“There was a sense within the organization that stars Jayson Tatum and Brown sometimes deferred to Smart in big moments, and that his departure now leaves no question about who should be guiding this team.”
-Per sources, the Celtics are not expected to be in the mix for Damian Lillard.
-Jaylen Brown’s extension remains on course, with talks expected in Vegas.
-More on why the Celtics and Grant Williams parted ways.
More intel here: https://t.co/519ecHpD6m— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) July 6, 2023
by Coco1520
36 Comments
Smart was 2nd in clutch time usage this playoffs and first last year. I think this was a clear move to have the ball in the jays hands more.
In the nba playoffs this year in the fourth quarter here was Marcus Smarts splits
3.6 points 0.8 rebounds 1.2 assists on 38/19/91 percent shooting nearly 2 3s in the fourth quarter. Teams number one play was to double Tatum off of Smart and force Smart to shoot he was a big reason as to why the offense was not good in the 4th quarter
I love and will miss smart but watching him launch 3s down 1 was infuriating.
Sucks for Smart (and me who loved watching him play) but this actually makes a lot of sense to me.
Smart was definitely a security blanket for a lot of reasons, and it at least seemed like there were times when both jays would see a tough coverage, dump off to smart, and then just let him finish the play without trying to work into a position to get the ball back.
I feel like down the stretch we have a very clear plan: Tatum + Porzingis PnR. If Tatum is doubled then you have Porzingis who is a massive target to pass to and can knock down the open 3. Brown/White are available for cutting/slashing/attacking close-outs and Horford/Brogdon on the perimeter allowing for a very open lane.
It’s ok if your crunch time plan is predictable as long as you are just better at executing than the other team is at stopping you. They can know this is coming, but there are threats everywhere.
I think Joe did too tbh.
I don’t know how much I buy this as guys deferring to Smart, I think it’s more that opposing teams knew they’d be comfortable treating Smart like a 3rd guy and baited the pass while daring him to be a scorer. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a big part of our offense look so disjointed late. I know that works out basically the same as deferring, I just think it was more teams taking advantage of how our offense was supposed to work.
I’ll be curious to see Brogdon or White in that role instead. I could see them really jumpstarting our clutch offense because they’re both so well suited for the faster paced drive and kick game we play most of the night. Neither has the best first step, but both excel at picking their spots and driving against guys closing out which is what we’re going to be looking for someone to do when Tatum passes out of a double. It’ll get us into our offense and hopefully create open looks. Smart always tried to play a lot more in control as the point guard, and sometimes we needed that, I’m just not sure we did in the clutch.
After all the experience they had Im sure they should know it by now. Im sure as well that they have their own life coach/pshycologist to help them make decisions as well. And if they dont, then thats a big problem. Very big.
Jaylen needs more dawg in him. Come on Jaylen. You better play like a $50 million player per year player. We dont pay you to be needing someone to defer you in tough situation. Wake the hell up.
He had to go so the J’s can grow.
Trading him will be one or the best things this teams ever done
Hate to say it, but it’s true.
Smart ended up with the ball just a bit too much in crunch time, and while he’s really good at times, he’s just not quite good enough to be in that role.
And while his fearlessness is probably his greatest strength, his willingness to shoot in those spots probably hurt us more than it helped us in the end.
I think it’s fair to say that even the most rabid smart defenders, of which I count myself among, felt that sense of panic whenever the ball was in his hands for the last shot.
Not saying Marcus never took a bad shot, but he was often the worst shooter on the court for Boston so defenses made sure the ball found him at the end of the shot clock or game clock.
I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. They’re not leaders by nature. Forcing a square peg into a round hole doesn’t work.
We all knew this
“With Kyrie gone, it’s the Jays team now”
“With Kemba and Hayward gone, it’s the Jays team now”
“With Smart gone, it’s the Jays team now”
What’s the next excuse gonna be??
Jaylen Brown’s foot is ready for more touches y’all.
Y’all about to find out IF either of the J’s is a leader and can carry the team…
No more flopping, no more pouting on the floor for a no-call foul, no more pushing the ball up in 8 seconds, shooting a three and missing, no more bumble stumble fumble…
Had all off-season to “work” these things out including left hand dribble…
Smart isn’t there to bail them out…
Let’s see if these 2 are who some y’all believe…
Tatum and brown are kinda soft tbh, smart had to do something while those two were turning the ball over non stop.
Reddit was showing me a thumbnail of tom cruise…
it wasn’t because it was smart it was because it was point guard.
the ball will still be ending up in the hands of the point guard in big moments because teams will be suffocating the jays in big moments with double and triple teams and the jays are not yet there with their own facilitating for others skill set. they routinely break down into isolation actions that kill ball movement.
imho eliminating smart doesn’t address the shortcomings of the jays in those moments.
i don’t really understand the narrative smart was a cancer and had to go. smart was easily the best facilitator on the team in the majority of these moments and by role a primary ball handler. so it’s no coincidence your point guard had the ball.
Could be huge for them. Step up Js
This is why it was necessary
I don’t understand how that second statement flows from the first. If people were looking at Marcus as the leader and Marcus is gone, that would indicate to me that there are significant questions about who will be leading this team.
Making opposing team’s lesser offensive players seem more open than the offensive superstars is coaching 101. Smartly coached offensive teams have plays to counter this but teams that emphasize looking for the best looking 3pt shot like the Celts fall too easily into the trap.
Oppo teams basically run that drill where that run to the shooter to force the pass/kickout unless it’s Marcus receiving the ball. So Marcus has the best shot according to Mazulla ball a lot of the time.
This upcoming season is feeling more and more like the metaphorical equivalent of pushing the baby birds out of the nest. Either they fly, or… time to make more baby birds.
They both need to step the fuck up lol. Love em both but we shouldn’t be talking about this in years 7 and 8 for.them
Them? That’s the whole point, they need to become the leaders.
A reason for that is that the Jays still get rattled by clutch situations. Smart isn’t as talented as a player, but has more ice in his veins.
“And that man is Derrick White.”
If any of y’all was actually paying attention, you saw this time and time again. Whether he makes his shots or not, he tends to mess up the flow of the game and it effected the outcome of the game quite often. Many of us call that “hero ball” and we simply didn’t like it.
Moving from grant and smart takes away two of the vocal leaders of the team. The implications are clear, they want the jays to step up
No shit.
Which makes no fucking sense. Smart should never be taking the last shot
Well the question is will it be Jayson or Jaylen guiding the team…still a question
If your “superstars” were differing to Marcus Smart of all people in the clutch, then they are not superstars to begin with.
My main concern is that Jaylen and Jason do not have that in them. It was not so much them deferring to Marcus, more so they didn’t have the fight to TAKE it from him. I get that Marcus is no longer there for them to default to, but that mentality is more than just being the only option because everyone else is removed. It is more about being the only option because “I am the best”.
But I only ever played rec ball, I wouldn’t listen to me