Look at these stats.
Nevermind that Payton is no doubt better in the last 10 games and in December.
But look closely in the WINS and LOSSES department. It further proves my point that he is a mediocre player who plays HARD DEFENSE
If Smart is such a winning basketball player why
is he so much worse in WINS ? he is shooting a sizzling 31% from the field and averaging 6.6 points a game. Why? Because he is coming off the bench and the guy that is winning those games is IT!
In wins Smart plays wayyyyy better, but what do they do? LOSE , of course because i bet in most of those games he was starting and playing more minutes for injured players.
Meanwhile Payton
In wins , is shooting almost 49% , averaging 6.5 assists a game and scoring 12.7 points a game.
in losses he still is better than Smart is in wins.
How I am even arguing this is beyond me.
Im not sure it does.
If you watch the Celtics a lot then you know that Marcus tends to search for his offense much more when no one else is scoring.
The Celtics are down big, Marcus will often try to get some going. I think he gets frustrated with the passivity of the other (much more offensively talented) players. When we play well Smart doesnt feel the same need to do that and fades back into his role as a guy who makes good passes and hustles his ass off. This makes sense as his rebound and assist numbers are up.
Also, as you note. A lot of the games where hes had an expanded role have been because he has started. Half of these starts came starting at Small Forward and a handful had the Cs without Al Horford as well as Jae. The other half came with him starting at point gaurd where we went 1-3.
In these 9 starts Smart put up 11/5/4 with 2 steals and 41% shooting. Not bad at all considering he played half those games out of position at the 3.
Obviously we lost a lot of games where we had Big Al/Jae or Isaiah Thomas out and that isnt an indictment on Smart so much as it is on those other players.
Anyway, Smart is a player who doesnt give a **** about his shooting percentage or points per game. If he feels that the team is failing to generate offense he will look for his own. If the offense is fine he will continue to be that role-player that is ultimately his best fit.
When we are playing bad Smart steps up. I love that about him.
lol the entire response means nothing to the game of basketball, your basically telling me how Marcus Smart is feeling lol wth?
I have given you what Marcus Smart does well. Nobody is saying he is a terrible player.
He is just not capable of scoring well in ways.
He can occasionaly get hot but more so than not he is a 37% shooter for his career, hes not a specialist, hes not a drive and peneatration guy.
He is a solid point guard who can run the team, play hard, get big stops, big plays. HE is a very good defender.
What else can you say?
You said when smart plays well we lose and I explained why Smarts numbers are good in losses.
He's a solid point guard and a great defender who has a knack for clutch plays and sucks at scoring.
Payton is a better scorer and equally horrible shooter an inferior defender and I highly doubt he's made half the number of clutch plays as Marcus Smart. Not to mention Smarts leadership which has been praised up and down the Cs organization.
I'll take Smart.
I love Smart too , do not get me wrong. He helps this team more than anybody not named IT
but Elfrid is the better player. Better skills. Upside.
Yes both cannot shoot very well, but when you can finish and get to the basket you can have a good FG % , Elfrid has done that.
No question about that. I knew that Elfrid had NBA talent. Smart is a hustle player, beats people by busting his butt. HEs also shown me he has poise and can run the team.
BUT he is not a better player. Elfrid is showing that now. It's too bad his team sucks.
And please, Elfrid is not an inferior defender. That is bogus. He was defensive player of the year in his conference, and he is a pretty good defender.
Topic: Marcus Smart needs to leave Boston or his career will never get better (Read 25017 times)