Veteran Boston Celtics floor general Marcus Smart has been having one of the best seasons of his career with regard to his play as a point guard, a shift made last season that continues to pay dividends to the Flower Mound native and his ball club as they pursue the elusive Banner 18 this season.
And that excellence has not gone unnoticed, with Smart checking in as the 18th-most valuable point guard in the NBA in terms of trade value in a recent assessment by our sister site HoopsHype. “Smart is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year who helped lead a historically great defense to the Finals,” writes H/H.
“Their defense hasn’t been at that level to start the season but they should get a lot better with the eventual return of Robert Williams III.”
Celtics Lab 155: (Not a parody NBA basketball podcast) with Sam Sheehan https://t.co/p4hyDUkazF
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) November 23, 2022
Some of that drop-off is likely due to his changing role as more of a distributor than a scorer, but likely more is due to his ongoing troubles with a severe bone bruise in his foot hurt in the 2022 NBA Playoffs that he has yet to fully recover from.
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