Why Marcus Smart should start at SG

[soxfan2003]

I doubt the Celtics sought out a PG in the draft with their #6 pick to replace Rondo. They just didn't veer off when they recognized the best player available was a PG who was and still is a bad fit for playing with Rondo.

There is not necessarily that much of a problem playing Smart at SG if the PG is a very good perimeter shooter. When the Celtics had Rondo at his best from 2009-2012, he was paired with 3 very good to great shooters for their respective positions in Ray Allen, PP and KG. Ideally both starting guards can really shoot the ball from the perimeter since even one bad shooter at guard can hurt the offense but if only one can that is often good enough if there is enough shooting in the front court.

Despite good play from Tony Allen and having a center in Gasol who can shoot from midrange, one of the main reasons Memphis, despite their great defense, hasn't gone further over the years is mediocre shooting from the guard position. I'm a fan of Tony Allen and despite his great defense on KD, his lack of shooting has sometimes hurt Memphis.

Smart has a long way go to be a good perimeter shooter at PG but he is such a bad perimeter shooter right now for a SG that it is laughable right now to think that he would be good at that position on offense when paired with a weak perimeter shooter at PG

If Smart is the SG, the PG has to be a pretty deadly shooter since it's pretty safe to assume that Smart will be a below average shooter at SG....this assumes the Celtics are trying to get at least a good offense.

Smart needs to play even if his shooting is painful. But the Celtics really need to work with him on his 3 point shooting.

I like Smart Bradley combo because they are so deadly defensively and it allows Bradley to defend point while playing SG on offense. Perfect second team unit. In 15 minute per game could live with 4 on 5 on offense and would really force other teams to expend energy.

I'd prefer to see Rondo play with Thornton and eventually Young - especially Young because his release is so freaking quick and he is fearless too. Rondo/Bradley is a proven combination though.

I agree with your pairings are probably what is best on the team in the short term if the primary goal is to win games in the short term. Ideally Bradley would be a more proven high volume 3 point shooter but if he had really done that, his price tag this off-season would have been higher.

Until proven otherwise, Smart is going to have the same problem lots of guards have had. Why the heck should anyone guard him far from the hoop until he proves he can nail open shots at a consistency that teams fair.

Obviously the level of offense needed by a team is somewhat dependent upon the teams defensive ability. On the 2004 Pistons, Smart has to make less shots but the Celtics right now are not projecting anytime soon to be a flat out dominant defensive team.

[ryaningf]

Learning to be a PG at the NBA level is going to adversely affect your ability to score. It just is. You get less opportunities to score, your #1 job is to get help other people score, and, especially when you're learning the position, you're going to be struggling with setting the proper pace, getting guys in the right spots, and executing plays. Just way too much to think about that you're going to miss those split-second opportunities where a more aggressive, less burdened mind would have realized "hey I can get to the rim." It's so much easier to be a scorer and a shooter when that's, like, your role and that's all you think about and there is some guy--I think they call him the PG--whose whole job is to get you easier shots. As such, basing your judgement of Smart's scoring ability while he plays PG is just not the proper environment to make such a judgment.

It's ironic that GuyClinch has come out so strongly in the "Marcus is a PG" camp when it's pretty clear that playing PG adversely impacts Smart's ability to score (at least now, that could change with experience). The irony is that Pete will go on and on about how important SHOOTING is when he's trying to undercut Rondo's greatness as a PG but now another guy comes along and shows even less scoring/shooting aptitude as a PG and Pete's like "Nope, this guy's totally a PG because he can't shoot at all." No consideration that hey maybe he could shoot better if he was playing a role that asked him to be a shooter. No consideration paid to the way roles impact performance, how environmental impacts development.

We're dealing with super limited sample sizes so it's difficult to draw any conclusions or show examples of what I'm talking about but theoretically speaking it's pretty safe to say that you judge a guy's PG ability only when he's playing the PG and you judge a guy's SG ability when he's only playing SG, right? I mean, we don't judge accountants on how well they play poker, we don't judge carpet layers on how well they lay concrete, so why are we taking Smart's poor shooting at PG as some kind of indictment of his ability to play another position? How about we actually wait until he plays that position and we take those results and make a rational judgment?

[soxfan2003]

Have you guys even bothered checking out Smart's stats in college?

I seriously doubt it.

You heard we drafted a point guard to replace Rondo, so you imagine Smart must have averaged 9-10 assists in college and maybe 9-10 points per game.

So damn lazy. To declare that Smart is a pure point guard with no offense is to reveal yourself as having relied entirely on a few talking heads for all of your "wisdom" about Smart and his skill set.

