All season long, the Boston Celtics have been the top-ranked defense in the entire association, boasting a defensive field goal percentage of 43.5, a percentage points difference of -2.5, and a Defensive Rating of 106.2, all of which rank No. 1 in the NBA.
Now, while the team as a whole has been overall fluid and tremendously in synch on this less glamorous side of the ball, spearheading the charge once again for the group is veteran guard, Marcus Smart, who, in year eight, is having arguably the best season of his career, especially on defense.
Being that he’s already been named to two All-Defensive teams during his tenure in the league, this is, indeed, high praise for the combo guard, but considering the fact that he finds himself holding glorious marks of 3.6 Defensive Win Shares (career-best) and a 1.7 Defensive Box Plus-Minus rating (second-best of his career), it’s hard not to consider 2021-22 his most productive defensive campaign.
In fact, his efforts have been so impressive that many believe Smart should be in serious consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year award, and, though the most vocal advocates of this notion are media pundits and, well, Boston Celtics fans, recently NBA players, both from days past and present, have begun speaking up about the 28-year-old’s claim to the illustrious honor.
The most notable name to recently praise Smart is Hall of Famer, Gary Payton, who gave his endorsement for the C’s combo guard in a recent interview on NBA Today on SiriusXM NBA Radio:
"“He just plays hard. He plays with a lot of dog in him and I think that, yes, he should win it,” Payton Said. “He makes other people handle the basketball, who ain’t supposed to handle the basketball and get into your offense, and he’s done that. He’s done that all year…”"
This endorsement from Payton should unequivocally be viewed as a massive compliment, for the former 9x All-Star is the last guard to have won the Defensive Player of the Year award, taking home to trophy back in 1996.
Now, while these afromentioned comments may be all the praise needed to simply boost morale and confidence in Smart’s chances come awards season, he is by no means the only NBA figure to have gone on to endorse the guard for DPOY, for even Brooklyn Nets big man, Andre Drummond, couldn’t refrain from campaigning for his divison rival.
@smart_MS3 for DPOTY! Got my voice!
— Andre Drummond (@AndreDrummond) April 8, 2022
Bro is a menace on and off ball 😂😂 @NBA
All season long, Marcus Smart has proven to be one of the most versitile defensive contributors in the game today, as he has proven capable of guarding anyone from the one all the way down to the five despite the fact that he’s only 6-3.
His versatility has played a major role in turning this season around for the Boston Celtics and, even if he doesn’t come away with the moniker of Defensive Player of the Year, the veteran guard should absolutely be proud of how much of an impact he’s had on this title-hopefull squad.