Marcus Smart’s first training camp and preseason with the Los Angeles Lakers has been less than ideal as he was limited by Achilles tendinopathy and then an illness.
Smart made his preseason debut on Tuesday in Phoenix but did not score or even attempt at shot. He played in his second game on Friday night back home against the Sacramento Kings though and looked much better, finishing with 14 points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals on 5-of-11 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench.
Considering Smart has missed significant time over the last two seasons and then to begin this preseason, he was happy to be on the court producing and felt healthy doing it.
“I feel great. That first game is always a little tough, you’re just trying to get your feet under you and figure things out and use that time to get used to playing with your teammates,” Smart said. “Got that game out the way, felt really good. Today was a little bit more aggressive, so each day constantly just ramping it up. [The season] is here in three days, so felt great out there and gonna continue to get better.”
Smart added that Friday night’s game is the best he has felt in a while.
“You saw a glimpse tonight. This is probably the best I’ve felt since I got here. As I continue to get better and get to 100%, you’ll see more nights like tonight where I’m aggressive and I’m moving very well and just energy on both ends of the floor. And I’m close.”
The last two seasons have been a challenge for Smart, but he is now starting fresh and is ready for the Lakers’ season to get underway.
“Mentally, I’m ready,” Smart said. “In the last two years, I think I only played like 60 games, if that, between the two years. For me, that was really tough and I just wanted to give back to a team and show what I can really do and what I can bring to this team. So to be able to come here to this historic franchise and to be able to do that, I’m very excited.”
Marcus Smart on how Lakers can be more physical
After the Lakers’ loss to the Kings, Luka Doncic was open about the team needing to play more physical and Marcus Smart discussed how they can do that.
“Just follow my lead. That’s really it,” he said. “I’m gonna try to set the tone each and every night and just kind of piggyback off me. There’s gonna be nights where I don’t have it and that’s part of the game. There’s four other guys out there with you. So really just picking up what we’re putting down. Me and Vando go out there and Gabe and we try to set the tone every time so they can just follow us, which they are.
“Like I said, we’re working on getting used to each other and understand what each other likes to do and what we can do and we’re willing to do. Once we get that under control, I think you’ll see a lot more physicality from the whole team.”
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