And since Smart didn't attack the rim in his First game, you assume that you've been well informed about his lack of scoring ability all along.

So damn lazy.

I have checked out Smart's shooting stats in college many times. Other then Andrew Wiggins, Marcus Smart was probably the player in college I watched the most this year. Besides the big tv games, I watched him on channels like ESPN3.

Based upon watching Smart a lot -- college and nearly all of the summer league games -- and looking at his stats, it's pretty easy for me to conclude that shooting is a relative weakness of his.

I have much more confidence in Andrew Wiggins based upon his age/shooting form/physical characteristics/trends developing into a very good perimeter shooter in 2-4 years than I do Marcus Smart. And I realize Wiggins needs major work shooting as well but it's also evident that he is improving in that area at a solid pace so far.

This all being said, I was still completely in favor of the Celtics drafting Smart at #6..given the rest of the players on the board such as Randle, I would have been upset if the Celtics drafted anyone else at #6.

Perhaps Smart's three best assets on offense are
1) Just from watching him play, I believe he will eventually have a low turnover game by NBA starting PG standards. This is very underrated. He appears to have very strong hands that not only helps him steal the ball but should also help him protect the basketball a bit better then the typical PG.
2) Sees the floor very well.
3) strength.

And you may be the one unaware that Rondo didn't average that many more assists in college then Smart.... As a sophomore Rondo averaged 4.9 assists and Smart 4.8 assists. I doubt Smart ever averages 10 assists per game but that doesn't matter at all to me. A great game from a PG as far as I'm concerned could be 5 assists, 0 or 1 turnovers, causing defensive havoc and scoring very efficiently from all over the court.

Smart's major problem is going to be scoring efficiently from the perimeter. I just hope he works on it and gets good instruction.

[NL41]

reposting here from another thread:
When skilled opposing centers get the ball after establishing low post position, Stevens is just going to send Smart down to double team, immediately.

You can see that strategy at work a bit here. Smart has and will have the green light to leave his man to double in the post, and if we end up getting beat with some long jumpers, Stevens will live with that.

Sometimes rim protection comes in the form of a 6'2" Tasmanian Devil with hands of steal to swipe the ball before the post up shot even goes up.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCyjwDFFj8Q[/youtube]

And a couple power forwards playing center who know how to take a charge.

And then you live with the results of the other team scoring some baskets inside, as even Dwight Howard gets beat for points inside. And DHoward can't shoot like Olynyk/Sully.

[Slartibartfast]

Perhaps Smart's three best assets on offense are
1) Just from watching him play, I believe he will eventually have a low turnover game by NBA starting PG standards. This is very underrated. He appears to have very strong hands that not only helps him steal the ball but should also help him protect the basketball a bit better then the typical PG.
2) Sees the floor very well.
3) strength.

I don't think he projects as a low turnover guy. Au contraire, he's a risk taker whose aggressiveness and somewhat loose handle led to a lot of turnovers when he attacked off the dribble. I think one of the biggest reasons his TOV% dropped in his sophomore campaign was because he started opting for more pull-up 3s when clear driving lanes weren't available. But in the pros, I think he's going to have to embrace risk-taking to be an effective player - more turnovers, but more FTAs too.

I also think one of his biggest offensive strengths is his body control in traffic - this is one area where I think the Wade comparisons are justified. He's got great agility and balance to go with his power. He needs to attack the basket. Playing like a traditional PG is just not the best way to maximize his skillset.

And you may be the one unaware that Rondo didn't average that many more assists in college then Smart.... As a sophomore Rondo averaged 4.9 assists and Smart 4.8 assists.

Tubby Smith played Rondo off the ball for a good portion of his sophomore season. Marcus Smart was the only real playmaker on his team (Brown wasn't much more advanced than AB as a ball-handler/creator, Forte was just a shooter, and Nash was useless on the perimeter) - their apg doesn't reflect the gap between them as passers at the same age. Not crucial to your point, but worth noting.

[FakeScreenName123]

Learning to be a PG at the NBA level is going to adversely affect your ability to score. It just is.

What position did Allen Iverson play?

[NL41]

Learning to be a PG at the NBA level is going to adversely affect your ability to score. It just is.

What position did Allen Iverson play?

Iverson is like the archetype of the combo guard. He played both positions but was always considered a shooting guard in a point guard sized body.

I think in 2001 when PHI went to the Finals, Eric Snow was the point guard and Iverson SG.

[ryaningf]

Learning to be a PG at the NBA level is going to adversely affect your ability to score. It just is.

