Marcus Smart’s first Celtics teammates included Jared Sullinger, Jeff Green, Gigi Datome, and Brandon Bass.
He’s been around for a while.
“It's a blessing,” Smart said of being the longest-tenured Celtic, and heading into his ninth year in the NBA. “We hear it all the time and the journey to this place, to the NBA, to the league, you hear and you become a statistic … I've been here long enough where I've seen guys in and out, I've seen guys very talented, some more talented than me.”
At 28 years old, Smart is still very much in his prime, but the crest of the hill is starting to show off on the horizon. Each bump he takes on the floor hastens its arrival, but he will never play any other way. For Smart, the style of play that could jeopardize his longevity is also responsible for it.
“It means a lot to be in this league for a very long time and be with one team for the amount of time I've been,” he said. “I never take it for granted and it shows. I leave it all on the court and that's why.”
Smart is a central figure in the story of the 2022-23 Boston Celtics. With all that has been swirling around the team to start the season, Smart’s intensity on the court is actually a calming force for everyone.
Basically, when Smart is loudly barking out defensive orders, all's right with the basketball world.
“You could tell his presence was there … You knew he was here today and that’s something that as a leader, you love to see,” Grant Williams said earlier this week. “He came in with great intensity from the jump. Credit to him and credit to everybody here.”
Smart is as aware of his surroundings as anyone. He knows the Celtics need to be hyper-focused on basketball as the outside noise that jarred the team dies down. But even with the Ime Udoka scandal changing the face of the franchise, Smart says there's no need to overcompensate.
“I'm not trying to step on any toes, I'm just trying to do what I can and I do best,” he said. “I'm not just out there talking, I'm out there proving by example, how I work and how I approach the game everyday.”
His new coach agrees.
“He holds himself to a high standard. I don't think anything needs to change as far as that,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I think he knows exactly what we need to do and how he can help us win.”
There aren’t many new faces in camp, but the one major addition the Celtics made has been impressed with his behind the scenes look at the guy who tortured him as an opponent.
“Marcus is as unselfish as they come, high IQ guy, skilled, he’s a very good player, he’s a winner,” Malcolm Brogdon said of his new teammate. “When I play with a winner, a winner is easy to play with. We have the same goal. For me, me and him are going to play really well together.”
Every training camp presents new challenges, but this year’s situation is clearly different. The long-term view of the team is uncertain. There is a risk of having four coaches in four years, which is the kind of bench instability reserved for perennial bottom-dwellers, not NBA Finalists with a history of keeping coaches around for a while.
That makes player leadership even more important. Any Celtics success this season is going to be the result of a true group effort, and it will test the leadership abilities of everyone in the building.
“He's a leader, and he knows what it takes to win, and he wants to do it together,” Mazzulla said of Smart. “He wants to be held to a standard, and so him being a point guard, me being a point guard, it’s kind of that relationship that we're able to look at it from that perspective. But I've relied on him, I've relied on (Jayson Tatum), I've relied on (Jaylen Brown), I've relied on (Al Horford) to really help with that leadership transition, and Smart’s a huge piece of that.”
OTHER PRACTICE NOTES
- Luke Kennard is “day by day” with a left ankle sprain. He was walking around the practice facility without a limp and without a brace on the ankle, so the injury doesn’t appear to be too bad. He’s not expected to play in Sunday’s preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets.
- Mazzulla couldn't comment on the addition of Blake Griffin because it’s not official, but Smart did:
“Love it. Obviously you know Lob City Blake and that Blake Griffin. He’s not there. He’s not above the rim anymore, but he still does great things. He’s a great professional. Last year he led the league in charges taken. For a guy that doesn’t play as much, that speaks volumes of what he does. He can affect the game not just with his offense, but defensively. So it’ll be a great pickup for us. It’s a great vet for some of these young guys to listen to and what he has to offer.”
Griffin led the NBA in charges drawn per game, something Derrick White (6th) and Smart (14th) also pride themselves on.
“We definitely going to have a competition,” Smart said. “I already started with D White. It's definitely going to be great. We are going to challenge each other everyday and you got three of the best charge takers in the game on the same team, it's only going to help everybody else.”
- Payton Pritchard could be the victim of a numbers crunch again, but he’s hoping a focus on off-ball movement can help him get more minutes.
“Everybody's gotta learn how to play off the ball,” he said. “We got Jaylen and Jayson who are gonna handle it as they should, so you got to learn how to play off them. I feel like in this league nowadays, there's not really as many true point guards. It's like everybody gotta be a point guard, shooting guard, you got to be able to do it all so I'm just trying to add that to my game. I'm used to going up having the ball in my hands playing point my whole life, so it's been an adjustment.”
