Marcus Smart is one of the most underrated guards in the NBA today. Smart plays a high-octane style of basketball and is most known for his defensive contribution. The guard is considered one of the better perimeter defenders in the NBA today.
But Smart is not just valuable on the defensive end of the court. He can contribute with double-digit points for his team, as he showed for the Celtics last season.
With Kemba Walker having injury issues, Smart averaged 13.1 points per game for the Celtics.
No. 36 was never going to be the primary offensive option for the Celtics, especially with Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum on the team. But Smart showed that he can be efficient on both ends of the floor and give the Celtics some much-needed grit.
For his performances, the Celtics rewarded the player with a 4-year, $77 million contract this offseason. On top of that, the 27-year-old has earned the trust of the Celtics and will be given the starting point guard role going forward.
But Smart’s offensive prowess has gone under the radar for quite some time now. As pointed out by Max Lederman on Twitter, the Celtics star has been doing a good job from beyond the arc over the last few seasons.
Lederman noted that Smart has a higher 3-point percentage than Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and PJ Tucker over the last three seasons. And the stats show that to be true. Smart is ahead, and by some distance.
TRUE FACT:
over the last 3 seasons Marcus Smart has a higher 3pt%
than all of these players pic.twitter.com/q8QW4TaNp2
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) August 17, 2021
3-POINT PERCENTAGE FROM 2018-19 TO 2020-21 SEASON.
PJ Tucker – 36%
Luka Doncic – 32.9%
Trae Young – 34.4%
Marcus Smart – 39.5%
While this stat is interesting, it is important to contextualize it. Marcus plays as the third offensive option on his team, sometimes even the fourth. Only PJ Tucker from this list can make that claim.
With Luka and Trae being the primary offensive options on their team, they will have more defensive attention, and therefore have the chance to make less shots from beyond the arc.
With both Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker leaving the Celtics to join the Knicks, Smart became the immediate choice to start at point guard for the Celtics. Now he will have an increased role in running the offense for his teammates.