What position did Allen Iverson play?

SG?

[NL41]

Here's another example from last night of Smart helping out our bigs, and getting back quickly to his man. Smart played almost all of last season without his starting center, so he is very accustomed to keeping an eye on the whole court, helping his bigs out constantly, and keeping track of his man.

Bradley simply doesn't have the court vision, bbiq, and strong hands to play like this and cause a **** every time a big touches the ball on Smart's side of the court.




http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/10/8/69 ... o-boxscore

[lon3lytoaster]

Learning to be a PG at the NBA level is going to adversely affect your ability to score. It just is.

What position did Allen Iverson play?

SG?

Pretty much. Aaron McKie was the technical PG for those good Sixers teams, including in AI's MVP year, iirc.

[lon3lytoaster]

Here's another example from last night of Smart helping out our bigs, and getting back quickly to his man. Smart played almost all of last season without his starting center, so he is very accustomed to keeping an eye on the whole court, helping his bigs out constantly, and keeping track of his man.

Bradley simply doesn't have the court vision, bbiq, and strong hands to play like this and cause a **** every time a big touches the ball on Smart's side of the court.




http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/10/8/69 ... o-boxscore

Oh wow. His feet are quick. He could literally never score a point and I'd still be happy with him with who was left on the board at 6. He's going to be a game changer defensively.

[klemen4]

Relax guys...offence will come, he is only 20 years old...if nothing more he will score attacking the basket, layups and FT...

[lon3lytoaster]

Relax guys...offence will come, he is only 20 years old...if nothing more he will score attacking the basket, layups and FT...

He lived at the line in college and he has stupid quick feet. I don't know why people think he's so poor offensively. I admit the shot is more broken than I'd thought but I think if we get him back to SG he'll be fine.

[ballup]

That looks more like bad offensive execution to me. Props to Smart for knowing that he can help off Wroten, a poor shooter.

[ConstableGeneva]

Not sure if it's been posted... Smart's Defense vs. Sixers

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kaVgasFSzg[/youtube]

Kid was born to play all-NBA D. It looks like he's played defense in the big leagues for 5 years. Scary thing is he's gonna get even better at it.

[shawn unkempt]

And you may be the one unaware that Rondo didn't average that many more assists in college then Smart.... As a sophomore Rondo averaged 4.9 assists and Smart 4.8 assists.

Tubby Smith played Rondo off the ball for a good portion of his sophomore season. Marcus Smart was the only real playmaker on his team (Brown wasn't much more advanced than AB as a ball-handler/creator, Forte was just a shooter, and Nash was useless on the perimeter) - their apg doesn't reflect the gap between them as passers at the same age. Not crucial to your point, but worth noting.

Smart played off the ball a ton in college. I went back and watched a bunch of his games after we drafted him and I was kinda shocked how much he played off the ball.

[Slartibartfast]

And you may be the one unaware that Rondo didn't average that many more assists in college then Smart.... As a sophomore Rondo averaged 4.9 assists and Smart 4.8 assists.

Tubby Smith played Rondo off the ball for a good portion of his sophomore season. Marcus Smart was the only real playmaker on his team (Brown wasn't much more advanced than AB as a ball-handler/creator, Forte was just a shooter, and Nash was useless on the perimeter) - their apg doesn't reflect the gap between them as passers at the same age. Not crucial to your point, but worth noting.

Smart played off the ball a ton in college. I went back and watched a bunch of his games after we drafted him and I was kinda shocked how much he played off the ball.

Smart only played off the ball when Nash was isoing (a lot), or when the play call was to get him a shot. He was unquestionably the PG and lead ballhandler on that team. Forte and Brown could fake it as PG on set plays (a la Bradley) and Brown could do a faint impression of Smart when Smart was on the bench, but when Smart was on the floor it was his show.

All that to say, Smart's usage (not just shot-taking, but shot-creating burden) was way higher than Rondo's in college, which makes a comparison of raw apg misleading.

[NL41]

How Tony Allen became the NBA's best defender
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/41439632

Great freaking article get you pumped for the future.

[FakeScreenName123]

?

Yer answer is not as important as the question mark. it's the question mark that does cos the answer implies: It doesn't matter.

Iverson is like the archetype of the combo guard.

Jerry West and Oscar Robertson come to mind.

[NL41]

Not sure if it's been posted... Smart's Defense vs. Sixers

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kaVgasFSzg[/youtube]

Kid was born to play all-NBA D. It looks like he's played defense in the big leagues for 5 years. Scary thing is he's gonna get even better at it.

I'm tired just from watching that.