Marcus Smart Eager To Grab Lead

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2014/07/celtics_notebook_marcus_smart_eager_to_grab_lead



Celtics Notebook: Marcus Smart eager to grab lead
Rookie seems to be natural in this role



Photo by: Angela Rowlings
Marcus Smart talks with reporters after Celtics summer league practice, Wednesday, July 02, 2014.


Friday, July 4, 2014
By:  Steve Bulpett


Marcus Smart: ‘I see myself playing both guard...
Marcus Smart: ‘I see myself playing both guard spots’



WALTHAM — He was drafted a little more than a week ago, and he’s spent just three days’ worth of practice with the Celtics’ summer league entry. But Marcus Smart believes he’s already established his presence as a leader.

“Definitely,” the No. 6 overall pick said yesterday. “I’ve always grown up feeling like a leader. These guys embrace it and they allow me to be a leader, so it’s starting to get easier for me.”

Assistant Jay Larranaga is running the show for the summer set, but Smart’s bigger boss, Brad Stevens, has been keeping tabs on the situation.

“Leadership can show itself in a lot of different ways,” said the C’s coach. “There’s guys that never say a word that lead well. There’s guys that are very loud that lead wrong.

“But then you’ve got a guy like Marcus who really shows himself well in all of his work and has a good vocal about him. He just has a natural ability to be what would probably be defined as a guy that a lot of people would say, ‘That looks like a leader to me.’

“And what I’ve seen, he certainly has that ability. That’s his reputation. But, you know, leadership is not something that’s gained in two days. It’s gained through your everyday walk and how you do things, how consistent you are.”

Stevens expects Smart will continue to lead in whatever ways present themselves — by example, verbally, etc.

“Sure,” the coach said. “Does that mean that he has to officially be titled a captain? Does that mean that he has to be officially looked at as a leader by everybody? No. But he can do everything right. He can promote positive energy. He can give to others. That’s what leaders do. You can serve others.

“There’s so many different ways to lead. I think we all get caught up with personality being the No. 1 trait of a leader, and he’s got a great personality. But there are other things that go into it.”

Can’t rush Young

James Young, the other first-round selection by the Celtics in the NBA draft (17th overall), will be making the trip to Orlando for summer league, but there’s still some question about whether he’ll participate in the games, which begin tomorrow and end next Friday. The club still is being cautious with the 6-foot-6 swingman, who suffered a minor neck injury in a recent car accident.

“He did some more stuff (Wednesday) as far as non-contact on the bike, and he’s continuing to do some of that stuff,” said Stevens. “But I haven’t been given a timeline on it, and obviously, hey, he was in the car accident a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s summer league. We want to be very, very smart about this with him. He’s anxious to play. He’s antsy. He wants to. But at the same time, I want to be cognizant of the big picture.”

Keep it simple

Stevens has some simple goals for the trip to Florida and the five games and two full practices.

“Progress toward getting better in the big picture,” he said. “Continuing to have the young guys make progress on both ends of the floor, both in their individual game and in style of play.

“Certainly the non-contract guys is where you start with the evaluation — how they fit and how they stand out with things they do individually.”

Larranaga echoed that plan, saying, “Starting to develop the habits that will make us successful during the year. That’s offensively, that’s defensively, that’s approach to the game, approach to practice. I think the players have done a good job so far of that — and I would like to win, as well.”

The Celts already had begun practice in Florida last year when Stevens was back here holding his introductory press conference. Things are bit more calm this time around.

“Obviously night and day,” he said. “When I came here last year, I really didn’t want to interfere at all. And I’m trying my best to not do that again, but we’ve all been together a year, and . . . it’s all progress within our system now. That’s a really good thing, and that’s the benefit of having some continuity.” . . .

The Celts open play tomorrow morning at 11 against the Miami entry. Smart is looking forward to it.

“Even though it’s summer league, it’s still going to be a big deal because it is my first game, and you’re going to be playing against pro competition,” he said.



bob
MY NOTE:  Make that "semi-pro" competition, Marcus.  Interesting how the word "captain" dropped off of Stevens' lips when talking about whether Smart deserves it.  The team already has a captain, or is the writing more on the wall than we know?  Brad Stevens is NOT a good source of information, he is very good at sticking to his "party line" of only saying positive things and not tipping his hand about what he's really thinking, but once in a while, maybe, we all slip up a little and say more than we should or say things in a way that are unintentionally suggestive...



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I think of drafting Smart as serving more than one purpose: adding depth to the backcourt and hedging their bets on the PG position. I'm not ready to make any further speculation.

Also, BobH, I think because the term "captain" is associated with leadership, it seems like a natural thing to bring up, in my opinion.



KJ

k_j_88 wrote:I think of drafting Smart as serving more than one purpose: adding depth to the backcourt and hedging their bets on the PG position. I'm not ready to make any further speculation.

Also, BobH, I think because the term "captain" is associated with leadership, it seems like a natural thing to bring up, in my opinion.



KJ

KJ,

Maybe you're right, maybe I am reading the tea leaves a bit too closely, but KG was considered "a leader" but nobody used the word "Captain" with him because Pierce was THE Captain.  Leadership is a role, "Captain" is a title that is given to someone who holds that position.

It seems to me that the draft boiled down to 3 choices:  Smart, Vonleh or trade the pick.  In order to trade the pick you have to have a trading partner and that's not always possible.  Your fate is not completely in your hands unless you're willing to give away the pick for inferior talent or talent you don't really need because that's all that is being offered.  Vonleh was very intriguing but unless he grew another 2" I'm not sure he could ever play NBA center and, if we're drafting for need, that's what we would need him to become.  That leaves us with Marcus Smart.  Other than that incident of him going into the stands after a fan I haven't heard anything about him that was negative (if what the fan said to him is as has been reported, I probably would have gone after him too).  Offensively, we'll see what he can do but defensively he's another pitbull and I'm real good with that.

