Initially, Marcus Smart Was 'Kind Of Puzzled' By The Celtics Drafting Guards

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Initially, Marcus Smart was 'kind of puzzled' by the Boston Celtics drafting guards





FILE: Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, March 14, 2015, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Print Email Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on July 01, 2015 at 2:00 PM, updated July 01, 2015 at 2:48 PM





WALTHAM -- When Marcus Smart saw the Boston Celtics' first two draft picks, another pair of guards, he initially wondered why.

"At first, I was just like, 'Wow. Another guard.' In my mind, I'm trying to count up how many guards we have. I'm like, I don't know, man," he said, smiling while recounting the tale. "At first, it just kind of puzzled me a little bit."

Before long, Smart's social media was buzzing with people taken aback by Danny Ainge's draft. Everybody wanted to know why the Celtics acquired Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter when they already featured a strong backcourt of Smart, Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas.

"Obviously people were calling me," Smart said Wednesday after the first summer league practice. "I'm looking on social media, they're like, 'They got another guard. Isn't this the same draft as last year? Somebody's getting traded.' My family's asking me what's going on.

"I'm just telling them, 'Just calm down, just watch it. Relax. Everything's going to be OK."

Smart can ease his family with this reminder: Ainge has always vowed to take the best player available regardless of position. While he claims to break ties by focusing on need, the Celtics rated Rozier's potential better than any big man or wing still available at No. 16.

Regardless, it was an interesting week for Smart, who also took over from Rajon Rondo as the Celtics guard most likely to be involved in trade rumors. One report had the Celtics offering Smart to Philadelphia. Another mentioned Indiana as a possible landing spot. A third referred to growing "whispers" that Boston was willing to surrender Smart for an early lottery pick.

According to Smart, the flurry of rumors prompted his agent to call the Celtics front office "just to clarify everything was OK." Still, the guard said he paid little attention to the chatter after a stream of communication with Ainge.

"I talked to Danny a good amount of time about it," Smart said. "He told me what was going on, and just don't even worry about it. I understood what he wants and everything that he had installed for me. So I wasn't really worried about the rumors, like I said, because I had a talk with him."

Also, perhaps, because he was worried about far more important things:

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics guard Marcus Smart dealing w/ more than trade rumors recently - his mother had quadruple bypass surgery last week.
11:46 AM - 1 Jul 2015
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bob



.

Danny still has to be high on Smart.  HOWEVER, Marcus has a lot of work to do in order to be stigmatized as a man without a position.  And a little reminder never hurts.

Sam

I'm hoping Danny said something about 3 guard lineups, which Smart is strong enough to make a very real option.

That would unclog the logjam at guard, if Smart can get even 10 minutes per game at SF.