Smart & Young Showing Promise At Defensive End

Smart, Young Showing Promise at Defensive End

Posted: Oct 01, 2014
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By Marc D'Amico |  @Marc_DAmico
Celtics.com
October 1, 2014

WALTHAM, Mass. – Defense, defense, defense. That’s the M.O. of the Boston Celtics.

Even if you’re a rookie.

Marcus Smart and James Young, Boston’s two first-round draft picks, are only two days into their first NBA training camp but they’re already being asked to play defense at a high level. According to both their coaches and teammates, the young guns are delivering on that request.


It’s no surprise that Smart is making an impact at that end of the floor. He was regarded as one of the top defenders in this year’s draft and then grabbed an average of 2.0 steals per game during summer league action.

Even those facts may sell Smart’s defense short. Jared Sullinger and Brad Stevens are talking about the rookie as if he could one day become an All-Defensive Team player.

“He has similarities with Avery (Bradley),” Sullinger said, comparing the rook to one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders. “[Smart’s] just a little bit more thicker, so he can guard more positions. But at the same time, he has that ball-hawking ability like Avery and he just changes the pace of the game.”

Stevens took it a step further when he said, “Marcus has a chance to be a game-changer at that end of the floor.”

When asked why Smart has such great defensive potential, and how he is so similar to Bradley at that end, Sullinger struggled to come up with an answer. But once he did, it made a whole lot of sense.

“I think it’s just the will,” Sullinger said. “Somebody like Avery and Marcus, they just have will and I think they take pride in stopping the offensive player.“

Young seems to be taking plenty of pride in doing the same. Though he’s regarded as more of an offensive player at this early stage of his career, he’s currently turning heads with his defense.

“I went through all of our scrimmage segments yesterday on film, anything that was live at all, I went through it in pretty good detail,” Stevens told reporters. “The most impressive thing about James was he never really crossed my radar as making mistakes defensively, which is pretty impressive for a young guy.”

Young’s lack of mistakes, according to Stevens, can be attributed to his sky-high basketball IQ.

“One of the things that I’ve seen with James is that James picks things up really quickly,” Stevens said. He later added, “The basketball plays come very easy to him. Some guys you have to talk through a 2-on-1. You don’t have to do that with James Young.”

That’s good news for the Celtics. With Young catching on quickly and Smart displaying his elite abilities, these rookies are well on their way to making a defensive impact. Just how Boston wants it.




bob
MY NOTE:  A large part of defense is ganas.  You have to want it.  Bad.  And you have to be willing to take a beating (e.g. taking charges, fighting through solidly-set picks by big men, taking elbows to the chops because you're up on your man) to get it.  Smart and Bradley have that DNA.  James Young didn't screw anything up in his first practice.  I'll wait before I sprinkle any holy water on him for a while.



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Young couldn't have a better introduction to the NBA.  And it appears he's taking to it like a duck to water.  So far, it seems there's every reason why he could be a Chris Johnson with offensive versatility.

Sam