NBA: Smart stays with Celtics: Paid for Defense

After weeks of negotiations, Boston Celtics and Marcus Smart have agreed on a new contract. The Celtics are bringing back almost the same team from the pre-season, even the long-term injured are making progress. What does the extension of Smart mean for the player and also for the team?

The Boston Celtics are complete again. After more than three weeks of Free Agency, Marcus Smart signed the last important piece of the puzzle for the coming season – in the long run. 4 years, 52 million dollars are the parameters of the deal for the Point Guard, which has now been paid. Just last October, Smart had refused 50 million for the same period, as a result it did not look good for him.

The market dried up fast, especially Restricted Free Agents like Smart could hardly get offers, because there were only a few teams with Cap Space. Only teams like Sacramento, Chicago or Atlanta had the necessary money, but little or no ambition to strengthen the team with free agents.

RFA was also Jabari Parker, who recently said that players do not get paid for defense in this league. In the Smart case, however, the good Jabari was wrong, even if it took some time.

“I knew it would be tough this year,” Smart told reporters after his extra time, but also admitted that it was frustrating at times because so many things were in the balance. “To be honest, I had no idea until the end who I was playing for next season.”

So it was not surprising that reports sprouted from the ground that reported a disappointed and offended Smart who did not feel appreciated enough. Smart even considered the qualifying offer (6.1 million) for a year, after which he would probably have left Boston as an unrestricted free agent.

General Manager Danny Ainge referred this to the realm of fables in the statement on extension. “Keeping Marcus was our top priority in our offseason and we are pleased to have managed it,” said GM. “Nobody plays as hard as him. His energy is unmatched and drives the team forward over and over again.”

But all this has a certain price and that was certainly one of the main reasons why the extension was not announced on 1 July. If you look at Smart’s contract structure, you can see that it is not particularly team-friendly. According to Fred Katz (MassLive), Smart will receive $11.66 million next season, up eight percent for the next three years. In addition, there is a bonus of half a million if Smart holds certain body fat shares and therefore Skinny Marcus remains.

Recently, however, there had been rumours that the Celtics would prefer Smart to receive the most money in the first year of the contract and then less year after year. The reason is simple: luxury tax.

With the smart deal, the Celtics broke the luxury tax barrier (3.86 million), which is why Guard Abdel Nader was traded to OKC. The acquired Rodney Purvis, on the other hand, will certainly be dismissed. But even with this move the Celtics remain about 2.05 million above the limit, so it is possible that players like Guerschon Yabusele (2.7 million) or Marcus Morris (5.8 million) will be traded during the season. Because: Luxury tax is only paid by those who cross the border at the end of the Regular Season.

This should be important for Boston, because you don’t want to be a repeat offender in the future. 2018/19 would be the first season in the luxury tax after the status quo, 2019/20 the payroll should be significantly higher if Kyrie Irving wants to sign a new Max contract. The same applies in the coming years to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, who are still in their rookie contracts.

It would therefore be important for Boston not to drift into luxury tax as early as next season. As a repeater, the tax rate is one dollar more than when you are in the luxury tax for the first time.

But if you want to play for the title, you have to take certain risks, as Rockets-owner Tilman Fertitta rightly pointed out. “If you want to play for a championship, you need a lot of luck not to be in the luxury tax bracket,” said the Houston owner on the verge of extending Chris Paul.

Boston will also have similar problems in the future, as the new contract and the tough negotiations at Smart have already shown. On the other hand, the core of the Celtics will remain almost completely together after last summer’s major renovation. The departure of Shane Larkin and Greg Monroe was compensated by EuroLeague star Brad Wanamaker and rookie Robert Williams, the rest of the band was held completely.

Smart also played a major role in Celtics’ success last year, even though he was usually only Uncle Drew’s backup in the playmaker position. Smart’s way of playing is not to be found in this form in the league. Nobody throws themselves after Loose Balls like Smart, hardly any other player plays such passionate defense as Smart. No player is loved by Celtics fans like Smart.

No player embodies the DNA of the Celtics as he does, so you are welcome to overlook the sometimes questionable choice of litters and the generally weak litter quotas. It is difficult to measure Smart by numbers anyway. Sometimes it’s an important offensive rebound in a close game a minute before the end or a block against a much bigger player that draws the crowd and gives Boston the momentum.

Accordingly, Celtics’ PR department made an effort to underline the importance of Smart for Boston. For example, the defensive rating of 99.5 with Smart on the field (third place among guards with at least 41 games) or the fact that he was drawn in the top-25 in deflections and top-10 in batches. By way of comparison, when Kawhi Leonard said goodbye, the Spurs wiped under the carpet that this final MVP and two-time defensive player of the year.

“I’ll do everything I can to help my fellow players and give the world’s best fans another championship,” Smart said. This may sound like a phrase to many players, but you can expect the Guard to tear itself apart for the Celtics in the coming years.

“We’ve shown how close we are, even though we’ve been missing important players injured,” Smart said. “Kyrie and Gordon are coming back now, and I think we’re gonna be hard to beat. “I am pleased to be part of this historic journey and this historic franchise.”

Whether this trip will last for the full four years cannot yet be estimated, of course, but it cannot be ruled out that Ainge Smart will one day be used as an asset. At the latest since the saga around Isaiah Thomas it is well known that the Celtics GM decides absolutely rationally and almost never emotionally.

The payroll of the Celtics consisted so far of maximum players starting from 20 million or from favorable players and Rookies up to scarcely 7 million. Smart is now the first and so far the only player with a medium sized deal that can be used wonderfully as a filler in a possible trade. By the time Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans becomes available at the latest, the name of Smart will also be associated with it.

But all this is first of all a dream for the future. Smart will continue to wear the green jersey number 36 and maybe next season there will be an answer to the question how good this Celtics team with Irving, Hayward and no other injured can actually be, even if one year late.