Smart is my second favorite player on the Celtics but at least I hold him accountable. He played average today actually. He should be getting the minutes he doesn't, he's better than Rozier. However he really needs to improve on his offensive game, like seriously. I don't understand how people aren't frustrated with it. Don't we want him to be a two way player? Would we be okay with Crowder shooting like this for an entire season? I have been patient with Smart, but at some point he has to start showing signs of improvement. Look at how much Jaylen improved this year? Why can't we see that type of development from Smart? He's only marginally better from last year imo. I really think it is fair to demand Smart to become a better offensive player.
This is a totally rational post, tankcity. TP. There's nothing wrong with these types of criticisms that are fair.
As for Brown versus Smart, Brown clearly has a higher overall "star" ceiling than Smart, especially offensively as a big-time scorer, so it's not surprising that he's learning much faster than Smart.
But I think people are discrediting Smart's improvement. He's actually been much better scoring the ball in the last month or so. He's mainly done it by getting to the line more rather than shooting better, which is still a problem, but that's still significant progress. Here's a post I had earlier about his progress:
People are sleeping on Smart's development. He's been much better at scoring the ball in the last month and a half or so.
13 of 19 games in February/March he's been in double figures.
19 of 33 games since the New Year he's been in double figures.
He still needs to work on efficiency, but he's been much better at scoring the ball since the New Year.
He's averaging 11.4 points since the New Year, 12.4 points in the last month and a half. He averaged 13.7 points in February.
This is the kind of in-season improvement we've been looking for from Smart scoring-wise. He still has to shoot better, which comes in the summer. But expect an even bigger leap next year in the contract year. Hopefully that will be the primer to make him reach his overall ceiling.