Marcus Smart clearly knew what was up when he walked onto the Auerbach Center practice floor Monday and saw Gary Payton standing next to an easel holding a blown up picture of a tweet the Celtics guard had posted on March 8.
“Somewhere in the fine print for winning this is… 𝚁𝚞𝚕𝚎 𝟺𝟽.𝟷𝙰 𝙽𝚘 𝙽𝙱𝙰 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝙶𝙿 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚒𝚗 𝙳𝙿𝙾𝚈”
“That’s not true,” said the Hall of Famer, the last guard to win the award in 1996, as Smart looked on with a big smile while surrounded by teammates and coaches.
Payton then made the honor official, telling Smart he had just won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. First Smart thought of his late mother, Camellia, and his late oldest brother, Todd Westbrook.
“She helped me continue to strive and actually win this award, because each and every day I’m thinking of her and my brother, and I come in to work every day and leave it all on the line,” he said Monday night after the award was announced. “So it’s a lot of emotions, but I’m definitely excited right now to be able to share this with my family, my teammates, my friends, and all my loved ones. This definitely means a lot, and it definitely shows that as long as you stay the course, this will work out.”
Smart, with 37 first place votes, finished ahead of another wing defender — Phoenix’ Mikal Bridges (22) — and the big man who has won the award three times, Utah’s Rudy Gobert (12). Smart became only the second Celtic to win the honor, after Kevin Garnett.
And therein lies a sign of how the game has changed, according to Smart, the fact that two wing players would lead the voting after 26 years of big man dominance.
Smart, to the criticism of some, had openly campaigned for the award on behalf of guards as well as himself.
But as evidenced by Payton’s high praise that Smart most reminds him of himself, Smart is now leading that change. As the game’s primary scorers have swung more to the perimeter, so have the most important defenders.
“First off it’s understandable why it was such a big man award,” said Smart. “They do so much in helping their team on that end. We give so much credit to the big men. But those guards, they’ve been working, we’re the front line, you have to get past us first, and that’s how us guards feel. To be able to be named the Defensive Player of the Year and be the first guard since Gary Payton in 1996 to win this, it just shows that it can be done. The way the game is changing, the guards have been more recognized for their ability to do certain things we shouldn’t be able to do at our size, and this award and me winning it opens the path for guards in the future.”
It helps, of course, that the Celtics are the top-ranked defense in the NBA, anchored by Smart and Rob Williams, himself in the early DPOY conversation this season. But Williams, when asked about having his name on the list earlier this season, directed all attention to Smart’s communication and quarterbacking.
Smart had to admit his teammate was right.
“My IQ is extraordinary, especially on that end. So for me, I’m able to see things that most people aren’t able to see on that end, see things coming,” said Smart. “My instincts go into that as well and I have really great instincts on that end. So for me to be able to communicate to guys, it makes their job a lot easier.
“They don’t have to think too much. They can just do it and react and trust that I’m actually telling them the right things to do,” he said. “I think it shows that trust is there because of the way that I do lead vocally and by example and guys follow that. Somebody like Rob, (he) was telling (me) that because of you, I’m trying to be the best defensive player that I can be and it’s all because of me, the way I’m constantly coaching them up, and things like that. It means a lot to hear that from Rob and I definitely, definitely do think that one day, Rob will be in this position.”
“It helps that our team is No. 1 in defense and net rating and everything like that. I’m one of the guys to lead that charge, so it’s definitely a great feeling. Something different has hit in the way the game is being played, how it’s shifting, how guard-based and perimeter-based it is. From that standpoint guards can get even more recognition.”
Bridges had paid tribute to Smart earlier in the day during a session with Phoenix media.
“Very ironic. We all over here and we watch Mikal as well,” said Smart. “We love the way that he goes out there and he just shows it every night. It’s tough between me and him; it was a tough decision. There’s no doubt in my mind that Bridges is going to continue to rise on that end of the floor and show everybody what we guards is all about. So big shoutout to him as well. But I definitely think it’s ironic and crazy how me and him, two guards that’s leading this race of guards that ended up one and two.”
