Brad Stevens continues praise of Marcus Smart: 'Blown away' by his defense
The fact that Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens loves rookie Marcus Smart might be the least surprising news from training camp so far.
An intelligent, gritty, defensive-minded guard with a win-at-all-costs attitude? Yeah, really hard to believe a smart, competitive coach would be enamored.
The degree to which Stevens has been effusive toward Smart so far has been a little surprising, though. Coaches aren't normally wont to shower players with praise, at least not publicly, but so far Stevens has been an open book about how good his potential season-opening starting point guard has played.
After praising Smart for his vision last week, Stevens focused instead on the defensive side of the ball Monday:
I think he's really done a great job in most every area. Obviously, he's got to make shots more consistently to be the best that he can be. He can improve on the ballhandling errors that he's had, and those are things that we can practice.
Then the defensive side of the ball, I'm still blown away by it. We really hammered on trying to be in great body position on Saturday, even with less than 24 hours to prepare for the Knicks. And he was in it every time. He has a chance to be a great defender, and we just keep saying that, but he's really done a good job.
Stevens isn't exaggerating - Smart has looked really solid through four preseason games. While he's shooting just 24.1 percent from the floor, he's also dished 20 assists, pulled in 10 rebounds and stolen the ball eight times, including a terrific on-ball pick of Kyle Lowry's pocket Friday.
That was the book on Smart ahead of the draft: though he had some red flags against his character, there was little to dislike about his attacking game, his basketball IQ, or his defensive chops.
There's work to be done, as with any rookie, but if Stevens is looking for a quarterback for his defense, he may have found one. Factor Avery Bradley in at shooting guard, with the eventual return of Rajon Rondo, and the Celtics could be an incredibly frustrating team to play against for opposing guards.