Stats vs hustle, stats vs emotion, stats vs leader, stats vs team sacrifice
This is basically Marcus Smart in his early career. Facing him straight in the face are stats, he combats that with hustle, winning plays, good play making and sacrifice (at time).
But it will always come to the forefront. Why are you shooting this low, why can't you hit the 3 consistently.
Marcus is playing 30.4 minutes a game this year, an increase from the last. He is part of an upper tier team, which is very important to note, because guys don't play 30 minutes a game on a very very good team without being of importance.
We all know that Marcus Smart means a lot to this team, and for the most part he is a positive for the team, he gives them what they need in departments they would otherwise not have. He is a wildcard on the team.
Now that we have the importance of Marcus Smart to this team out of the way, the difficult part comes in the next year or year and half , maybe not even that , does Marcus improve? Does he elevate his game to that level where he will need to start no questions asked?
The good.. PLAYMAKING. His play making ability has emerged nicely. Can he drive and penetrate at will? No, but he makes the right plays, has solid vision, and makes pretty good passes when he needs to.
FREE THROW % . Its gone up, and not because he is 8-10 in 10 games...he is shooting 87.5% in March which is amazing.
FT ATTEMPTS , another good sign, he is getting to the line, Month to month it has risen and now is at 4.3 attempts per game in March
The bad. SHOOTING. He is shooting a dispicable 36.3% from the field
The bad. 3POINT SHOOTING. He is shooting a disgusting 27.9% from the field
The bad. INCONSISTENT. He had a solid month in February.
Now in March
29% from the field
18 % from 3
9 for 50Marcus Smart's value? to us and the league?
If Marcus shows he can stay healthy he is valuable to every team in the NBA, and i bet some teams think they can either fix his offense or can equalize it to some extent.