Jackie Mac on Marcus Smart's RFA--"He's going for the money"

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

Do you guys think they keep Love? Wouldn’t be shocked if Gilbert just wants to dump the salary. He’s kinda earned that after the lux he’s paid last few years.

I am not a cap expert but this is Love's final year (he has PO but you know he will opt out) and since the cavs are over the cap don't they have to take equal salary back?

The team with the lowest payroll is the Mavs and any trade I tried which dumps Loves salary and sends back 3m in salary JJ Barea won't work.

[SMTBSI]

Do you guys think they keep Love? Wouldn’t be shocked if Gilbert just wants to dump the salary. He’s kinda earned that after the lux he’s paid last few years.

I am not a cap expert but this is Love's final year (he has PO but you know he will opt out) and since the cavs are over the cap don't they have to take equal salary back?

Nah, it only works the other way around. If you're over the cap and want to take back money, you obviously have to give away a certain amount, but if you just want to give away money, there's no requirement to take any back. You can always just dump a guy to a team with cap space, if you can find a taker.

Just becomes a "non-simultaneous" trade, and you generate a trade exception which you have a year to use.

[sully00]

Do you guys think they keep Love? Wouldn’t be shocked if Gilbert just wants to dump the salary. He’s kinda earned that after the lux he’s paid last few years.

Their cap situation is set up so if they just chill and eat this year then the nightmare ends. They owe a protected '19 first to ATL so they have two roads to take on that front. Play for the post season and just give up their '19 1st rounder (top 10 protected) or plan to tank for two years so you don't have to give up the pick. The only guy that anyone is going to trade for is Love nobody else has any real positive value except the Sexton and maybe Nance. Maybe Korver because his salary is so low might pull a 1st but if Evans couldn't get one last year it doesn't seem like a great bet.

While their players don't have a lot of trade value they have the makings of a playoff team. Kevin Love isn't Lebron James but it is always going to be tough to bring FA's to CLE.

[Froob]

Do you guys think they keep Love? Wouldn’t be shocked if Gilbert just wants to dump the salary. He’s kinda earned that after the lux he’s paid last few years.

Their cap situation is set up so if they just chill and eat this year then the nightmare ends. They owe a protected '19 first to ATL so they have two roads to take on that front. Play for the post season and just give up their '19 1st rounder (top 10 protected) or plan to tank for two years so you don't have to give up the pick. The only guy that anyone is going to trade for is Love nobody else has any real positive value except the Sexton and maybe Nance. Maybe Korver because his salary is so low might pull a 1st but if Evans couldn't get one last year it doesn't seem like a great bet.

While their players don't have a lot of trade value they have the makings of a playoff team. Kevin Love isn't Lebron James but it is always going to be tough to bring FA's to CLE.

Eh probably not with Lue as coach. Maybe the whole vibe of the team changes without the toxicity LeBron brings with him and all the expectations gone. Maybe Lue shocks us tho, who knows. He’s the actual coach now.

[ConstableGeneva]

Read on Twitter

SAC is the only one dumb enough to potentially make an offer big enough we won't match.

Someone could go high on a one year offer.

They can do that? There's no minimum number of years? Like two years guaranteed?

[sully00]

Read on Twitter

SAC is the only one dumb enough to potentially make an offer big enough we won't match.

Someone could go high on a one year offer.

They can do that? There's no minimum number of years? Like two years guaranteed?

No offer sheets have to be for 2 years not including options. They don't have to be guaranteed but I don't see how this would make the Celtics less likely to match.

[jfs1000d]

Someone could go high on a one year offer.

They can do that? There's no minimum number of years? Like two years guaranteed?

No offer sheets have to be for 2 years not including options. They don't have to be guaranteed but I don't see how this would make the Celtics less likely to match.

Smart's a good player. I think we are underselling his ability to impact a game. His shooting isn't great, but I actually think is better than his numbers. Stat heads look only at the advanced shooting numbers, but to me he is much more dangerous than a 36% FG and 30% 3fg%. You still kinda have to guard him.

And, get him as the 30 MPG starting PG, and he's going to do real well in that role. Good ballhandler. Good rebounder, excellent in PnR and absolutely a stunning defender.

I think we will see 40% FG and 35% from 3 from him this year. That's worth $12-13 mil a year.

[Fidel Sarcasmo]

Smarts worth what he can get. He’ll get the QO or a hair more. He can’t shoot. I’ve been saying this forever. Teams aren’t gonna pay starter money to a chucker.

[celticfan42487]

Smarts worth what he can get. He’ll get the QO or a hair more. He can’t shoot. I’ve been saying this forever. Teams aren’t gonna pay starter money to a chucker.

