The I Love Marcus Smart Thread

Eddie Jurak

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I've made my peace with the notion that what makes Marcus Smart great is his willingness to be utterly reckless on the court. His hustle plays, his aggression, his calmness and self-assurance, is all the other side of the coin from his confidence in taking a terrible shot or trying to attempt a pass that would look super cool if it came off (but it got picked off).
I think that's only part of what makes Smart great, though it may count for more of what makes Smart a fan favorite.

Smart has great anticipation, especially on defense (but the story of his offensive imprvement in recent years reflect that as well). It's the fact that he recognizes developing plays earlier than most players that makes his his hustle and aggression useful. He's aggressive with a purpose because he knows what is coming.

He's also worked to make himself a versatile defender. He plays PG, and he's fairly big for a PG, so he's going to be matched up against smaller, quicker players a fair amount of the time, and he can do that. But he also understands how to match up against a lot of wings and even bigs, where he is the smaller quicker players. The Celtics "switch everything" defensive schemes depend on Marcus being able to hold his own agaisnt bigger players.

Finally, on the Celtics he'll often be the coach on the floor directing the defense (usually this is a center because they tend to have the whole play in front of them), but also the guy who will spot a bad matchup and do a scram switch - on off the ball switch intended to get a defender out of a bad matchup). Or sometimes, he'll see the offensive team setting up a pick and roll designed to get him off the ball - and he'll execute a switch with whoever is defending the pick setter so that the pick actually switches Smart onto the ball.

He's a really brillent defender in multiple different ways - focus only on his recklessness misses some of his best stuff.
 

DGreenwood

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The rainbow on the box was a good choice, just in case anyone was missing the fact that his cereal is just Lucky Charms. I'm in for a 2-pack at $24.99. It's for a good cause.
 

TripleOT

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This was an interesting story on 60 Minutes, and with some surprising content for this thread:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mason-cox-australian-rules-football-60-minutes-transcript-2023-04-30/
Any early adopter of ESPN should know about Australian Rules Football, which I watched with the same fascination as watching car wreck videos. I’m 6’4” and was a football place kicker, but gave zero thoughts about trying to play it. Maybe if there was a path to try it, and maybe if I didn’t have an aversion to having my spine broken, I would have attempted it.
 

Ale Xander

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Curious to see what Marcus Smart brings tonight after not making all defensive first or second teams.
 

benhogan

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Nov 2, 2007
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Curious to see what Marcus Smart brings tonight after not making all defensive first or second teams.
Hopefully a lot.

He played a lot of this season injured. In the preseason he slipped against Toronto (with condensation from the ice below) and hurt his hip. Then dealt with an ankle injury. Wish they kept him out longer & took more time off to heal but that's not how Marcus rolls.

I could see Smart making All-Defense next season.
 

NomarsFool

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I could see Smart making All-Defense next season.
I certainly hope so, but he's also 29 years old. His ability to stay with smaller guards, which was never great, seems to have slipped this year. He'll always be a crafty defensive player, but it's possible his days of being a real defensive stopper may be behind him.
 

Euclis20

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I certainly hope so, but he's also 29 years old. His ability to stay with smaller guards, which was never great, seems to have slipped this year. He'll always be a crafty defensive player, but it's possible his days of being a real defensive stopper may be behind him.
Yup, he'll likely slip into his larger Kyle Lowry phase. That's still a really good defensive player, but not all league level.
 

128

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After Marcus hit his first two 3-point attempts tonite, I'm not sure he did anything else positive, other than make some free throws.
 

NomarsFool

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Unfortunately, Smart, Brogdon, and White have all chosen to play not great at the same time.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I'm bumping this. Go cry to Glenn Rivers.

Seriously though, that was a both the game that Smart is capable of and one they needed in that spot. The offense was essential but his D and decision making were even better.

Love & Trust
 

dhellers

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I'm bumping this. Go cry to Glenn Rivers.

Seriously though, that was a both the game that Smart is capable of and one they needed in that spot. The offense was essential but his D and decision making were even better.

Love & Trust
Ainge said it best "if you got rid of Smart you would spend the next 3 years looking for his replacement".
The guy can be frustrating, but he can be awesome.
 

shoelace

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Jun 24, 2019
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I'm bumping this. Go cry to Glenn Rivers.

Seriously though, that was a both the game that Smart is capable of and one they needed in that spot. The offense was essential but his D and decision making were even better.

Love & Trust
Posters will say Brogdon (who threw away Game 1) or White should close over Marcus or play more. Are any of those posters going to eat shit tonight? Probably not, but still.
 

luckiestman

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Jul 15, 2005
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Needed a time machine for this one


JT, JB, and Smart are my guys. The rest are situational.

Kemba seems like a great guy, but if this is who he is now, it’s an awful contract.

For Hayward and Kemba, the issues are medical. If they can play, run it back and hope we have better injury luck and Tatum keeps developing.

The other stuff is peripheral, need 7 or 8 guys in the playoffs. Can TL get better, is Romeo a pro, can we get a sniper somehow, is there a DT upgrade.

edit: oh yeah, I used to say this about Tatum regarding AD rumors but I rest my case on that; so now I will transfer it to my other guy: YOU NEVER TRADE MARCUS SMART.
 

Auger34

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Posters will say Brogdon (who threw away Game 1) or White should close over Marcus or play more. Are any of those posters going to eat shit tonight? Probably not, but still.
They sure as shit should take their medicine. Smart takes way too much shit around here. He is good for 1-2 really, really stupid turnovers per game…he also plays his fucking heart out. You can never question his heart or effort and I think his BBIQ is probably underrated. He made it a point tonight to run and to try and set his teammate up in favorable match ups….

Tatum put on the Superman cape at the end but there’s 0 doubt that Smart was the MVP of Game 6
 

Eddie Jurak

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I'm sorry it didn't work out for Marcus to be on the next Celtic winner. The trade was a no-brainer from a basketball perspective and absolutely had to be made. But it is still sad that he had to go.
 

TripleOT

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I loved Marcus, but don’t miss him. That may change in the playoffs, but the Celtics are a steadier ship without him and his volatility. Holiday is better than him, so what he brought basketball-wise isn’t missed. It remains to see if his burning passions to win games despite the obstacles will be missed.