The Celtics certainly are packing a lot of weirdness into this season already, aren’t they?
Marcus Smart has been in the middle of most of it, and he found himself there again on Saturday night.
Never has a foul that resets the shot clock felt so controversial. The conversation around Smart borders on toxic at this point, so much so that people will perform Simone Biles-level gymnastics to pin things on him.
The thing is, all of that is unnecessary because there is a legitimate conversation to be had about him that gets bogged down in the vitriol. When Smart’s detractors bend so far backwards to heap criticism on him, all it accomplishes is pushing his supporters to dig their heels in to defend him.
That’s the sports talk radio formula where everyone is supposed to take sides and yell at each other. That’s drama for the sake of drama, often drummed up by people reacting to clips they see come across their Twitter feeds rather than within the context of the games or season. That’s WWE stuff.
The reality of this season is that Smart has seemed a little off about something. My guess is that his role continues to be an issue, and that Brad Stevens and Ime Udoka spent a long time before the season talking about how much they are going to put the ball in Smart’s hands but then the team signed another point guard who starts whenever another starter is out.
Smart’s role on this team has barely changed, and that seems to be a problem for him. So much so that he lashed out a week ago and the ripple effects are still being felt.
It’s funny how much luck plays a role in how things play out. For Smart, at least as it pertains to this, it’s been mostly bad.
Let’s break down this quote I bring up every time we have this conversation.
“They drafted me … and they had (Rajon) Rondo,” Smart said. “Rondo leaves and they bring in Jameer Nelson. Nelson leaves and they bring in (Isaiah Thomas), and then they bring in Kyrie (Irving) and then Kemba (Walker).”
Nelson was a Celtic for a month. Thomas was a bench player available after Phoenix made some terrible personnel decisions. Irving requested a trade after Thomas’ hip injury and Cleveland was willing to do that deal. Walker happened to be the best free agent available after Irving bolted. And now Dennis Schröder happened to be available for a song after botching his free agency.
Did the Celtics specifically seek out point guards, or were point guards coincidentally the best players available at each of these particular times?
It probably doesn’t matter to Smart, who clearly wants to have a defined role that he can count on. That frustration spilled over after Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, when he said “There's only so much I can do without the ball in my hands, I'm just standing in the corner ... I would just like to play basketball. Every team knows we are trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen and every team is programmed and studies to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody's scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball. They don't want to pass the ball and that's something that they're going to learn.”
To a man, the Celtics have said Smart should have handled himself differently. The team has had its conversations about what Smart said and, under normal circumstances, the story would have been over by now.
However, thanks to more bad luck, the story drags on. Stevens was asked about it at a charity event the next day. Ime Udoka before a game the day after that. Jaylen Brown after the game, and now Jayson Tatum in his first meeting with the media since the comments.
Under normal circumstances, reporters and players would have all been in the same locker room, they would have all been asked about it on the same night, and the story probably would have ended there. But because of COVID protocols, this was the first chance for Tatum to be asked about the comments. Smart hasn’t been back in front of the microphone since then to be asked follow-up questions.
It’s tedious.
Tatum was asked if Smart should have handled this in house.
“I think you are asking that question, I think you know,” he answered.
Pressed, he added, “I think there are certain things, obviously, as a group that we would, there's certain things that -- I wouldn't come out here and tell you guys about our gameplan specifically. I think the moral of it is, it happened. You can't change it. We still a team, we still figuring it out, we still trying to win games. It's not I’m like upset or sad about whatever. You know, it happened. I'm a big believer of whatever happened, happened. You can't change it. Let's move on and try to figure it out.”
The next time Smart faces the media, it will come up again. The bigger question for Smart, however, is whether he himself can handle this situation as it stands. It’s not about there only being so much he can do, it’s whether he’s okay with there only being so much he can do.
Smart’s foul against Luka Doncic was boneheaded. Despite what many of you might think, that foul is actually out of character. Smart’s infuriating mistakes are often based on emotions, not lack of awareness. When Smart does something mind-boggling, it’s usually because he’s swept up in a moment. This was just a lack of awareness.
Say what you will about Smart, but he’s always aware of time, score, and situation. To me, the most troubling part about that foul on Doncic wasn’t that it cost Boston a chance to answer Luka’s shot, it’s that Smart didn’t walk onto the floor knowing that the foul they had to give wasn’t real because of the clock situation.
Smart makes mistakes, but he never makes that kind of mistake.
And that's where this whole conversation starts with him. He’s always going to be a bit divisive because of the shots and chances he takes on the floor. Our appetite for those won’t change.
It’s fair, though, to ask where his head is at this season ... at least during this part of the season ... and whether he can get past whatever it is that he needs to get past. To his credit, he's still doing a lot of the things we're used to him doing. He was out there in Dallas diving and defending like he normally does for most of the game.
But still, something isn't right, and it's hard to grasp exactly what it is. What we saw at the end of this game, and heard afterwards, still only feels like the beginning of the conversation.
