Compare that to a year ago against the Nets in the playoffs, when they had Kemba, Fournier and Thompson in the starting lineup with Parker and Prichard as key rotation guys off the bench.
Marcus Smart is your 2021-2022 Defensive POY
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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Yeah, if people recall, Romeo played a lot of minutes and was switched on to KD alot. Romeo was probably the second best wing defender on that team (leaving Marcus aside because he had other duties), but he had no shot guarding KD one-on-one. KD just shot right over him.
Last year, other than JT and Marcus, the Cs had no one who could bother KD. This year they have JB and a more agile GW and Al. Makes a huge difference.
His listed height used to be 6’4” before the NBA insisted on using verified measurements, which is why he shrank an inch (6’4” was his “in shoes” height).
That is part of why I asked. I don’t know what was being done with measurements in the 1980s and mid 1990s, but there were shenanigans, like the allegedly 6’11” Bill Walton.
It kinda does. Pretty much everyone was in shoes hight back then. Except for people who really wanted to jack the measurement (usually to appear taller, unlike Walton). Chances are high that GP was 6'3" barefoot also.
My personal perception is that MS really transformed himself quite a bit this year. He took on the mantle of being a distributor and defensive stalwart and stopped trying to jack up so many 3 pointers. His assists are up about 1 more per game, and his 3PA are down 1.5 a game from two seasons ago (last season was closer to this season).
The differences in the numbers seem pretty small. Just looked up his usage rate, actually pretty constant the last 3 seasons. So, maybe it's all just my perception of him that's changed. But, coming into this season I was really not a Smart fan - and I feel like he has been a very positive contributor this season.
The differences in the numbers seem pretty small. Just looked up his usage rate, actually pretty constant the last 3 seasons. So, maybe it's all just my perception of him that's changed. But, coming into this season I was really not a Smart fan - and I feel like he has been a very positive contributor this season.
Marcus has always been a “shoot the ball as often as necessary” guy. Between Williams more aggressive cutting, Night of the Living Al™, and the addition of White the need for Marcus to shoot has declined, and so he’s shot less. It’s always been the silliest of hot takes, honestly.
Taller. Walton famously did not want to be known as “a seven foot freak” so he insisted on a listed height of 6’11”. Parish was listed as 7’0” but my recollection is that Walton was obviously taller.
Holy cow he's SO much bigger than McHale in that bottom photo.Taller. He had at least an inch on Chief.
IIRC in team photos he appeared taller than both Parrish (7'1") and McHale (6'10").
thanks for posting
Smart has a really unique approach to diving for a loose ball. Not only does he offer full extension for the ball, he also leans into the opposing player while in the air, creating additional leverage...I can see why Kerr was a little bent
Which Port Cellar Dweller would like to admit that this story is about him: https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-betting-lucky-bettor-turns-100-wager-into-50-k-on-marcus-smart-dpoy-award-171623795.html
Smart opened the season as a 40-to-1 shot to win DPOY and closed as a -190 favorite. In between, his price ballooned up to 500-to-1, which is when the bettor swooped in with a targeted wager.
Surprisingly, those incredibly long odds didn't come at a point when the Celtics were languishing (Smart was 100-to-1 in early January when Boston was below .500), but rather in early March, well after the team went on a hot streak to turn its season around.
I made my first trip to Vegas at the end of Feb./beginning of March. I put a few bucks on NBA games our last night there. Woke up with $35 left in my MGM account. Threw $5 here and $10 there on different NBA champions, including the Celtics ($10 bet for a $200 payout IIRC) and then realized I could do end of season awards. Scanned them all and Smart at +50000 for DPOY jumped out at me. I had $2 left in my account and put it on Smart winning. It paid out $1,000 last night.
Taller, but he didn't want to be known as a 7-footer, which he thought crossed the line into freakishness.
Chief was introduced by Andy Jick as “standing at 7 foot and 1 half inch, number 00, Center from Centenary, Robert Parish”.
Love Andy Jick references. I worked a few years at Timberland in New Hampshire, and he planned corporate functions there as an employee. A couple of times a month, he'd announce some shit over the building P.A., and it was weird as hell. There were only a few of us who even knew who he was.
“And nowwwwwwwwwwww. . . .intro-duuuucing. . . . The Bostoooooonnnnn CELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLtics.”
He was great for sure.
