BOSTON — Every player and coach has what-ifs after getting so close.
And on Tuesday, on the second day of his Young Game Changers basketball clinic in Westford, Marcus Smart had a few of his own.
“For me, I wish Rob (Williams) didn’t tear his meniscus. I wish I didn’t mess my ankle up to where I’m struggling to play and had to put an ankle brace on. I wish we didn’t run out of gas,” he said, adding that he won’t need surgery, just rest. “Obviously those series we went through to get to the Finals were so brutal, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. You hate to find your lessons in defeat, but sometimes you have to see rain before a rainbow. But think things I lay in bed thinking about are our execution. We had so many damn turnovers, man, it was ridiculous. Unfortunately that’s what we’d been doing the last couple of series. We flirted with it and it finally backfired and it bit us in our butts.
“I’m proud of the heart that we showed. I’m proud of the way we fought. Early in the season if you told us we’d be two games away from winning the NBA Finals in 2022, I’d have laughed at you. I’ll take it. Obviously we’ve got a lot to learn from it. We’re not satisfied. But to be able to taste that is a blessing itself, because most people have long careers and never taste that or made it there. So it definitely hurts, but it’s something we have to learn from and try to capitalize on if the opportunity comes back our way.
“I have moments where it’s late at night and I can’t sleep and all of a sudden I’m thinking about those games and what we could’ve done differently. But it’s just moments.”
And now, on the eve of free agency and trade rumor season, Smart isn’t surprised to see his name splashed across social media as the most likely Celtic to be traded. At this stage for the 28-year-old point guard, it’s the unspoken part of his job description — the part beyond social media, anyway.
“At this point, I’ll be going into my ninth year. Every year my name is in the talks, and I’m still here. I’m still the longest tenured Celtic. So for me I take it as a compliment. It means you’re valued pretty high and if your name is talked about, people want you. But I don’t pay much attention. I know what I bring to the table, and that’s what I focus on, what I bring to this team. We’ll figure everything else out. Brad (Stevens) is great at what he does and he’s gonna figure out the right pieces to make sure we stay going in the right direction.”
Smart hasn’t taken much if any time for reflection. In addition to his annual basketball clinic in Flower Mound, Texas, and Westford’s New Mills complex — few if any other NBA players include a charge-taking drill in the curriculum — Smart has made two appearances in Las Vegas on behalf of Puma.
After sitting down to sign autographs and take pictures with a long line of campers — everyone from first graders to high school players attended — Smart said that it was one of those rare occasions when he could actually “sit down.”
Asked about Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s desire to get right back to the chase, including help on the recruiting front once free agency begins on June 30, Smart acknowledged that he’ll help in some capacity as well.
“I think for us, we have a lot of power. It’s just finding the balance for us. It’s kind of hard to tell you what we need when we just made the Finals,” he said. “Now, obviously, we might need something. At this moment, I couldn’t tell you what that is. I’m sure Brad and his staff will do a good job of finding what we need and trying to get it. If not, then try to do everything we can with what we have.
“I would like to (help recruit players), but that’s not my concern,” Smart said. “I’m here to play basketball. I’d love to have some input, but I still have to go out and get myself ready. That’s my main focus. But I’d like to have some input. I talked to Brad. We haven’t talked extensively, but the relationship I have with Brad is very strong, so I’m sure if I gave him a call, we could have those talks.”
Though Smart said he doesn’t have anyone specific in mind, he believes that following their Finals run, the Celtics should be a prime destination for veteran players who want to sign on for a chance at a title.
“I would hope so. Over the years we kind of got a bad rep in Boston for free agents,” he said ”This year we opened a lot of people’s eyes to what we can do, and how this team really is. We’re a team. It’s all one. It’s not everybody for themselves. Everybody is for each other, and I think maybe that opened a lot of people’s eyes to, maybe I can give it a shot in Boston. We’ll see. I definitely hope so.”
Smart’s own self of self-belief has never been stronger following a season in which he became the first guard since Gary Payton in 1996 to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, and leading a team to the NBA Finals as a starting point guard.
“I think I proved a little bit of everything,” he said. “I heard the talk about not a true point guard, and this and that, and they need a star point guard. We’ve had star point guards and all these point guards and yet this so-called non-point guard is the only one that has led them to the finals. That right there says enough. I don’t really need to say too much more. I think everybody sees finally the person I am and what I can really do.”
His message to Jayson Tatum, following the latter’s struggles in the Finals, is to maintain self-belief, too.
“He’s young man, he’s 24,” Smart said. “But he’s a young guy. I’m just constantly telling him my story. I’ve been in this league eight years and it took me eight years to finally get the point guard position. You came in and you were given the keys right away. So with that there’s a lot of pressure you might feel, but all pressure is not knowing what you’re doing.
“You’ve been doing this your whole year and you know exactly what you’re doing. Just continue to grow. Don’t worry about what other people say, because you’re going to have people that like you and hate you. One thing is they’re talking about you, and that’s all that matters. They’re going to talk whether you’re doing right or doing wrong. Just go out there and play, man and don’t worry about nobody else. At the end of the day if you fail, they’re the ones gonna tell you see, I told you. But when you’re high, those are the ones who are going to be on your coattails. But when you fail they’re also going to be gone. Don’t worry about it, because they have no concern about your life. Just go out there and be you.”