If Vonleh grows into another Noah then we'll all be here beating up on Danny, but for right now, based upon what we need now and who can make us better now, I'm just fine with Marcus Smart (assuming that we couldn't do the trade with Minny for Love).



bob


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It's obviously far too soon to make any judgments about Marcus' ultimate value to this team.  But it's always interesting to analyze what insiders choose to say and what they choose not to say.  Brad chooses to enthuse about Marcus' defense, his energy, his resolve, and his leadership potential.  Brad chooses not to talk very much about Marcus' offense.

All of that leads me to believe that the team would be very well off if every Celtic had Marcus' mental approach to the game.  (Can you imagine Jeff Green with Marcus' intensity?)  It also leads me to hope that the SF position can produce the lights out shooter the Celtics need.

Sam

sam wrote:It's obviously far too soon to make any judgments about Marcus' ultimate value to this team.  But it's always interesting to analyze what insiders choose to say and what they choose not to say.  Brad chooses to enthuse about Marcus' defense, his energy, his resolve, and his leadership potential.  Brad chooses not to talk very much about Marcus' offense.

All of that leads me to believe that the team would be very well off if every Celtic had Marcus' mental approach to the game.  (Can you imagine Jeff Green with Marcus' intensity?)  It also leads me to hope that the SF position can produce the lights out shooter the Celtics need.

Sam

sam,

If it's always interesting to analyze what insiders choose to say and what they choose not to say, then I'd say it's pretty damn interesting that Danny and Brad are both saying that neither of them have spoken to Rondo, they're not talking about Rondo much and Rondo hasn't spoken either about how he feels about Smart being in green and how he looks forward to playing with him.



bob


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Bob,

I've probably altered my thinking about the Celtics more this post-season than in any other post-season.  I've been a staunch advocate of Rondo despite the fact that his failure (refusal?) to push the ball drives me crazy.  However, I am so much more concerned about that lack of a decent center that I'd now be fine with seeing Rondo traded IF (a HUGE "IF") it helped bring such a center to the Celtics.

I'm not as amped up about Smart as many are.  I like his resolve and his physical strength.  I'm unconvinced about his floor general abilities, although I'm certainly open to revising that opinion depending on what he shows on the floor.  But, right now, if the tradeoff involves Smart (rather than Rondo) as the Celtics' lead floor general plus a real center manning the middle for the Celtics, I'm all in.

Sam

Shouldn't we wait to see how Smart performs as a PG in at least a few real NBA games before shipping out one of the best point guards the Celts have ever had?
1. Cousy
2. Tiny Archibald (including his performance before Boston)
3. DJ (including his performance before Boston)
4. Rondo
6. Jo Jo White
6. KC

Anyone have any dispute with those rankings? Surely no one would take issue with Cooz being #1.

I'd put KC second to Cousy.  I believe K.C.'s defense (and sometimes his offense, as I have the video to prove) turned the tide in more games for a longer period than s any Celtics floor general other than than The Cooz.  I don't believe it's appropriate to include games played with other teams in a ranking of floor generals.  I think of Jo Jo more as a combo guard.

But the ranking's really not important in the question of whither Rondo.  I think you're right, Worcester, that it makes sense to see how Smart performs before handing him the job of floor general.  However, the Celtics have missed a number of opportunities before the free agent period is even officially open, and I have a suspicion Danny will strike sooner rather than later by using what is arguably best trading chip.

Moreover, my zeal for Rondo (who has always been my favorite Celtic since he first hit town) is tempered a little more each time the Celtics halfcourt offense stagnates, not so coincidentally, when Rondo just will not push the ball and the Celts' halfcourt offense too frequently starts with the shot clock approaching single digits.

Sam

No question about KC's defense. Tenacious. And I remember so often Johnny Most talking about the "Jones boys" doing this or that to help the Celtics win (I listened to many games on the radio).

I too have been frustrated by Rondo's walking the ball to half court way too often (or watch the ball roll slowly to halfcourt before picking it up). Still, I'd like to see how November and December pan out before trading him away. I'd hate to see Rondo go.

W,

I understand your feelings, which I'm sure are shared by many.  It's a tough call, but one thing that keeps occurring to me is that Brad wants to run a motion offense in the forecourt.  Successful motion offenses usually get into action very early in the shot clock, and the ball is handled by multiple players.  This seems counter to the way in which Rondo feels comfortable, including surveying the scene before he passes the ball to anyone.  Brad wanted to run a motion offense last year, and I don't believe it came to fruition most of the time.

We'll soon see what's happening .  I like to hope Danny won't keep us waiting too long.

Sam

Sam, Worcester,

The only problem with this current Celtics team running the motion offense is the lack of ball handlers. Hopefully the additions of Smart and Young can help, along with another year of confidence in Olynyk and Pressey.



KJ

KJ,

Excellent observation. That's one thing the Spurs have going for them. I believe Bass, Green and Bradley, in particular, were among the weaker ballhandlers on the Celtics. I also believe Sully was a better ballhandler at PF than at center. If the Celtics can get a decent ballhandler at center to allow them to run plays through that position, that'll be a big plus for a lot of reasons, including allowing Sully to play more PF. Actually, based on only a couple of blinks of the eye, Iverson looked better handling the ball than I expected today.

As for Bradley and Green, we'll have to see about them. It appears that major changes would have to be made to limit the minutes of either of them.

Sam