Marcus Smart is going to make or break his contract year with how the defense improves upon his return
The Boston Celtics are expecting Marcus Smart back against the Pistons on Friday, and he is going to find himself in the kind of position that most people would like to be in on a contract year. Smart could be in line to make a lot of money the rest of this season, or his chances of a big contract could plummet.
One way or another, the importance of Smart is going to be amplified because of how they struggled to close the break in his absence. Before that break, Smart was going to make his money based on whether or not his shot improved.
Smart’s defense has long been established, and how much more money he could get on the open market would be directly related to whether or not he remains a liability as a shooter. Now, he is in a great position to make that extra money with his defense alone.
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That being said, Smart is also in a position where his defense could lose money. When you look at how bad the Celtics were without him, the standard of improvement is going to be massive. Smart cannot just come in and show the NBA how good he can be, because we have seen that. What Smart needs to do now is get the leagues number one defense back on track, even though it is about a lot more than just Smart.
If Smart returns, and all of a sudden the Celtics are back to the top defense in the league, then Smart will quickly climb up defensive player on the year rankings. Everyone has long known that he is one of the most unique defenders in the NBA, but if he has the same impact as an individual, while getting all the players around him to return to an elite level, he will be recognized as arguably the best defender in the entire league.
No matter what he does on defense, getting the Celtics back to their absolute best defense is going to make him a massive contract, and that would not have been the case if the Celtics did not struggle so much without him. Putting that much responsibility on Smart is certainly not fair, but it is how he will be perceived by the league, and that will be a huge factor in contract negotiations.
On the other hand, if Smart brings the same individual defense we have always seen, but the overall defensive unit does not return to the best in the league, then he could be losing money even if he does not regress at all.
If people are not able to see the overall impact of Smart, then they are going to claim that his defense is not important enough to make up for his offense, and he could end up losing money even if he improves on that end.
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With the extremes the Celtics played in without Smart, people are going to look to him as a catalyst one way or another. The Celtics need to be an elite defense if they are going to be an elite team this season, and it is clear that they will not be good enough without Smart. Whether or not the Celtics are good enough with Smart is going to be one of the top things to watch this season, and should be the biggest factor in how much money Smart makes this offseason.