Last week I told you the Boston Celtics’ collection of young guards, Marcus Smart, James Young, Terry Rozier, and R.J. Hunter have had underwhelming, if not outright disappointing, starts to their young careers. I also began to explore which of these young players Celtics fans should hold out hope for and which they should start to question as parts of this team’s future.
I first looked at the young guards taken in the 2015 NBA draft, Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter. Rozier hasn’t been given much of a chance with the Celtics, so the jury is still out on him. Hunter has received far more of an opportunity, but has shot very poorly, when shooting is supposed to be his calling card. R.J.’s shooting woes also dogged him in his D-League stint early this season and in his final year in college. Thus, Hunter currently sits at the top of my “time-to-question as part of the future list.” Will either of the Celtics’ young guards drafted in 2014 take his place?
With the 17th pick in the 2014 NBA draft, the Boston Celtics select James Young from the University of Kentucky….
When NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, announced to the world that James Young would be the next member of the Boston Celtics, Bill Simmons pumped his fist, and many Celtics fans thought general manager, Danny Ainge, had once again found them a diamond in the rough in the post-lottery draft. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. It’s still too soon to know.
From the outset, Celtics fans were encouraged to be patient in their expectations for Young, an exceedingly youthful guard with a flair for the offensive dramatic. We were told that James had the requisite talent, but given his tremendous youth — he would have been one of the younger players taken in the 2015 draft — he was rather raw and would take time to develop.
For the most part, Celtics fans have played along, not having rushed to judgement. They’ve kept in mind that Young is, well, young, and remembered that leading up to the 2014 draft, some of the best prognosticators in the business thought he was talented enough to warrant a top-14 selection. Had James not missed multiple scheduled workouts for interested teams because of a pre-draft car accident that resulted in a concussion, he likely would have been taken in the lottery, and well before the Celtics were on the clock.
Another important factor is Young really hasn’t been given the playing time to show how he stacks up against NBA talent. Over his season and a half in the professional ranks, James hasn’t received anything resembling consistent minutes for the Celtics. He has mostly come into games during junk-time, and there have been stretches in which it seems weeks and months have gone by between his appearances. Any serious basketball player will tell you that one of the biggest keys to success is getting in a rhythm. This can’t happen when you play as sparingly as Young has.
The only place Celtics fans have gotten a good, hard look at James Young is in Maine. Playing more consistently for the Celtics’ D-League affiliate, the Red Claws, over the past season and a half, Young has given Celtics fans good cause to be patient. He’s averaged over 20 points per game and shot a scorching 42.3 percent from beyond the arc. Young’s stellar play for Maine has led to numerous NBA coaches remarking to Ainge that Young has been one of the best prospects they’ve ever seen suit it up for a D-League squad.
The Celtics first selection in the 2014 draft and the 6th overall pick, Marcus Smart, is another story all together. Smart has most certainly received his share of opportunities. He’s played more than 3 times the amount of minutes in his young NBA career that Rozier, Hunter, and Young have combined, and Smart’s playing time has been consistent. For roughly half of last season, he was the Celtics’ starting point guard. And this year, he has been one of the few staples in head coach Brad Stevens’ constantly changing rotations. Celtics fans have seen a lot of what Marcus Smart has to offer at this stage in his development. Until very recently, it just hasn’t been pretty.
Smart’s current overall field goal percentage of 35.8 percent is worse than bad; according to ESPN’s rankings, it would register as the worst of any point guard in the entire NBA on pace to make at least 300 field goals by the season’s end. Smart doesn’t qualify for these rankings because he isn’t currently on pace to convert 300 field goals. Part of the reason for this is injuries, but the other is dreadful shooting. The number of players across the league who have received as much playing time as Smart and who have shot as poorly as him is so small, so infinitesimal, that the total can be counted on one hand.
Smart’s atrocious shooting hasn’t improved since his rookie year, either. His overall field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage this season are both worse than they were last year. Marcus was recently selected to participate in the NBA’s Rising Star Challenge, but the only thing rising is his staggering inefficiency.
I was critical of R.J. Hunter in part because, despite his reputation as a “shooter” when he came out of Georgia State University, he shot poorly in his final season at the collegiate level. His shooting woes aren’t limited to his time in the pros. However, R.J. did shoot well during his first two seasons in college, which suggests that he has the ability to shoot well again, even if it has been a while.
Marcus Smart has never shot well, though. In fact, he’s never shot average. In his two seasons playing for Oklahoma State University, Smart shot a lousy 41.3 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from three. Smart’s assist numbers were nothing to write home about, either. In his better season as a distributor for the OSU Cowboys, Marcus averaged just 4.7 assists per game, which wasn’t even in the top-65 of college basketball that year.
Smart has a serious problem. Point guards must shoot and pass the ball well. Now, there are exceptions, but there aren’t any players who can’t do either, as would seem to be the case with Marcus. For instance, Rajon Rondo has a terrible shot, but boy, can he pass that rock. He currently leads the league in assists per game. On the other end of the spectrum, Pacers’ starting point guard, George Hill, has never come close to finishing in the top-20 in assists per game, but is a very efficient outside shooter. He boasts a 37.7 percent three-point field goal percentage for his career.
With that, it’s time for me to hand down my verdict as to which member of the Boston Celtics’ collection of young guards fans should begin to question as being part of their team’s future.
Order! Order! You have been given an opportunity to prove you are something more than, at best, a defensive specialist and show cause why judgement should not be imposed upon you. This judge has considered all the evidence presented before him and sentences you, Marcus Smart, to a future career somewhere other than with the Boston Celtics….
Marcus Smart may not be here long, Celtics fans. That is, not if his recent success proves to be a fluke, and he reverts back to the old Marcus, chucking up three-pointer after three-pointer without finding the bottom of the net. He may not be in the NBA for much longer, either. I know that sounds hard to believe, but please take the following into consideration: the Celtics have already made Smart expendable. Yes, I said “expendable.”
The team’s first step in this direction came when it acquired Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline last season. Fresh off his first All-Star selection, there’s no turning back now for Thomas. He has elevated his game and at only 26 years of age looks like the Celtics’ point guard of the present and future. The second step came when the Celtics took another point guard 16th overall, Terry Rozier, with their first selection in the 2015 NBA draft. Rozier and Smart possess eerily similar skill sets.
Next: Isaiah Thomas to Participate in Skills Challenge
This was an open-and-shut-case from the beginning. Marcus Smart is the young guard who Celtics fans should begin to question most as part of this team’s future.