Marcus Smart Caps Successful Debut Season With All-Rookie Second Team Honor
BOSTON (CBS) – Marcus Smart capped a successful start to his Celtic career by being named to the NBA's All-Rookie Second Team on Monday.
The sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft earned 142 points in the selection process, the highest number of any player on the Second Team. Smart received 28 First Team votes and 82 Second Team votes overall, putting him a healthy distance behind fellow rookie guards Elfrid Payton (250 points) and Jordan Clarkson (200 points). Players netted two points for each First Team vote and a single point for each Second Team vote.
Smart started nearly half (38) of the 67 games he played in during the 2014-15 season, averaging 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals in 27 minutes per contest.
Unfortunately, those numbers failed to highlight Smart's greatest strength, his defense. The case can be made that he was the best defender out of any player on the All-Rookie teams, outside of perhaps Andrew Wiggins. The gritty 6-foot-4 guard regularly held his own against some of the league's top point guards, fighting through constant screens while also drawing a team-high nine charges. Boston's overall team defense also improved when Smart made his way into the starting lineup on a permanent basis in February.
However, Smart's offensive numbers and lack of heavy minutes put him a couple notches below both Payton and Clarkson in the overall rankings.
Smart's shooting numbers (36.7 percent from field, 33.5 percent from downtown) were one of his downfalls during his rookie year. The rookie's perimeter shooting was actually a bit better than many expected coming out of Oklahoma State, but his ratio of 3-point shots to overall field goal attempts (4.1 to 7.1) per game was less than ideal.
That lack of aggressiveness will likely be addressed this summer as Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge already indicated that Smart will suit up for summer league. The 20-year-old will play in both Utah and Las Vegas, where he should see plenty of reps at point guard. One team official sees Smart developing into a Kyle Lowry type player, but he'll have to show growth in his ability to attack the basket to achieve that lofty goal.
Third-string point guard Phil Pressey may even be left out of summer league altogether in order for Smart to gain a great familiarity with running the show offensively.
Perhaps the most important part of the rookie's postseason campaign has been the valuable postseason experience he received against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nikola Mirotic and Bojan Bogdanovic were the only other players out of the 10 rookies selected that saw any playoff action.
Boston's front office has plenty of work to do this summer to help the Celtics take the next step in their rebuild, but Smart's selection today confirms he is one piece of the puzzle it should feel good about.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
