Who is the better defender: Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday?

[Profound23]

Smart or Holiday?

[picc]

Holiday is like 90% of Smarts defense.

But like 175% of his offense.

Very easy tradeoff if money isnt a factor.

[Bad-Thoma]

Smart but not by a lot, Jrue is tough.

[Tor_Raps]

Jrue plays his defense without flopping. Sadly that flopping advantage is what gives Smart the slight win. Now offensively, it's not even a discussion.

[BobbyPortisEyes]

Jrue by a comfortable margin. Smart was great in his DPOY year, wasn't great last season and I don't think he really has the lateral quickness anymore.

[dockingsched]

Might be due to the matchups I’ve watched them, but I’ve never come away thinking Smart has the level of defensive impact that Jrue does. Jrue just does it all at an elite level.

[bisme37]

In full disclosure I had to remember which one of them is currently on my team before voting.

[itrsteve]

You have to watch Smart night in and out to realize that a lot of his insane defensive highlight plays come at the heels of him doing something stupid on the other side of the floor.

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy and don't want to dismiss the power of being a junkyard dog to make up for natural size and talent. But Holiday is much more well rounded.

I do believe Smart will be a perfect fit in Memphis with that being said.

[Profound23]

In full disclosure I had to remember which one of them is currently on my team before voting.

I appreciate the honesty. I have been debating with Celtics fans for years that Jrue is the better defender, now they will finally see the truth.

[Ritzo]

Jrue plays pure defense, it's like an art. Smart got too many antics, watching him flop and complains to the officials is an eyesore.

[JayMKE]

Its all the extra **** that Smart does that make him such an intimidating defender whereas Jrue just plays straight up, I'd definitely would rather match up with Jrue than have Smart dive at my knees and fly across the court at the slight contact while working the refs relentlessly.

[Sothron]

Holiday is the better defender and better player overall. Holiday can legit guard three positions, 4 if it is against a small ball lineup. Smart is a very good defender but IMO Holiday is the best defensive PG in the NBA.

[yannisk]

Without flopping it is Jrue, if flopping is encouraged it is Smart

[Prez]

Peak for peak, it’s Jrue without question for me, don’t care about the DPOY. Only question is if he’s slipping at all, given his age and how badly Jimmy busted his ass last postseason. If he’s got a bounce back year in him, Jrue is still better.

[Forbes]

This isn’t even a debate to me. Jrue can actually contain multiple positions not to mention he is strong and doesn’t have to trick refs.

With all that said, I thought the Celtics losing Smart was big from a leadership standpoint as well as slightly on defense.

They just got a defender who is going to be way more effective. Stifling perimeter defense.

[bisme37]

This isn’t even a debate to me. Jrue can actually contain multiple positions not to mention he is strong and doesn’t have to trick refs.

With all that said, I thought the Celtics losing Smart was big from a leadership standpoint as well as slightly on defense.

They just got a defender who is going to be way more effective. Stifling perimeter defense.

I think the thing about guarding multiple positions actually favors Smart. Celts would put him on small guards all the way up to bigs like Giannis, Jokic and (haha) Porzingis.

[celticfan42487]

Smart can guard all the way up to bigs pretty easiely due to how bulky he is and his immense strength.

Jrue is probably better at guarding guards than Smart though but specifically fast PGs.

[cupcakesnake]

Holiday is better at the point of attack. He's got quicker feet and gets more vertical. But Smart makes more plays off the ball, and is a little more disruptive. He's also bigger with slightly longers arms and a lot more weight. He can guard up even better than Jrue.

I don't know, Smart wasn't quite at his best last year as Boston focused more on offense. We'll see if he bounces back. He's younger than Jrue.

[PierceFan4ever]

Smart defense was taken a step back last season and has honestly been trending down each year and a lot has to do with all these injuries that he’s taken up. Holiday has been consistently great and has always faired better against quicker guards but Marcus Smart IT era days was the best perimeter defender as a guard I’ve seen in a long time.

[Baddy Chuck]

Jrue is a better defender. Smart is a good defender who is better at acting though.