Amongst the additions the Los Angeles Lakers made in free agency, perhaps the most intriguing is veteran guard Marcus Smart. The Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, Smart has dealt with injuries over the past couple of seasons that has many believing his best days are behind him.
The Lakers and head coach JJ Redick don’t believe that to be the case, however, and Smart at his best would bring the team an excellent perimeter defender capable of guarding multiple positions and a vocal leader on both ends of the court with plenty of big game experience. And that is exactly what Redick hopes to see from the veteran.
“I would say toughness,” Redick responded when asked what Smart will bring to the Lakers. “I already told him this, we need his voice as part of communication. His competitive spirit. And defensively, he’ll probably be a little bit under the radar because of the last two years, but he still grades out in nearly every metric in the 80th percentile or higher, so he’s still a very versatile defender.”
It’s no secret that Smart’s primary focus is on the defensive end and his activity and communication on that end will be very beneficial to the Lakers. But Redick also believes Smart can bring something on the offensive side of the ball as well.
“And to me, he’s always been a bit of an underrated playmaker. I think we Austin and Luka, those guys are obviously gonna be the primary ball-handlers for us. But Marcus can be that secondary ball-handler.”
Smart has never been a pure point guard but as Redick noted, he is more than capable as a secondary ball-handler and playmaker who can attack closeouts and create for himself and teammates. Being able to relieve some responsibilities off Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James would be extremely valuable for this Lakers team.
The key for Smart remains his health. He played well down the stretch of last season and if that can carry over this year, and he can avoid those nagging injuries that have plagued him in recent years, he can make a real impact for Redick and the Lakers.
JJ Redick pleased with Lakers’ commitment to conditioning this offseason
Following the end of last season, Lakers coach JJ Redick made it clear that he wanted all of his players to get in championship shape this offseason, and he is pleased with what he’s seen.
“Well, I’ll say this, we’ve asked all our guys to be in championship shape,” Redick said. “And not starting on Tuesday. And so, the commitment level across the board from our team has been very high this summer.
“We’ve had organized workouts. The guys have played pickup, really every day. We’ve added conditioning at the end. They’ve all been committed to it. I think for me, that’s probably been the biggest thing. It’s not a basketball thing that he can or cannot do. It’s just all of us being in elite shape.”
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