Boston Celtics: How Marcus Smart, James Young Fit
By Nathan Giese
What a tangled web the Boston Celtics weave.
Second-year coach Brad Stevens has an interesting dilemma on his hands. After his first season didn’t go as well as he had hoped, Stevens now must try to regroup, refresh and build. This is difficult to do when your former All-Star point guard continues to recover from injuries, leaving your roster in flux.
Rajon Rondo broke his hand and is expected to miss the first few weeks of the regular season. Rondo missed most of last year as he rehabbed an ACL tear he suffered during the 2012-13 season. Expected to reclaim his spot as one of the best point guards in the NBA, he’ll now have to rework his way back to 100 percent health.
Without Rondo, the Celtics are once again in an interesting position. While Rondo is supposed to be their star point guard and veteran leader, there’s another guy on the roster that’s a) supposed to be pretty good, b) healthy and c) a viable option in the future should Rondo find his way out of Boston.
That man is Marcus Smart, the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. Coming out of Oklahoma State, many thought that he could be a major steal early in the first round. A sound defender and a lethal driver, Smart was the heart and soul of OK State. As he went, they went, and vice versa.
By using a high lottery pick on Smart despite having Rondo in the fold, the Celtics planned for the future and the present. With so much uncertainty surrounding Rondo’s knee (and now his hand) and his future with the franchise, they had to make adjustments and they saw the perfect opportunity in selecting Smart. The initial plan was to have Smart be the backup to Rondo, learn from him and go from there. Now, it appears that Smart may be the opening day starter in Boston.
Though he’s a rookie, he’s mature beyond his years. He was mature in college, despite a few instances that were highly publicized, and his character was rarely, if ever, called into question. Smart’s smart (please forgive the awful pun attempt) and has a good head on his shoulders. The decision by the Celtics to draft him was also smart, and it looks even smarter now with the Rondo hand injury.
There’s another rookie in the midst of the Celtics locker room, but his situation is more difficult to figure out.
James Young, who the Celtics took with the 17th pick in the draft, finds himself as just one of what feels like 12,000 different wings for Boston. Not only did they re-sign Avery Bradley, but they also brought in Evan Turner, Marcus Thornton and still have that guy Gerald Wallace‘s contract floating around. There’s a chance he gets some substantial playing time, but it all depends on what Stevens wants to do with this year’s team.
Does he want to win now, or does he want to build a foundation for the future?
Actually, this one should be rather simple, but it’s based on a complicated setup. Young is not an NBA-caliber starter. He’s a solid shooter with a sweet stroke, long arms and has a competitive edge on the court. However, Bradley is clearly the better of the two players and plays both ends of the court well, as his new contract reflects. Turner, while most on the internet won’t like to admit, is also better than Young.
There’s nothing wrong with that, though. Young is, well, young. He just turned 19 in August, so he has some growing to do on and off the court. He hasn’t come into his own yet as a player and playing behind those veterans and getting some time to learn would be beneficial. His situation is different than Smarts. Even though he was taken in the middle of the first round, he’s not seen as a franchise changer like Smart is. Young is seen more as a contributor, somebody that could become a very solid player down the road but still has some work to do.
Smart and Young are two rookies in very different situations, but have something in common. Smart will likely be the starting point guard and the future leader of the franchise. Young will wait his turn and learn while also getting some playing time. However, both are big pieces in the future of Boston basketball. Together, they can create a lethal backcourt for years to come for the Celtics; Smart being the distributor, vocal presence and offensive leader and Young being the sharpshooting buckets-getter.
It’s a combination that the Celtics know they have for the future, and it’s one of the few things Boston fans can look forward to seeing unfold during the 2014-15 NBA season.