I’m looking at the 2014 draft, and I don’t know if all the scouts were high on drugs or what, but that was kind of a cruddy set of players in the lottery. I don’t even care for Marcus Smart that much (partially because he just got done kicking my team’s heinie, but also for other reasons [his pizza face]), but I’d totally rather have him than some of the dudes picked in the same vicinity. Dante Exum, picked right before? Pass. Julius Randle, picked right after? No way. Nik Stauskas, the pick after that? Actually… yeah, give me him over… wait… no, yup, give me him over Smart. I bet he’s killing it for whatever Euro team he’s playing for now.
So yeah, Smart has made a pretty good career for himself. He cemented himself a lot more productive years in the league when he developed his three-point shot into something respectable, but he was still a fairly nice situational role-player even when he wouldn’t stop chucking threes that never went in.
Note: the above paragraph is probably more concentrated praise for Smart than I have ever written in my life. No lie. I should go back into my description archive and find the juiciest quotes where I totally rag on him repeatedly even though he’s the one earning millions of dollars playing for the most storied franchise in the NBA and I’m the one spewing nonsense over the internet.
More praise: I was impressed by the quality of the shots he was making tonight. I was also impressed by his final point total: 24. It certainly seemed like a lot more while I was watching the game live, but it’s still pretty close to a career-high for him. And, even though I don’t care about defense at all, he did a nice job on Giannis. Man, all this praise for him is starting to make me feel woozy. I’d better call him a bust or something to make myself feel better.