It is a question that has been asked about Marcus Smart for years.
Where exactly does Smart best help whatever team he is a part of?
It’s clear the guy can play basketball. He’s still a strong perimeter defender. He has logged a significant amount of time in the postseason (108 games played, to be exact). As a secondary facilitator and overall locker room leader, you can do a lot worse than Marcus Smart.
And yet, the Boston Celtics were willing to move on from him. Maybe the Memphis Grizzlies will be as well.
This has nothing to do with his current, admittedly slow, start. He is shooting a miserable percentage from the field (23.5%) in just five games played. He can’t knock down open jumpers. But his per-100 stats as a rebounder and assist generator are on par with past experience. And the shooting numbers will progress to the mean eventually.
The concern has more to do with the fact he’s an undersized wing that isn’t a point guard - at least not in the truest sense of the word. He isn’t good enough as a primary facilitator to make an argument that should be his place on the roster. But as he ages, his size (or lack thereof) means losing foot speed - which is problematic obviously in mismatch opportunities.
All this to say, since Ja Morant exists and Desmond Bane is much more of a true “shooting guard” than a wing in his own right, Smart may simply not make sense in Memphis.
Where may he make more sense? A place like Milwaukee, where Smart can absolutely be a “shooting guard”, is a possibility. Philadelphia could also possibly use a player like Smart, and the team Memphis just saw - the Brooklyn Nets - could also check a box.
But again, how does Smart get to those places? Will additional money need to be added to a deal? Will a team be willing to take on Smart and an expiring contract like Luke Kennard to get off longer-term money? Or would numerous 1st round picks tagged to Smart and Brandon Clarke work for a team rebuilding and trying to offload they most valuable asset - preferably a wing?
And then there’s the reality that current Grizzlies players hold more value than any of their draft capital. Say the Milwaukee Bucks do indeed go in to the market of trying to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo. If Memphis truly wants to keep Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. together, the only way to bring in a Giannis would be to tag a player like GG Jackson to the deal (in addition to dumping salaries of Luke Kennard and Brandon Clarke).
There are a lot of things that would have to happen for any trade to occur. So for now, Grizzlies Head Coach Taylor Jenkins will have to keep finding the right fit. Because Marcus Smart must be a force for Memphis to make a run in the Western Conference.
