The Case for Point Smart

    A lot of fuss has been made this offseason about the Celtics' point guard situation with the departure of Kemba Walker. Will the Celtics use their MLE on a point guard or trust Smart and Pritchard to lead the starters and second unit. Whether or not Pritchard can be our main bench facilitator is a question for another day. I would like to focus on the case for Marcus Smart being our starting point guard. 

    Marcus Smart has been very versatile both offensively and defensively, being able to play both the point guard and shooting guard position throughout his career. I feel from the general perspective his playmaking is very underrated. He has always primarily played the two guard during his career aside from his rookie season, so he hasn't had the responsibility of being the clear lead facilitator on a team since his rookie year. Despite not being a true point guard he has the led the Celtics in assists the past two seasons, in which he has set career highs in assists each of those seasons. Smart is coming off of a year where he averaged 5.7 assists per game while being fourth among starters in usage rate. 

    Marcus Smart isn't just a good playmaker compared to his own team, he also excels among combo guards around the league. He was in the 68th percentile in assists percentage at 22.7% as well as being in the 79th percentile in assists% to usage% at 1.1, which led the Celtics among qualified players. 

    The Celtics' defense was a big concern last season as they were much worse than they had been in previous seasons. The Boston's defense has been much better over the past two seasons with Smart as the one rather than the two. Last season his defensive rating, points allowed per 100 possessions, as a point guard was 111.8 while his defensive rating as a shooting guard was 113.6. There was an even bigger discrepancy in '19-'20 where the defense allowed 100.7 points per 100 possessions while Smart was at point guard, and the defensive rating was 107 while he was at shooting guard. 

    Lastly, and Udoka mentioned this in his introductory press conference, the Celtics were near the bottom of the league in assists. This makes it seem like they are in desperate need to add a facilitating, but the construction of the roster already looks to be conducive to more ball movement. Teague, Walker, and Green were in the bottom 34th, 27th, and 6th respectively for assist percentage among their position groups and all three are already off the roster. Thompson and Ojeleye are two players I hope not to see on the roster at the beginning of next season, and they ranked in the bottom 35th and 10th percentile for assist percentage. The potential starting lineup for next season which includes Smart, Fournier, Brown, Tatum, and Rob Williams were all among the upper 68th percentile or better for assist percentage. Our newest addition Al Horford was one of the best passing big men in all of the NBA, he had an assist percentage of 20.6% which ranked in the 94th percentile. 

    With the way the roster is currently constructed, Marcus Smart would be a great fit as the point guard. I believe he will continue to increase his assist numbers, while also unlocking the true potential of this Boston defense with his defensive versatility.