Brad Stevens on Marcus Smart: “He’s Got a Presence About Him’

Marcus Smart is entering his third season in the NBA (which makes me feel old) and Brad Stevens recently joined Bill Simmons to talk about the Celtics, Smart and those insane Butler games he was a part of in college. The entire podcast is really good because Stevens is awesome, but I pulled out the parts on Smart.

Stevens on Smart’s Presence

“One of the things I really like about Marcus [Smart] is when Marcus is here, you know he’s here. You know he’s in the room, you know he’s in the game, you know he’s in a defensive drill in practice. He’s got a presence about him that can liven a room. He’s got a great competitive spirit about him.”

Stevens on Smart’s Defense

Defensively, obviously, he’s as advanced as any guy that I had ever coached at that age — not just from the standpoint of the physical toughness and strength and athleticism, but also just the understanding of where to be at the right time. He clearly had great coaching growing up, and he just knows the game. … I think his greatest strength will always be that he’s a guy that makes winning plays that sometimes aren’t quantified.

Whether that’s guarding [Paul] Millsap for eight minutes or guarding [Kristaps] Porzingis for six minutes or guarding the point guard for the next four, he’s just a guy that will do anything you ask to help his team win.

Stevens on Smart’s Offense

I think that as he continues to progress — and everybody has talked about his shooting, which I know he has worked really hard on — the other parts of his game offensively have really expanded. He was better off the pick-and-roll in Year 2, I thought he did a great job of getting into the paint, finishing, kicking out, [and] making plays — especially during the playoffs.

You can listen starting at 23:25 here.

Smart’s per 36 numbers in Year 2 increased in pretty much every category except for three-point shooting percentage. He also posted 2.4 defensive win shares on the season which was No. 79 in the NBA and even more impressive because there were only four players ahead of Smart on the defensive win shares list who started fewer games than Smart’s 10.