NBA Hall-of-Famer Sounds Off, Says Celtics Starter Should Win NBA Award

https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/marcus-smart-gary-payton-dpoy/



NBA Hall-of-Famer Sounds Off, Says Celtics Starter Should Win NBA Award


By Jack Simone
Updated Apr 8, 2022 at 3:43pm



Getty
Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics.



As Boston Celtics point guard Marcus Smart has pointed out all season, the last guard to win the Defensive Player of the Year award was Gary Payton in 1996. Smart has brought up this point all throughout his recent campaign for the award. The Celtics point guard has even made appearances on national television, explaining why it’s time for a guard to take home the award.

His pleas have been met with a surprising amount of support. On most major betting websites, Smart is now considered the favorite to win the award. Despite this, some are still questionable as to whether or not Smart is deserving. But on Friday, Smart got some very high-profile backup.

On April 7, Payton himself told SiriusXM NBA Radio that Smart should be first in line for the award. Payton said that Smart has changed the game, noting his dog mentality as a primary reason he’s so special on that end of the floor:

SiriusXM NBA Radio
@SiriusXMNBA
“[Marcus Smart] should win [DPOY]. Why not?”

If @GaryPayton had a vote for Defensive Player of the Year, he tells @termineradio and @jumpshot8 he’d be voting for @smart_MS3

#BleedGreen
https://twitter.com/i/status/1512461767628115971


But With Marcus Smart, he does the same thing. He just plays hard. He plays with a lot of dog in him. And I think that, yes, he should win it. Why not? He has changed a lot of things and a lot of the game.

Obviously, Payton may be biased. As the last guard to win the award, it’s likely that he’d lobby for Smart to be next in line. But getting the support of a Hall-of-Famer should not be downplayed.


Payton Explains Why Guards Have Been Overlooked

For the last four seasons, the Defensive Player of the Year award has been won by a big man. That number jumps up to five years depending on what you classify Draymond Green as. The last non-big man to win was Kawhi Leonard, who took home the award in back-to-back seasons in 2015 and 2016. But again, no guard has won since Payton in 1996.

During his interview, Payton explained why he believes there’s been a drought of guards ever since he won. He said that very few guards nowadays pester opposing players the way he did:

I think the reason we don’t get looked at as a guard is because we don’t do the things that I did. As Eddie [Johnson] would say, Eddie told me I was 94 feet. If I can turn a guard three and four times before he gets to half-court and it’s only 10 seconds on the shot clock, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do. They’re getting into an offense too late and they’re gonna rush. Marcus Smart does the same thing. My son does the same thing. They do that.

Payton pointed to Smart and his son, Gary Payton II, as two of the guards who play this way in the current NBA. When he was in the league, Payton was constantly getting into the airspace of opposing guards. While it’s easy for big men to get noticed because of their interior defense and shot-blocking, guards are often overlooked for their work on the perimeter. Payton took things to the next level and got noticed because of it. And according to him, Smart does the same thing.


Smart’s Case for Defensive Player of the Year

The Hall-of-Famer also dove into the exact reasons why Smart deserves to be considered. Once again, he compared the Celtics guard to himself, saying that like him, Smart forces other teams to change the way they play:

They started being on the blackboard over there in their locker room and said, get the ball away from Gary. Make him go on the other side and let the two-guard bring it up. I’ve done what I have to do. And I think that’s what he’s done, Marcus Smart has done. He makes other people handle the basketball who ain’t supposed to have the basketball in order to get into their offense, and he’s done that. He’s done that all year. He has taken the point guard out every time he plays whoever, and he took them out and made somebody else run the offense who is not supposed to, and he deserves that. If you change your offense because of one guy, that’s what you’re supposed to do.

Among players who have played at least 1500 minutes this season, Smart ranks fifth in the NBA in opponent’s field goal percentage (43.3 percent). He’s the leader of the best defense in the NBA and helped the Celtics turn their season around after a rocky start.

Smart was already a leading candidate to take home the DPOY award, but with the backing of Payton, the last guard to win it, his chances just improved even more.


Bob


.

Smart being the head of the snake, us being the no 1 defense in the league, he would seem to deserve the DPoY award this year. RWill is the backbone of the D and make no mistake the J’s are the top 2 wings defensively in tandem, with the Raptors Siakim and Barnes the only pair in the conversation.