Marcus Smart, a former fan favorite of the Boston Celtics, spoke candidly with Grant Afseth of Dallas Basketball about his experiences playing with legendary Beantown (as well as Cleveland and Brooklyn) villain Kyrie Irving. He also shared the things he valued learning from the eight-time All-Star.
Smart remarked of Irving, “I would have to say that my favorite thing about being Kyrie’s teammate is his ability to see the game and just learning from him.” “What he observes on the court, in terms of both offensive and defensive play. Just asking him questions about certain plays, matchups, how to get his shot in particular spots, and how to focus, perform every night, and be a consistent player.
On October 30, Smart’s Memphis Grizzlies fell short of Irving’s Dallas Mavericks in their fourth game of the season. Despite having a well-rounded 23-point, nine-assist, and five-rebound stat line, Smart was without Irving due to a foot injury.
One of the few people to benefit from Kyrie Irving’s time with the Boston Celtics is Marcus Smart.
While Jayson Tatum supposedly picked up poor habits from Tristan Thompson in 2020–21 and from Irving in 2017–18 and 2018–19, Smart seemed to benefit from Irving’s stay in Boston.
John Karalis of the Locked On Celtics said, “I keep going back to Kyrie (Irving) and Tristan Thompson, and I swear I feel like they poisoned Tatum’s brain.” I imagine that when those guys first started, Tatum was learning Kyrie, that it is irrelevant to focus on the regular season Tristan Thompson has taught you that the regular season is meaningless.
He simply doesn’t seem to place the same value (on the regular season), in my opinion. I genuinely think that to be true.
Irving was never a horrible player for the Celtics, but his long-term influence isn’t the best. Though it’s reasonable to wonder if it delayed the Cs’ pursuit of Banner 18, it hasn’t prevented Boston from going on lengthy playoff runs.
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