In the pic with KC and the Chief though, he looks like he's standing as tall as he can in his shoes, like he does want to look 7 feet or more.
What a front line that team had. Best ever decided in another thread. Walton coming off the bench made it almost silly.
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Four hall of famers - Bird, McHale, Parish, Walton. All 6'9" or bigger (really probably 6'10" because I think Bird was actually that height). Walton played his role perfectly that season.
It is a little hard to believe that Walton is in the hall of fame though. Great college career, and obviously a great talent, but didn't have a great pro career. Injuries obviously, but played 60+ games only 3 times in his career (80 in the 85-86 season!). Never averaged even 19 points a game even once in his career. For as great a passer as he was, averaged 5+ assists just once in his career. Career line of 13.3 points (meh), 10.5 rebounds (decent but not outstanding for a 7-foot center), 3.4 assists (nothing wrong with that but nothing great either), 2.2 blocks (pretty good). I mean, he was a fine player but didn't play tons due to injuries and when he did play he was really good but not CRAZY good. I think he was one of those "his play was better than his stats indicated" kind of guys.
Walton possibly would have made the HoF based solely on his NCAA career, as it is the Basketball HoF, not NBA HoF. Going 86-4 with 2 consecutive undefeated seasons at UCLA is probably something that will not be repeated in our lifetimes.
His NBA career scoring and rebounding numbers have a marked pre- and post-injury effect. 17.1 ppg and 13.5 rpg pre-injury, plus one MVP and one Finals MVP award in his first 4 seasons. The MVP was a bit of a strange one, as he missed the final 20+ games of the season, but the NBA was in a bit of a strange place at the time, and there really was no dominant Giannis/LeBron type player that season. The defending champion Blazers were 50-10, a 68-win pace, when Walton got hurt, and went 8-14 the rest of the way. And the Finals MVP award was inarguable as the Blazers romped through the playoffs. And winning that 2nd title as 6th man for the Celtics certainly helped his cause.
No doubt his college creds are off the charts, and being a key contributor on two NBA title teams doesn't hurt. It's just that his whole body of work in the NBA really isn't HOF worthy. But yeah, add in the college stuff and it's better.
NBA Hall of Fame worthy or not (I did learn recently here that college counts too, and he was sensational at UCLA) I was really happy back then how Walton took on his role. You never heard about any bitching about minutes or who did the scoring. He just helped put them way, way over the top. He looked like he loved playing with that front line and the rest of the guys. I had a friend at the time who was from LA, big Laker fan. When he heard about Walton going to the Celtics, he said may as well give them the trophy right now.
Big congrats to Marcus so deservedly winning DPOY!
Big congrats to Marcus so deservedly winning DPOY!
I doubt Walton could have played more minutes if he wanted to. That season with the Celtics, if you include the playoffs, Walton played his career high in games (96; next highest 84 games in 76-77) and his third-highest total minutes played, with 1837, behind 1976-77's 3024 and 1977-78's 1,978. The following year he was done - played <250 minutes in regular season and playoffs combined and was completely ineffective.
I mean, it's the basketball hall of fame not the NBA hall of Fame.
Walton is one of the best college players of all time, was for a period arguably the best player in the NBA, won 2 titles and an MVP, and had a long broadcast career. He is a no brainer for the Hall
I laughed out loud, rewound it, tried to explain it to my wife (who didn't understand), watched it for a third time, then went back to the game.
I wasn't in the game thread when Marcus hit the Left Hand of God shot, but did anyone comment on how it seemed like Tatum got away with an egregious push-off against Kyrie about 10 seconds earlier? I mean Derrick Henry would have been proud of that stiff-arm
This is a really fun twitter account:
View: https://twitter.com/ArtButSports/status/1516961037341409280?s=20&t=cwlO-3BP84dAo-4uxsWvCw
View: https://twitter.com/ArtButSports/status/1516961037341409280?s=20&t=cwlO-3BP84dAo-4uxsWvCw
Yes. I commented to a friend that in a road game that was probably a foul. It was as he was trying to receive a tough-angle pass from Smart, IIRC
Many (many) moons ago, a young Shaq had the same "my left hand did that" performance after a similar inside left handed score. I thought Smart was paying homage... perhaps I was wrong.
Jaylen Brown did it a few weeks ago. That's why I think Smart did it yesterday. I'm sure Jaylen originally did it because of the Shaq thing though.