I'll start by saying I'm not a Marcus Smart fan (or a hater) and think the team would be just as good with a better shooter in the lineup. With that said, am I the only one who is finding his early season struggles to be completely overblown? I find it especially funny because this board loves itself some Marcus Smart.
There are also some signs that show he is taking the shot selection thing seriously, with a career high % of his shots coming from 3 (63.6%). Unfortunately, he's been terrible at the rim in the early going (11.4% of shots, 40% FG%. Career FG: 55.2% ) Some of that struggle could be the midsection. He's currently at a career low (tied) 3.6 2PA/G and at 6.3 3PA/G which would only trail last season's 7.4. The other year he only attempted 3.6 2PA/G was 2018/19 which was by far his most efficient season offensively. In his other 5 seasons, he shot 2 PFGs from .410 to .429 , in 18/19 it was .511. That year, he had a career high TS% of .568. The only other year he was over .500 was last year at .518. A lot of that is because he started shooting 3s at a much better clip but some of it was shot selection, as you can tell with the dip from 18/19 to 19/20. This year he is currently at .559 but he's also shooting .429 from 3.
All his other rate stats are in line with his career outside of rebounding, which is down from 6.6% to 3.3%. Really, in the first 5 games it looks like he just traded some defense for some offense. It's a 5 game sample though, which means much of nothing. I just don't think he's been "bad" this year.
The difference between him and Grant is Smart is still a 25 minute player with a thicker midsection. He's not on the fringes and has played on the thicker side before while still being productive. Grant Williams has not and was in pretty close to the best conditioning of his life last season.
I also wouldn't mind Smart sacrificing a little defense for offense but I'm one of the few people in the Port Cellar who prefer offense to defense. Of course in the early going it looks like has has sacrificed a lot but I think that's just noise. He's not going to be a 122/115 O/Drtg player this year. The last 2 years he was 113/107 and 110/107. I'd guess maybe this year he's at like 115/110. The ORtg has been on a steady but slow incline while the DRtg has been on a steady but slow decline. There are other stats that suggest the same thing, but with even less defensive decline.
I'm guessing this is how most players progress as they age anyway. Their skills (3 point shooting, passing etc) become sharper but their physical tools begin to fade. I'm in no way implying Smart still isn't a top defender, just that he's probably plateaued on defense while he still has room for growth on offense. I'm just glad to see him mostly living behind the arc. I think he's in for his best offensive year to date, which means I may be joining the Smart fan club.