Marcus Smart playing the best basketball of his career right now. He’s setting a new career high in FG percentage and 3 point percentage in an era of the NBA that heavily focuses on shooting from behind the arc. In addition to his career best stats, he’s also the heart and soul of the Boston Celtics. Diving after loose balls and having defensive intensity that seemingly no other Celtics player can match.
His play just reminds you of older times in the league, where defense was more of a focus and players who didn’t play it didn’t seem to have the edge that the elite talents had. That’s why in the midst of an offensive driven league, Smart has said that the NBA has gone soft.
I can agree with him somewhat, there’s a much larger emphasis on shooting now ever since Stephen Curry came into the league and changed the way basketball is played today. Still, times change and in this case with the NBA, the amount of energy being put into defense is changing as well.
Flip the page to see specifically what Marcus Smart said about the league going soft