I think that's the golden combo here. Not only is he the worst shooter in the NBA but he's a HUGE chucker and has horrific basketball IQ.

Pounds the rock endlessly dribbling till there's 5 seconds left instead of running sets but he can't dribble past his man.

His approach to the game on offense is just terrible. He's basically weighing down the entire team playing a brand of basketball that is half as efficient as it would be if he just ran a set and got the ball out of his hands as soon as possible. Or made passing plays that his basic level of passing can do like for players coming off curls and picks.

And the rest of the NBA sees that.

He's just not a good ballhandler, has no penetration skill, worst shooter in the NBA, can't finish at the rim for ****... and somehow is blind to all his faults on offense and plays like he's old man Kobe out there.

A "smart" Smart would be a much different player.

And we can only assume how terrible he is to manage and in the locker room when he does things like break his own hand in a contract year because he got "angry" one night and in college punched out a fan in the stands. He has a long track history of not being the best. I won't be surprised when after this year, after he leaves for playing for the QO which is about as much as he's worth, we hear that Brad Stevens most difficult player to coach was Smart and made Rondo look like a saint by comparison. At least Rondo only got injured actually showing up for work and doing his job.

[drs123310]

Smitty, what's your weigh-in on the current situation? Saw you tweeted about the C's & Smart having some good dialogue, now reports are coming out that Smart has not received a call and that he's hurt about it. Is that story baloney?

[Taget]

Do you guys think they keep Love? Wouldn’t be shocked if Gilbert just wants to dump the salary. He’s kinda earned that after the lux he’s paid last few years.

They should move Love, but is there a large market out there for him?

A better question is can you get value for him. A bad team might take him with a draft pick. Sacramento might take him as is and if he can put him some numbers maybe try to flip him themselves. But would only give you a nickel and a bag of popcorn.

[Infinite Llamas]

Smart is your classic case of overconfidence gone awry. For the life of me, I just want to see somebody coach the hell out of this guy and micromanage him until he loses all of his bad habits. Stevens hasn’t shown yet that he’s even going to try and leash him. It’s a shame. He’s such a dynamic defensive player but his value ranks the second the motion shifts to the other side of the court.

Turning Tatum into somebody that can guard (or try to) guard Durant should be our top focus. Kyrie and Rozier can slow down Curry and Brown can run Thompson off of his spots. I think Smart would be effective against Golden State too, and it’s a shame we were minutes away from seeing that chance, but 12 million isn’t something I’d offer to Smart at this juncture.


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[Fidel Sarcasmo]

Smarts worth what he can get. He’ll get the QO or a hair more. He can’t shoot. I’ve been saying this forever. Teams aren’t gonna pay starter money to a chucker.

I think that's the golden combo here. Not only is he the worst shooter in the NBA but he's a HUGE chucker and has horrific basketball IQ.

Pounds the rock endlessly dribbling till there's 5 seconds left instead of running sets but he can't dribble past his man.

His approach to the game on offense is just terrible. He's basically weighing down the entire team playing a brand of basketball that is half as efficient as it would be if he just ran a set and got the ball out of his hands as soon as possible. Or made passing plays that his basic level of passing can do like for players coming off curls and picks.

And the rest of the NBA sees that.

He's just not a good ballhandler, has no penetration skill, worst shooter in the NBA, can't finish at the rim for ****... and somehow is blind to all his faults on offense and plays like he's old man Kobe out there.

A "smart" Smart would be a much different player.

And we can only assume how terrible he is to manage and in the locker room when he does things like break his own hand in a contract year because he got "angry" one night and in college punched out a fan in the stands. He has a long track history of not being the best. I won't be surprised when after this year, after he leaves for playing for the QO which is about as much as he's worth, we hear that Brad Stevens most difficult player to coach was Smart and made Rondo look like a saint by comparison. At least Rondo only got injured actually showing up for work and doing his job.

To Smart's Credit, He's really good at the P&R and he's a screen killer, plus killer salesman with the charge on D. but he shoots 10 threes a game and nails 3 a game. All I can think of is those shots could be going to Tatum or Irving or someone who shoots 40% from 3.

[sully00]

They can do that? There's no minimum number of years? Like two years guaranteed?

No offer sheets have to be for 2 years not including options. They don't have to be guaranteed but I don't see how this would make the Celtics less likely to match.

Smart's a good player. I think we are underselling his ability to impact a game. His shooting isn't great, but I actually think is better than his numbers. Stat heads look only at the advanced shooting numbers, but to me he is much more dangerous than a 36% FG and 30% 3fg%. You still kinda have to guard him.

And, get him as the 30 MPG starting PG, and he's going to do real well in that role. Good ballhandler. Good rebounder, excellent in PnR and absolutely a stunning defender.

