Smart talked about Brogden's adaptability to the Celtics: "I like him"
Boston — Earlier this month, shortly after the team agreed to sign Malcolm Brogden and Danilo Garlinari, Brad Stevens contacted Marcus Smart to discuss the team's new players. During the conversation, Smart said he and Stevens looked back at the years they worked together and talked about all the progress the Celtics made during this period.
"We're just a little bit short of that," Smart said Tuesday at Emanuel College where he watched the training for the YGC team named after his YounGameChanger Foundation in preparation for the basketball championship. "We really think Malcolm is a good reinforcement, and Danilo can help us get through it, too."
Stevens said he consulted other players on the team "within an hour of the deal." Smart's opinion is probably the most important regarding Brogdon's joining. He is proud of his success at point guard last season. He sees the team’s playoff path as a test of his long-standing belief that he can tease the team’s offense at a high level. Now, after winning the Defensive Player of the Year and leading the Celtics to the Finals, he needs to welcome another veteran defender to the team. The details in this may be subtle.
But Smart fully supports the deal.
"I like him," Smart told The Athletic, "this are two experienced guys who can complement each other and enrich the rotation of the team and help the team in many ways. I think they will be very suitable for the team. We will share the responsibility of combing out the team's offense. We will work together."
Smart said he and Brogdon had a close connection and knew each other very well for years. Their relationship is another reason why the Celtics believe that deals to Brogdon will improve the team. While Brogdon's skills look good for the team, the Celtics management understands the potential risks of adding another starting level guard to the roster.
league sources told The Athletic magazine that the Celtics asked Brogden about his performance in the locker room before pulling the trigger for the trade with the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics envision him as a substitute on the team and hope to assess his reaction to the matter. Brogden, who has been told that he needs to be a substitute on the team, sounds ready to accept it.
He is not the only one who needs to adapt. On the backcourt list including Derek White and Payton Pritchard, everyone's playing time and touches will be reduced. Gallinari's arrival should affect the team's frontcourt rotation.
"We do have a team with a deep roster and we need everyone to make a little sacrifice, which is very important," Stevens said. "But I think everyone here is ready. They tasted the Finals in June and we also knew exactly what we should do." The depth of the roster could cause some players to have some frustration moments that require sacrifice. Still, Stevens saw a way to improve his team when his team was two wins away from the championship. He got Brogdon and Garlinari without affecting the regular rotation last season.
Smart believes that Celtic players will be able to figure out their responsibilities.
"I think every team can take advantage of more roster depth," he said. "A stronger roster depth will help the team. It will certainly require more depth for our young team that reached the Finals for the first time this year. But at the same time, it is always a good thing to be able to have more options. We are excited. Any help that helps us achieve our goals will be accepted."
Whether physically or otherwise, Smart is still suffering from the Celtics' playoff defeat. He said his right ankle, which was injured in the Eastern Conference Finals, is still swollen. Although his shooting in tournament training is always careless, the question has been dragging on for a long time, which is enough to keep Smart away from more difficult basketball training early in the offseason. When asked what he learned from the Finals, Smart first said the Celtics need to stay healthy.
" But seriously, for us, it's just something we learned," Smart said, "It's a lesson for us." No one likes to learn from a difficult situation or a failed situation, so it's tough. But that's definitely a lesson. We were playing against a really great, experienced team, they had some really great players and a great coaching staff, they had made it to the Finals many times and they knew how to get to the Finals, so we learned a lot from them. So we hope we can use what we have learned next season and we will work hard to get back to the finals. ”
Derek White and Marcus Smart. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
In other lessons, Smart agreed with Grant Williams that the Celtics need to show more discipline. Smart also believes that the Finals let the Celtics understand how strong mental and physical the players need to be in the highest level of basketball.
"We were anxious and lost the rhythm we played all year long, and in the second half of the season, we relied on this rhythm to become the top team in the Eastern Conference," Smart said. "We went through difficulties and found a way to win. So we must be more self-disciplined. When you enter the finals, there is even less room for mistakes. Now we know what we need. Sometimes unfortunately, none of these tricks work when you first make it to the finals. You have to figure out how to play next time you want. "
Smart recently sponsored the YGC team, which will be the top seed of the Luck Park Regional Basketball Championship, a winner-take-all game with a prize of $1 million. The roster contains one of his best friends, Trey Davis, who once played for the Celtics G League affiliate team; and Kamari Murphy, one of Smart's teammates at the University of Oklahoma. The big names in the YGC team include Quincy Miller, Ricky Ledo, Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jared Terrell, they all have NBA experience. The team held training camp in Emanuel this week and will start the game at 6pm on Saturday at the famous Lark Park.
Although he spends most of his time as a training audience, the team leader Smart has been leaning down several times during defensive arrangements and exchanging opinions with the coaches on the team. It is obvious that this seems to have become an instinct that he is difficult to change.
Smart has begun looking forward to the Celtics’ upcoming new season. After a disappointment in the Finals, he hopes the team can get back to the mentality of the second half of last season.
"We need to start next season this way, really get into the rhythm and let it go," Smart said. "That will really help us." We have to be overly nervous. We put in so much energy just to get back to the form of the game and make it to the playoffs, let alone the finals. So when we are in trouble, we have to struggle desperately. We went through hard struggles before we reached the playoffs, and then went through a lot of hardships before we reached the finals. So I think this will help prevent us from getting hurt and reduce the loss of our body. ”
With similar hope, Stevens set out to expand the depth of the Celtics’ roster next season without affecting the team’s chemistry last season.The Celtics believe that Brogden and Garlinari can complement the team and give Amy Uduka more lineup options. Although Brogden plays a point guard with the Pacers, he can hold the ball or play off the ball. His figure and physical fitness make him enough to defend a player taller than him, just like the guy who is going to play a substitute for him. Although the Celtics intend to let Brogden serve as the team's substitute, he and Smart should play together for quite a long time. Smart is also waiting for this cooperation.
"We got two talented players," Smart said, "two really good players who have built a good reputation in this league in their own way and do their jobs. Of course, we all know what Malcolm will bring, we know what Danilo will bring. It's exciting for these guys to join the team. So for me, I'm excited. I'm so happy to be at the gym with them and I'm so happy to play with them."
