Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart deserves 2020’s Defensive Player of the Year award — here’s why

Many have made the case that Boston Celtics’ combo guard Marcus Smart deserves consideration for the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year award. The Houdini couldn’t agree more.

The 2019-20 regular season saw many success stories for the Boston Celtics. Through 64 games, the team clinched their sixth consecutive postseason berth with a record of 43-21 (registering at the third seed in the east and the fifth in the entire NBA).

They sent two of their players — Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum — to February’s All-Star game, saw great progressions from some of their key contributors — Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, etc. — and, by the league’s COVID-19 induced hiatus on March 11th, were one of the most buzzed about teams heading into the final stretch run of the regular season.

From the overall team to it’s individual players, it seemed as though some sort of news was coming out daily pertaining to this current iteration of Celtics basketball.

One of the more prominent storylines in reference to an individual player during the season was when NBA legend Dwyane Wade shared his views on Marcus Smart, and how he believes, at the very least, he should be in the running for the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year award.

"“I know this is normally a big man’s award but this year, we need to get back to the Gary Payton and Michael Jordans of the world, where guards get the Defensive Player of the Year. What Marcus Smart has done… I mean, he’s fearless. And it’s not just the blocks, it’s the hustle, it’s the diving on the floor for the ball, it’s the switching one through five he does.”"

For those of you familiar with Smart’s game, and Boston Celtics basketball, you know that Smart has been the blood line and heart & soul of the team all season. From his unbelievable steal and save on Kawhi Leonard back in November (clip shown below) to his impressive three block total in late January against the Miami Heat, the fifth year guard has proven to have a never quit attitude on the less luxurious side of the ball that has made him an absolute fan favorite for the shamrock squad’s faithful followers.

Recently, Jayson Tatum, too, put his opinion into the mix of who should take home DPOY honors this season and, like, Wade, the wing believes Smart is certainly deserving of the illustrious award.

Perhaps his best season as a pro, Smart is averaging career bests seemingly all across the board. Through 53 games the 26 year old is posting 13.5 points, 4.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals and a half a block per game on 35 percent shooting from 3-point range.

You can call it bias, but we call it a fact: Marcus Smart should be a legitimate candidate to take home the top defensive award for the 2019-20 season.

Though listed as a combo guard, he’s proven capable of guarding players from the one all the way down to the five. At just 6-3, he is by far the best defender on the fourth best defensive rated Celtics (106.2) and, as crazy as it may sound, one could certainly make the argument he’s even the team’s best rim protector.

Above everyone else, however, the man who’s doing this all believes the odds are stacked against him, but wants fans to recognize the versatility he provides for his team on a nightly basis.

"“I mean, think about it. How many guards are doing what I’m doing guarding 1 through 5? How many bigs are guarding 1s the way I’m guarding 5s? Like I said, I’m on another level right now and I think my play speaks for itself.”"

Though Marcus Smart may not lead the league in blocks, steals or defensive real plus/ minus, what he brings to the table in terms of tenacity, grit and grind as well as his willingness to do the little things that don’t find their way onto the stat sheet is exactly why the Boston Celtics’ combo guard deserves consideration, if not favoritism, to bring home the Defensive Player award for the 2019-20 season.