Just make Marcus Smart the captain, already.
This isn't a reactionary take, or a move that might be made just ... because. Smart as the first Celtics' captain since Rajon Rondo should be a very real thing. That much was cemented after the Celtics' 122-113 overtime win over the Giannis Antetokounmpo-and-Khris Middleton-less Bucks Friday night.
The punctuation for how Ime Udoka truly feels about his roster dynamic. That came with one quick comment in the midst of Smart's 19-point, six-assist, six-rebound effort.
"He’s our sparkplug,” said in regards to Smart during an ESPN interview in between the third and fourth quarters, according to Celtics.com. “He’s the heart and soul of the team. He saw we were a little stagnant at halftime. He was down on our ball movement, so he took it upon himself – attacked the basket, got himself some shots, but also found other guys.”
Well, if Smart is indeed the "heart an soul of the team" then what are we waiting for?
Unfortunately, we know the answer to that.
This was Udoka just a few days ago when asked about the status of naming a captain or captains:
"No, that’s probably in the rearview," Udoka said. “I mentioned earlier, it was a focus until guys were missing. With Al (Horford) and Jaylen (Brown) going out, and then the focus became on lineups, rotations, and all of that. But, as I mentioned, they all do it in different ways. Jayson is a guy that does on the court every day here, maybe not as vocal as some other guys. But, Al (Horford) and Marcus (Smart) do it in their own way, and Jaylen brings some as well.
“So, it is something I haven’t thought about much as far as initially in the season. But, due to the circumstances, that’s probably in the rearview, honestly.”
OK. But let's be real. It would be very difficult for Udoka to proclaim Smart a captain after the guard rubbed his two stars - Tatum and Brown - the wrong way with his comments regarding selfish basketball. But, at the same time, that is exactly why Smart should be a captain.
The fact that Udoka even mentioned Tatum in the captain conversation is evidence that the new coach is trying to play the dangerous balancing act that has doomed coaches in all sports. He is trying to appease his main guys.
Defaulting to the best players as captains isn't anything new. Go back to when Paul Pierce was first named co-captain of the Celtics with Antoine Walker. Walker was ready for the job title. The 23-year-old Pierce was not.
Stevens made a point not to name a captain. This is what he told WEEI.com when asked about the topic a few years back: “I spent a lot of time studying this at Butler. I’d say out of the 12 years that I’ve been a head coach we’ve rarely had them [captains]. And the reason being is that you want to empower everyone to add leadership within their own authentic way.
"We want players like [Al] Horford and [Aron] Baynes, who are the most experienced, to be vocal and active within their personality. We want our best player in Kyrie [Irving] to be vocal and do it within his personality. [And] we want our other players that aren’t as accomplished and maybe aren’t playing as much [like] Robert Williams to feel like it’s okay to have ownership and say within his personality what he thinks too.”
That philosophy seemed to backfire once Kyrie Irving grabbled a hold of the Celtics' locker room. Yes, he was the best player. But was he really someone you wanted everybody taking their cue from? And then when things really started going south, the "everybody has a voice" philosophy led to way-too-many voices, oftentimes being heard at extreme decibel levels.
Smart is signed up through the 2025-26 season. He is in the sweet spot of NBA experience when it comes to leadership, living life as a 27-year-old with eight seasons in the league. And he is one of the team's Top 5 players.
It's time for Udoka to pull of the Band-Aid and simply start defining what he just not-so-subtly hinted at.
Marcus Smart should be the captain of the Celtics. His leadership against the world champs was the latest example of this reality. (Oh, Dennis Schroder's 38 points didn't hurt, either.)