I wrote a fan post recently that was an appreciation of the Celtics’ role players, or regular rotation guys who’s names don’t start with J-A-Y, and I left Marcus Smart out. That was because Marcus deserves his own separate post. Since Smart called out the team a month ago the Celtics have been better. They’re 10-5 since then, and they’ve only allowed teams to crack 100 points 6 times in those 15 games (2 of those were the Lakers and OKC who pumped up their scores in garbage time, or quasi garbage time).

I was excited about Marcus prior to the season because players who are similar to him have blossomed in their late 20s when they’ve been put into a new role on a new team. (Compare Smart and Kyle Lowry’s age 26 seasons on Basketball Reference. It’s not unusual for a "sturdily built" point guard to have his best years in his late 20s and early 30s.) Starting point guard is sort of a new role for Smart, so he has a new and different opportunity . He’s probably never going to be enough of a scorer to make an All Star team, but he is an elite role player who often doesn’t get the respect he deserves from fans and media members.

Marcus

Marcus’s October usage rate (Rasketball Reference) was 14.1, and in November it was 17.0. In losses his usage rate is 15.6, and in wins it’s 16.7. (Not a dramatic change, but "usage" is the percentage of plays the player was involved in- field goal attempt, free throw, turnover… so it isn’t exactly representative of how involved Smart is on offense without the context provided by other stats.)

Smart drove the ball 6.7 times per game prior to his public outburst. Since then he’s driving 10.9 times per game. In October he was creating .8 assists on drives. Now he’s creating 1.7, and shooting 53.8% on drives.

Pre players only meeting 2 point field goal attempts made up 31.8% of Smart’s total FGAs, and 28.6% of his made 2s were assisted. Since the outburst/ players only meeting 2 point FGAs make up 56.4% of Smart’s total FGAs and 40.9% of his made 2s are assisted. (Since November 3rd the percentage of Tatum’s made 2s that were assisted has increased nearly 10% vs before 11/3.)

Smart scored 7.4 points per game in October on 37.6% True Shooting. In November he was up to 12.4 points per game on 53.8% True Shooting. He took 3 free throws per game in November, which was up from 1 per game in October. He’s scoring 5 more points per game on only .8 more shots.

Pre outburst Marcus was passing the ball 49.8 times per game. He was averaging 4 assists on 9.5 potential assists, and creating 10.8 points on those assists. Since then he is passing 47.6 times per game, averaging 6.4 assists, 11.6 potential assists, and creating 15.9 points. Smart throws highly effective, creative, and sometimes risky passes (that’s why the Cs score so many points off Smart’s potential assists). Despite his occasionally high risk passes, in November he had a 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. (His 3.0 for the season ranks 25th in the NBA.) He actually had more steals, 29, than turnovers, 25, for the month. In the first December game vs Philly he assisted on nearly a quarter of the Celtics’ made baskets.

Marcus is 3rd on the team with a 83% Assist Usage Rate (assist rate compared to usage rate) per Cleaning the Glass. Smart’s 2.3 RAPTOR WAR (538) is 2nd best on the team and 20th in the league. His +14 is the best On/Off number on the team (Cleaning the Glass), and his +6.1 Net Rating (NBA.com) is 3rd on the team ahead of both Jayson and Jaylen, and best among perimeter players.

Marcus called out the team, and the Jays specifically, for not playing the right way. He knew he wasn’t at his best standing around at the 3 point line. He needed the ball more to help give structure to the offense. He was right. He’s playing more to his strengths and less to his weaknesses, and when he does that he puts other players in better positions to play to their strengths. He seems happier and more aggressive, he’s playing better, and the team has been playing better. He is a point guard, and a really good one.