Marcus Smart knows the Celtics will figure it out, thanks to Brad Stevens

PHOENIX -- Rumors of unhappy players, a bottom-five offense in the NBA and a 6-4 record ... while there have been plenty of highlights mixed in, the first 10 games of the season have been largely underwhelming for the Celtics, given the talent that this team has littered throughout the roster. They may have a deeper team than anyone in the league, but that group has not been clicking together collectively consistently for more than a month now, dating back to the preseason.

Marcus Smart may be one of the younger Celtics on the roster at age 24 but he's also the longest-tenured Celtic. He's been through the trenches with Brad Stevens through four of his years in Boston and has watched the coach make things work with a wide array of rosters with far less talent than this one.

So when asked about what makes him so confident that this group will put the pieces together despite a mix of different lineups and roles through the first ten games of the year, Smart kept it fairly simple:

He pointed to his coach.

"One good thing about Brad is he believes in his players," Smart told BostonSportsJournal.com. "That never changes. I know we’re going through a funk but he still believes in us and allows us as players to figure it out. There’s only so much he can do for us. He’s not out there playing and not out there seeing what we’re seeing. He can only put us in positions, but we have to go out there and execute. He believes in us and we believe in Brad. Brad is Brad, ya know? He’s going to do anything in his power to get us back on track and we have to do our part."

Finding what exactly everyone's 'part' is has been the challenge for these Celtics over the first month. Cohesion is being built within new units and the balance of efficient scoring and defending has not been there on a consistent basis nightly. A little bit of early adversity isn't necessarily a bad thing though, according to the veteran point guard.

"We just have to figure out," Smart declared. "It’s on us. We’ve all been talking. We’re just trying to -- I don’t know. It’s hard to say. You figure it’s one thing and then it’s another. You think you know what it is and it’s just that time. I’m glad it’s happening early than later. The last thing we are going to be doing is talking about this come playoff time. Sometimes, this can be good, a real challenge for us, so if we do have problems, we know how to deal with them next time."

To his credit, Smart has been one of the few players that has taken seamlessly to a lesser role with the added collection of talent this year. He's taking four fewer shots (7.4 per 36 minutes) compared to last season. Those numbers have been particularly ugly (33 percent from field, 18.5 percent from 3) but the focus for him has rightfully been on facilitating over finding his own offense.

"It’s a little bit of a difference this year," Smart admitted. "My shots have gone down, but I’ve always been a passer and a playmaker. We have a lot of guys that score the ball and who are really good at it. We don’t have as many guys that can play-make as much as one other guy. That’s my part. Everyone has to do their part and that’s my part: Play defense, knock down open shots and take the open ones and get everyone else going. That’s my job."

While the experimenting with different lineups, different roles and figuring out better chemistry can be pointed as excuses for the slow start, Smart isn't buying that as an explanation at this stage of the year.

"We’re all professionals. Some of those guys that are on the bench with us now, started last year, like Terry. Terry took all over a starting role last year and now is back on the bench. Everyone has to find their niche and what they can do to help this team, within the team. Everybody needs to show what they got and we have to figure out how to do it inside of this team."

That road starts with an easier test on Thursday night in Phoenix before the road gets tough again over the next week with matchups against Utah, Portland, Toronto and Utah again on the docket. With Irving scheduled to miss Friday's matchup against the Jazz, the margin for error will be thin if the C's want to pick up momentum and not fall too far behind the Raptors and Bucks in the race for homecourt advantage in the East. Otherwise, this slow start will be one the C's will pay for come May and June.