Marcus Smart made waves Monday after the Celtics collapsed to the Bulls in the final quarter of the game. It was a blunt assessment from the longest-tenured Celtic as he saw his team dip to 2-5.
Among Smart’s comments postgame included how he wanted the ball and that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — the Celtics’ two All-Stars — didn’t want to pass the ball and they should do so more. It created a stir among a fan base hoping for the Celtics to start off the season strong.
Boston president Brad Stevens, who was Smart’s only NBA coach until he was promoted to president of basketball operations, spoke about the point guard’s comments. Stevens was asked about Smart by NBC Sports Boston as Boston’s president shook up the organization this summer from the roster to head coach.
“I think the most important thing about (Monday) night’s message or what he said was that he talked to those guys about it,” Stevens said Tuesday. “And I saw that today. It’s funny, when you’re in it and you see guys at the facility and you see him and Jayson sitting down eating breakfast today and talking about, like, how to come to find our solution for our team. Those guys want to win.”
While Stevens said players need to be “measured” when speaking to the media to a certain point, there was a more crucial aspect to Smart’s comments. He said that Smart put his name on it and “you’ve got to make sure you have those direct, difficult conversations.”
The Celtics are hoping to get in the win column more while making life easier for their two All-Stars. Tatum is putting up 25.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, but he’s doing it on an inefficient 39.5% field-goal percentage, including making just 27.1% of his 3-pointers. Brown has put up stats of 26.7 points per game on solid efficiency, but he’s looking to string together consistent performances (where he took a step forward Monday).
Stevens added that he thought the Celtics made some strides in their game Monday — especially in the first three quarters. The C’s built an impressive 19-point lead on a red-hot Bulls teams through impressive ball movement and a defense that was earning stops. That all crumbled at the end, but Stevens said he tries to have a big-picture view of the season instead of overreacting to the current seven-game sample size.
While there are fit questions for the Celtics roster Stevens revamped during the offseason, he said “we’re going to find out” whether it’s the right group or not. There are some silver linings, he said, comparing the Celtics to last season. When Boston started 8-3 on the year, Stevens said he wasn’t happy with the product. Once the hard times and injuries came later in the season, the C’s stumbled to a .500 record.
That’s why, Stevens said, he doesn’t believe the 2-5 record is reflective of the team’s talent level.
“Right now, 2-5, I feel a lot better from the structural standpoint than 2-5,” Stevens said. “So, it’s a long year. There’s 75 games left. Every loss and every moment gnaws at you and eats at you. But again, my responsibility is to look at it from the 10,000-foot view and not make those decisions based on the emotion of a tough 14 minutes in a basketball game.”
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November 03, 2021 at 09:07AM
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Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart had breakfast after guard’s ‘they don’t want to pass’ comments, according - MassLive.com
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