With Marcus Smart, there was never an in-between.
You either loved him so much you could cite the metrics that explained why, in fact, he meant more to the Celtics than John Havlicek, or you despised him to the point that you couldn't imagine the Celtics winning a title with him no matter how verdantly he died his hair green.
It perfectly befits the Smart experience, then, that his departure could fill Celtics fans with equal parts sadness and elation.
I'm one of them. I'll miss Smart's relentlessness on the court and his charitableness off of it. I'll miss his huge heart, his genuine love of Boston, and his burning desire to raise Banner 18. I'll miss his indomitable spirit, his willingness to bang with power forwards, his hustle without concern for health and safety. I'll miss the intangibles that turned the 25-win team he inherited in 2014 into one that has made the playoffs every year since.
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But there's plenty I won't miss, like his overinflated self-importance or his belief that the Big Two of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown was actually a Big Three. I won't miss his terrible shot selection, his careless passes in pursuit of highlight-reel assists, or the way his defensive intensity recently waxed and waned. I won't miss how he casually undermined coaches and teammates with postgame comments best left to true superstars, or better yet, completely unsaid.
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If I sound conflicted, welcome to the Marcus Smart experience, which can best be summarized by the following sentiment: I'll miss him terribly, but it was time to go.
I do fear where the Celtics will turn for an edge without Smart on the roster. They're probably not getting it from Kristaps Porzingis, the brittle All-Star who was the centerpiece of the three-team trade that sent Smart to Memphis. Porzingis balances the roster and gives the Celtics a legit inside presence to diversify their offense, but he's not exactly Charles Oakley or Ron Artest in the toughness department.
Celtics Talk: Brad Stevens details excruciating Marcus Smart trade and more in exclusive sit down | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
At the same time, I look forward to seeing how Tatum and Brown develop without Smart occasionally throwing chairs in the locker room or shade at their respective performances. No matter how many All-NBA teams Tatum made, Smart stubbornly viewed him as an equal, which became an impediment to the young forward's growth. Too many games ended with Smart taking contested or low-percentage shots – partly because he wanted the ball when others failed to step up, but partly because he just didn't have it in him to defer. His replacement in the starting lineup, whether it's Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon, or TBA, will not share those deficiencies.
Of course, Smart also supplied the Celtics with the most durable strands of their never-say-die DNA. They made five conference finals and one NBA Finals on his watch, a remarkable achievement for a club being rebuilt from nothing when he arrived. He won games with hustle and heart, whether it was taking two charges in the final moments against James Harden to pull of a miracle comeback, beating the buzzer on a layup against the Raptors to save a playoff berth, or finding a cutting Tatum at the horn in Game 1 of the 2022 playoffs vs. the Nets.
For every one of those plays – or even the quick 3 that gave White time for the game-winning putback in Game 6 vs. Miami this year – there were at least as many that ended in defeat. He went 1-for-6 from deep in his final game, a disappointing no-show vs. the Heat in Game 7. He committed 19 turnovers over the last five games vs. the Warriors in the 2022 Finals. He hoisted a playoff career-high 22 shots and made only eight while being eliminated by Miami in the bubble.
Even Smart's most ardent supporters recognized the need to take the bad with the good, but at some point there's a limit to how far a team handing the ball to such a mercurial talent can advance. Basketball boss Brad Stevens evidently decided the Celtics had maxed out after this year's disappointing exit vs. the eighth-seeded Heat, and so he did something about it.
That didn't make it easy, as Stevens articulated early on Friday morning with his voice cracking. It turns out the Celtics are exactly like the rest of us: they can't bear to see Smart go, but it was time for him to leave.
