Boston Celtics offseason: Making the Smart decision

Misguided offensive confidence

If you were at the TD Garden during the playoffs, you could hear it loud and clear. The groans from the fanatical Celtics crowd as Smart rises to fire away from deep.

Smart can score the ball, don’t get me wrong, but his shot selection certainly leaves something to be desired, and more to the point, it can rear its ugly head at critical moments in contests.

Smart averaged 4.6 3-point attempts per game in the 2017-18 regular season, which ranked third among Celtics players. Unfortunately, he only connected on 30 percent of those triples. Teammates Jayson Tatum (43.4 percent), Al Horford (42.9 percent), Jaylen Brown (39.5 percent), and Marcus Morris (36.8 percent), all took fewer attempts from beyond the arc. Now you begin to understand why the groans were so audible, right?

As reported by NESN, Celtics coach Brad Stevens was asked about Smart’s shot selection prior to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

"“Marcus Smart makes a ton of winning plays and because of that, he deserves to take those opportunities because we all believe he’s going to make them,” Stevens said."

It certainly doesn’t make the cringeworthy quick trigger any easier to accept for Celtics fans, but it absolutely gives a strong indication why Smart continues to let it fly with seemingly endless confidence.

Which leads us to our next point…