The Boston Celtics need Marcus Smart to become the best leader for this team
The Boston Celtics are in one of the most unique positions for their roster this season, and that raises a lot of questions. There is all kinds of youth, too much inexperience and they lost arguably the three biggest leaders on the team.
Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley were the heart and soul of the team. They set the tone and carried things on and off the court, and they played a massive part in bringing together the teams that overachieved in the past.
They established the identity of this team more than anyone else, and someone else is going to have to make sure that extra edge they brought is not lost in the locker room.
Now, the Celtics need to figure out how they can try to replace that impact. The two best players on the team, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, are both new additions and they are both young. It would be difficult for them to step in right away, and have the same kind of impact as a leader as those players lost.
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They can be leaders, but they are part of the reason the Celtics need someone to maintain their identity. They will be a part of the leadership, but someone else has to help bring them there.
That leaves only two legitimate options, Marcus Smart and Al Horford. Horford will always be one to lead on the court. He is the lone established veteran on this roster, and you know that his role as a leader will have to grow this season.
The unselfish way he plays is essential in bringing everyone on the court together, and other players will look at that and try to have a similar impact.
That being said, Smart can now stand in a class of his own when it comes to leadership. Not only does Smart embody much of which those lost players brought, he is the longest tenured player on the team, and his attitude and mentality on and off the court is everything the Celtics want from their players.
Smart had emerged as a leader at a very young age because of his intensity, but now it has to be more. It is not just a matter of inspiring his teammates by putting in more energy and effort than anyone else.
Smart now needs to control things, and in addition to being that emotional inspiration, he needs to be keeping the players in check. Smart has a tendency to get a bit out of control, and he now does not have as many calming leaders behind him to keep everything in check.
Smart embodies the identity of the teams that were here during the rebuilding. Now that the rebuild is over and they are ready to win with this roster, Smart needs to make sure their identity can carry over.
Smart has proven that he is comfortable being a leader on this team, but now he needs to grow as a leader, because he is going to be the one that players are looking to on and off the court, with a lot more on the line.
Smart set a standard for young players that want to get playing time, and he can teach a lot of these players a lot of ways they can contribute and earn minutes even as they struggle.
Smart has never been one to let struggles phase him in any way, and he needs to make sure that rubs off on his teammates.
On top of all that, Smart now knows how to run this team and offense better than anyone else. He is the lone experienced ball handler, and he needs to take a lot of responsibility in making sure the new and young players are buying into what Stevens wants the way he has throughout his career.
Leadership roles will always be a fluid situation. The Celtics have gotten great leadership from young a new players in the past, but this team is in a different place now. It is no longer about that us against the world mentality, because the Celtics need to be front runners in an Eastern Conference they are expecting to win.
In the end we all know that Brad Stevens will bring these players together, and get everyone to buy into what will make them the best possible team. Smart needs to be the one to help him though, and bring in that extra boost that will be missing after the loses suffered this offseason.
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We all know where Smart needs to improve on the court, because shooting is the only thing he does not do well. Shooting, however, is not the only way Smart can improve his impact on the team, and in typical Smart fashion, that improvement cannot be quantified or shown on any stat sheet.