The Boston Celtics should be anticipating a lot of Marcus Smart three pointers this season
The Boston Celtics got a victory in their first preseason game, and we finally got a glimpse of how this team will start to look and function in the regular season. Chances are anything you want to take away from just that game will be an overreaction, but there were a few things that you could not miss.
One of those things was Marcus Smart. Everyone wanted to see how he would look after losing the weight, and what kind of role he might play on either unit.
Smart came off the bench, but that could still change many times early on. What Smart did show, however, is that he is going to live or die by the three pointer.
Smart has spoken a lot about improving his shot, and that has clearly been one the one glaring weakness in his game.
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He started out on fire, hitting his first two shots. He wavered a bit, but ended the game shooting 3-7 from beyond the arc. Not only was that the most makes on the team, but it was also more than double the amount of attempts anyone else took.
Smart took those seven shots in 14 minutes, with just one attempt from inside the arc, and nothing from the free throw line. Smart made it abundantly clear that three point shooting is going to be a focus for him and, at least for now, Brad Stevens has given him ultimate green light in the preseason.
When you look at the Celtics roster, you can see a lot of great shooting. Al Horford is one of the best stretch bigs in the league, Gordon Hayward is trusted to hit each and every shot, and there may not be a better player at manufacturing space to hit three pointers like Kyrie Irving.
Even if Smart exceeds all expectations and is a stellar shooter, it will be close to impossible for him to be as good as those top three options. What is legitimately possible right now, however, is that Smart will lead the team in attempts.
It wasn’t just that Smart took all those three pointers, its that he was not looking to score in any other way. For the big three, all of them have multiple ways they are going to attack, and will spend a lot of their time trying to generate offense driving to the rim.
That right there will take away many of their three point attempts. Smart, on the other hand, does not look like he will have that problem.
Even if Smart is not starting, he will continue to get starter minutes. If Smart is on the court for similar minutes, and is focusing all his offensive energy into three pointers, then he could easily lead the team in three point attempts, even if it would be crazy to expect him to have anywhere near the percentages of those other three.
Smart’s three point shooting is going to play a major factor all season long. His stroke looked nice and clean in the first game, but he still has some of the recklessness. Smart is going to take a lot more bad three pointers than those top three options, because they will look to create elsewhere, while Smart will try to stick to the original shot.
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Smart always plays with the relentless aggression, and even if he is struggling he is going to continue to let it fly. The Celtics do not need Smart to be a 40 percent three point shooter, but if he continues this trend of taking the most three point attempts on the team, then he is going to have to get his percentage around 35 or he is going to be too much of a liability on that end to keep it up.