Brad Stevens is Developing Marcus Smart the Right Way

A lot of people look at the season Marcus Smart is having and they call it a disappointment. He has continued to have the same phenomenal impact on the defensive end but has lost much of the offensive progress he made last year. The number one question about Smart coming out of the draft was three point shooting. After hitting 33.5% in his rookie season there was clearly potential. After regressing to 28.8% from beyond the arc this year, many people have started to question whether or not he can ever be a a true NBA three point threat.

The curious part of Smart’s development is that despite his shooting struggles, he never hesitates when he has a chance from beyond the arc and there are no indications that Brad Stevens has done anything except give him the green light. Evan Turner is an interesting comparison. Turner has also had the worst season if his career from three, but he is not given any of the freedom that Smart is.

Instead of continually shooting three pointers like Smart, Turner has almost entirely eliminated them from his offensive arsenal. Turner’s three point shooting has been far worse than Smart’s but Stevens is taking a completely different approach with the two of them. While Turner’s progressively taking his shots closer to the rim, Smart continues to take almost all his shots from three point range.

It appears as though Smart is taking a similar path that Jae Crowder is taking this year. They are eliminating the mid range shot from their game and doing everything at the rim or from three point range. For Smart, the percentages are quite staggering. 47.4% of his shots are form three, 25.7% are form within three feet of the rim and just 26.9% from any other distance.

It may appear as though Smart is continually jacking up shots that he should not be taking, but that is exactly what Stevens wants him to be doing. As a team, the Celtics made an effort to cut out the mid range game and Stevens is doing everything to ensure that Smart can play in that same style. Even if Smart is not yet good enough from three to be taking almost 50% of his shots from range, taking that many shots from distance will allow him to improve the most.

Stevens is giving Smart the freedom to develop his shot and figure out how to become a legitimate three point shooter. Stevens is making sure that nothing is getting in the way of Smart’s development and even if it hurts them on the court at times, it is the best way to get the potential future of the franchise where they want him to be.

The reason why this strategy works so well for both Smart and the Celtics is that Smart still does not have enough responsibility to be hurting the team too much with his poor shooting. With the pace the Celtics play with they take an incredible amount of shots per game. Boston’s 89.5 field goal attempts per game leads the league and that is the key to Smart’s unwavering green light.

Stevens knows that he can allow Smart to take more three pointers than he should because he has the security of knowing that their success is based on generating those extra opportunities.

Even if Smart has regressed in his percentages this year Stevens is getting him as comfortable as possible in the system that he is going to be a part of for what may be the majority or entirety of his career. The Celtics play in a system where players cannot be hesitant shooters. One of the biggest reasons Kelly Olynyk has made such progress this year is because of his confidence shooting the ball. The Celtics play in an almost shot clock less system where the amount of time left should not cause a player to pass up a quality opportunity.

The Celtics use incredible ball movement that creates open shots and much of their offensive success is predicated on taking advantage of as many of those opportunities as possible. Stevens is instilling a mentality in Smart that will ensure he will never have a problem taking an open shot, even if he has been struggling.

Of course, much of Smart’s offensive success throughout his career will be depend on how he grows as a shooter. Right now, Smart still has a tremendous amount of potential and even though he has been unbearably streaky, there have been times where he knocks down multiple good looks in a row. It is far too early on to give up on Smart as a three point shooter and as long as Stevens sees that potential then Smart will continue to have that green light from range.

Next: Boston Celtics Must Re-Sign Evan Turner

Smart is in a great position to develop his three point shot with confidence because their offensive system creates such an abundance of opportunities. Smart is clearly not where he needs to be with his three point shooting but Brad Stevens is making sure that he is in the best possible position to become a legitimate three point shooter.