Marcus Smart - 2022 DPOY - 2023 NBA Hustle Award Winner

[1st banana]

This is cool. Love it when older generation shows love for the current players. GP endorsed him too for the award.

Read on Twitter

This is f&cking awesome!

I'm smiling so big right now.

So happy for marcus. He's worked so hard for this.

So much good vibes with this team, man. The huge buzzer beating win over then nets last night - now this.

Let's keep it going!

There is a different feel to this team this year. I feel a finals trip coming at least. But I really believe in a title. Call me crazy but I really think we have enough.

It’s early but it’s giving me 2014 pats vibes. Just the early season woes and **** start to turnaround into just obliterating teams. All of the media hate and trade Tatum or brown to blow it up.

Just a different feel to the team especially with certain things the Celtics struggled with.

[Bohemian]

Yes!!!

Well deserved. This is huge for Marcus, and for the Celtics.

[zoyathedestroya]

How many of these would Bill Russell have won if they gave them out in his day? Who else from Celtics history is DPoY-level, pre-1983?

[Half-Full]

Well deserved! Gratifying to see others have come around, and are now on the bandwagon. He's been my favorite Celtic for some time. Thank you Marcus for being such a hard nosed defender and team leader.

[Bad-Thoma]

Spoiler:

Btw, your takedown of that Nets dude the other day was hard as hell.

Wait, what did I miss? With links please!

There was a bit more that got deleted lol, but Smitty just wasn’t taking **** that day.

Thanks!

[Shamrock]

So happy for this dude. He's been playing this way for a while and is arguably the biggest reason our team has the intensity that it has on the defensive side of the ball. I'm sure a lot of you have noticed it but when the Celtics are defending Smart is always out there making sure his team isn't missing assignments and is easily the most vocal on that end

[Curmudgeon]

Definitely well deserved. Heart and soul of this Celtics team.

[themoneyteam2]

I have never been a Marcus Smart fan. So much of his success on defense can be attributed to dirty play and flopping. But he's not alone in this and his impact on that end (however he gets it) can't be denied. Congratulations to him

Love the back handed compliment! I knew I could count on you to get a laugh in this thread.

[canman1971]

I have never been a Marcus Smart fan. So much of his success on defense can be attributed to dirty play and flopping. But he's not alone in this and his impact on that end (however he gets it) can't be denied. Congratulations to him

It makes me feel good knowing you can say these things and sleep comfortably at night...on the other hand

[itrsteve]

UNREAL!

F YES

[Jaqua92]

Hey, I spent years his biggest hater, and I still attribute the defensive turnaround to Ime and the use of Rob moreso than Smart. I think Smart doesn't win this award without those two, and Rob going down.

But that's besides the point. Smart's been an all defensive defender and a premiere defensive guard for years, and has a rep right up there with Holiday, etc. And while he may not be as impactful as Rob, and he may not have created the system Ime did, he still is the most consistent defender and sets the emotional and energetic tone. He is the chisel Ime uses and that provides quite the value. With the Celtics defense being seemingly generational, his recognition and role in it is deserved.

I won't say I love the guy yet, but I'm certainly no longer hating him, and no longer just tolerating him at this point. Love what I've seen from him in 2022 and I'm confident it will continue, and I have to admit even I feel a tickle of happiness seeing the picture and award.

I think game 2 will be an annihilation. Huge energy boost.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Fencer reregistered]

How many of these would Bill Russell have won if they gave them out in his day? Who else from Celtics history is DPoY-level, pre-1983?

Havlicek is the only one in the discussion.

KC Jones would always have lost to Russell.

[Fencer reregistered]

Other than the two Celtics DPOYs -- Smart and Garnett -- which DPOYs have played for the Celtics at some point in their careers?

I think Payton is the only one. (Ben Wallace did not ever play for the Cs.)

[themoneyteam2]

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=jjIsmMx468-WMpFjheTT6g

Imagine this clown's DPOY getting played off the court by Maxi Kleber

[SuperDeluxe]

I thought the winners of all the awards would be announced after the finals?

Anyway, I'm going to admit I got misty eyed watching the video with Payton, the team and Ime/Brad, etc. I love this guy. His greatness as a defender is no longer a secret, and I have a hunch there may be another DPOY or two waiting for him in the future.

Also, the Celtics had three players among the top 11 vote-getters. Un-freaking-believable. Such a great time to be a Celtics fan!

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

How many of these would Bill Russell have won if they gave them out in his day? Who else from Celtics history is DPoY-level, pre-1983?

I'm a little surprised it isn't called the Bill Russell trophy but I guess it's hard to name two trophies that.

[tlee324]

Much deserved

[Gurton Buster]

Marcus Smart was our first high lottery pick during this rebuild (I still remember watching his Orlando summer league ). Everybody wrote him off and still to this day call him trash and a bust for the 6th overall pick but real ones saw his value and now he’s the DPOY—something I never thought was attainable for him. Wow, what a last 24 hours it has been for the Boston Celtics.

Somewhere Danny is smiling rn—his draft record getting better by the day lol. He practically drafted and/or acquired this entire team.

[Hal14]

I thought the winners of all the awards would be announced after the finals?

Anyway, I'm going to admit I got misty eyed watching the video with Payton, the team and Ime/Brad, etc. I love this guy. His greatness as a defender is no longer a secret, and I have a hunch there may be another DPOY or two waiting for him in the future.

Also, the Celtics had three players among the top 11 vote-getters. Un-freaking-believable. Such a great time to be a Celtics fan!

nah, they always announce them during the playoffs. cause they're regular season awards - playoff performance doesn't count towards them so voting takes place right after reg season ends..

[London2Boston]

This is f&cking awesome!

I'm smiling so big right now.

So happy for marcus. He's worked so hard for this.

So much good vibes with this team, man. The huge buzzer beating win over then nets last night - now this.

Let's keep it going!

There is a different feel to this team this year. I feel a finals trip coming at least. But I really believe in a title. Call me crazy but I really think we have enough.

It’s early but it’s giving me 2014 pats vibes. Just the early season woes and **** start to turnaround into just obliterating teams. All of the media hate and trade Tatum or brown to blow it up.

Just a different feel to the team especially with certain things the Celtics struggled with.

It’s funny, no disrespect to Miami or whoever out the west. But you can almost say with KD/Nets and Giannis/Bucks, our hardest challenges if we want to go the whole way are the first two rounds if we can even survive it. East is weird this year