ET was a brilliant player and warranted the playing that HE EARNED. It's on Smart to appreciate the scope of whats happening, embrace that ET was the better player and step up his game. Sitting back, having a hissy fit bc you arent getting what you want is pretty lame

[Celtics4ever]

Turner could score, I think that Smart inability to shoot when we needed scoring hurt him more than ET.

[SHAQATTACK]

Smart s injuries have been his worst enemy .  Throwing his shooting touch off ,  robbing him of jumping ability .   

Actually in the long run , playing hurt where he hasn't been able to use his athletic abilities , he has had to work on everything else hard to make an impact .

If he can stay out of the Hospital for a few more months and practice his shooting , he is going to be dynamite.

[dannyboy35]

Absolutely. Can't have a horrible shooter standing in the corner on offense. I'm not even a smart guy but I definitely believe they WANT him to be handling the ball. I believe he never got the in game reps he needed. Now his shooting is worse than rver( I imagine there's an added psychological issue now with being such an awful shooter) . Either way we got nothing for our future now that turner is gone. But it's all about the immediate win for Stevens. I don't think he can sacrafice 1 game for a better future. No surprise to me. College coach.

[cltc5]

No Isaiah Thomas did. Smart should start it sixth man.  But now maybe smart can be 6th man

[dannyboy35]

IT did too but that I can understand being a young, cheap all star level player. Smart didn't get to handle pg duties off the bench. That was turner. Which unfortunately now was a waste of time and stunted Marcus. Now we can see what he can handle when forced too, unless Stevens helps stunt it again by putting yet another ball handler in his place. Definitely wouldn't surprise me.

[BigDogPitbull]

So you're telling me that it's Turner's fault or IT's fault that Smart hasn't developed enough?  Smart has nobody to blame but himself.  He has some bad habits he needs to take care of on the offensive end.  Flopping is #1.

[cltc5]

So you're telling me that it's Turner's fault or IT's fault that Smart hasn't developed enough?  Smart has nobody to blame but himself.  He has some bad habits he needs to take care of on the offensive end.  Flopping is #1.

Guess what lack of playing time does stunt player development and that flopping you're so concerned about happens all around the league.  Guys that are good at it actually have helped their teams. Buoy need only look at the way it affected some playoff games to see that while some people may not like it, it is part of the current NBA now and can have some value.  Gonna start putting reality checks in my posts around here

[nickagneta]

Rozier is simply a better ball handler than Smart and is a true PG. ET, two seasons ago became the primary ball handler on the second unit because Smart was hurt and unable to do it effectively. Then the C's drafted Rozier in the first round and thought he was a steal so they projected him as a bench PG for now behind IT4 and decided to move Smart to SG off the bench and start playing him as a wing. Until Rozier developed enough, ET remained the primary ball handler because he was simply better than Smart because Smart hurt his hand in summer league and was unable to work on his handle and passing over the summer last year.

All this equates to Smart not being given a shot as the primary PG and ball handler and facilitator on the second team. He wasn't given the opportunity to develop his skills but more importantly, the C's drafted a better bench ball handler in Rozier and ET was a better ball handler than Smart. So from this point forward expect Smart to be a 2/3 while Rozier runs the second team offense.

[BigDogPitbull]

Minutes are earned.  Not given.  Once Marcus is worried about making his shots rather than getting the call from the ref he should be ok.