Post#39 » by what would jack bauer do? » Tue Apr 1, 2014 4:37 am
I love Smart for the direction the Lakers appear to be heading in. If you're looking to make K-love one of your centerpieces you need to surround him with great defenders. If I'm building a championship team I need to surround him with an elite shotblocker and an elite perimeter defender (and obviously an elite swingman- Kobe or Durant).
Defensively, Smart IMO is the combo guard version of Ron Artest. You need toughness like that to win a championship and it's something that's incredibly rare in the NBA these days. The kid's motor is indomitable.
And on offense Smart doesn't really stand out, he actually reminds me of Ray Felton if you're talking about half court offense and yeah... I dislike felton. But he separates himself from Felton in the open floor, once Smart gets a head of steam you're not stopping him. He's got an extra gear in the open floor that most players just don't have.
But I'm not looking at Smart for his offense, which I'd consider adequate for what we need next to a Kobe/Love or Durant/Love, I think the culture in LA needs a spark from the defensive side of the floor. Just think of how much Farmar improved with Crittenton pushing him, now imagine Smart pushing him and even playing alongside him. That would be infectious for the whole team.