I think we will see 40% FG and 35% from 3 from him this year. That's worth $12-13 mil a year.

Marcus has been amazingly consistently bad since he came in the league. 4 years of the same FG% from 2 from 3 from anywhere and there is no where he is actually good from. You can make the argument that he is worst shooter in the history of the NBA nobody in these stat driven times has done so poorly with so much opportunity. You do realize he plays 30 mpg? I love Marcus I just can't talk myself into this improving.

I think while lots of people admire what Marcus brings I can't imagine viewing him as a starter at a position that by its nature demands shooting and scoring. While a valuable bench piece he is 6'4" and not particularly long and frankly whenever someone over commits to this type of player financially it results in an albatross contract that has to be bought out the, Corey Brewer sequence.

I would give Marcus a 5 year deal at 8-9 mil or a 2 year deal at 11 mil. My concern with even this approach is that his market may be 5-6 mil and we are just way over valuing him.

[Froob]

Smart is your classic case of overconfidence gone awry. For the life of me, I just want to see somebody coach the hell out of this guy and micromanage him until he loses all of his bad habits. Stevens hasn’t shown yet that he’s even going to try and leash him. It’s a shame. He’s such a dynamic defensive player but his value ranks the second the motion shifts to the other side of the court.

Turning Tatum into somebody that can guard (or try to) guard Durant should be our top focus. Kyrie and Rozier can slow down Curry and Brown can run Thompson off of his spots. I think Smart would be effective against Golden State too, and it’s a shame we were minutes away from seeing that chance, but 12 million isn’t something I’d offer to Smart at this juncture.


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Should sit Smart the rest of the night when he goes full Marcus.

[Scoonie]

I've said this before, but the ideal way to use Marcus would be to play him 20 MPG to guard the opposing team's best player. On the offensive end, limit him to no more than 8 field goal attempts per game and mainly use him to post up and run the pick and roll. He should only be taking outside shot when he's completely wide open.

He's a niche player, not a complete player that should play big minutes. If he could ever know his role he would be dynamite.

[celticfan42487]

Smart is your classic case of overconfidence gone awry. For the life of me, I just want to see somebody coach the hell out of this guy and micromanage him until he loses all of his bad habits. Stevens hasn’t shown yet that he’s even going to try and leash him. It’s a shame. He’s such a dynamic defensive player but his value ranks the second the motion shifts to the other side of the court.

Turning Tatum into somebody that can guard (or try to) guard Durant should be our top focus. Kyrie and Rozier can slow down Curry and Brown can run Thompson off of his spots. I think Smart would be effective against Golden State too, and it’s a shame we were minutes away from seeing that chance, but 12 million isn’t something I’d offer to Smart at this juncture.


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Should sit Smart the rest of the night when he goes full Marcus.

I find it hard to believe Stevens doesn't want Smart to play with intelligence. I just don't think Smart is coachable. So Stevens plays the player's he's given.

As someone above posted he's made almost no material improvement since coming into the league, might be the worst shooter in NBA history, and his best season very well could have been his rookie year.

Honestly, it wouldn't be great for Smart financially, but the best thing might be if he receives no offers this offseason and no offers next off season and is finally humbled. Then hopefully he'd be open to making what is very obvious and easy changes to play away from his weaknesses on the court and just focus on what he can do as a situational roleplaying type.

He's a Lindsey Hunter type on a winning team in a league that really demands it's guards and wings to be able to hit the 3 and get by their man with the ball in their hands. It's a tough fit for any team but he still has a role to play in this league.

[Celts17Pride]

Sorry but Marcus Smart is the most overrated Celtic of all time. No one comes close. Good player but much ado about nothing.

[Fencer reregistered]

And we can only assume how terrible he is to manage and in the locker room when he does things like break his own hand in a contract year because he got "angry" one night and in college punched out a fan in the stands. He has a long track history of not being the best. I won't be surprised when after this year, after he leaves for playing for the QO which is about as much as he's worth, we hear that Brad Stevens most difficult player to coach was Smart and made Rondo look like a saint by comparison. At least Rondo only got injured actually showing up for work and doing his job.

How do you explain the video in which Stevens pretty much says Smart is the most valuable personality he's coached in the pros?

Watch on YouTube

That said, "most" might be a slight overstatement.

Watch on YouTube

[rickrolled]

Looks like Kings are not looking to add money past this year.

The Sacramento Kings have explored the free agency market but are determined to avoid signing any multiyear contracts that would impact next year's cap.

The Kings will instead focus on the trade market and pursue absorbing contracts in exchange for a first round pick in 2019 or a veteran small forward.

Sacramento Bee