Marcus Smart received the love from NBA coaches once again, this time in predicting the All-Defensive First Team. The Boston Celtics guard garnered the most first-team votes for a guard, above Philadelphia 76ers standout Ben Simmons, and even outscored two-time Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard by two points in the total voting.
The Celtics ace defender's high intensity, guard-dog style of defense is one that coaches across the league have grown enamored by:
“He’s just that good,” one coach told Jon Krawczynski and Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “My first pick without hesitation.”
“I really love his intensity, his willingness to guard anybody. And he’s only 6-foot-3,” said another coach. “You’ve got to admire somebody like that who sacrifices his body and takes charges. When there’s a loose ball, and if it’s our player or another player that’s going to get it, I’m sorry, Marcus Smart is coming away with that ball.”
Reigning DPOY Rudy Gobert netted 25 first-place votes out of 30 and so did reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has been a force to reckoned with at the defensive end during his entire career.
Yet it's Smart's intangibles like stripping the ballhandler without hesitation or coming up fearlessly to reject a shot by a taller player that makes 29 other coaches envious of his innate instinct for the ball.
Smart has been overshadowed by others like Avery Bradley, Victor Oladipo, and Patrick Beverley in the past, but he's getting his due recognition now, standing out as one of the best all-around defenders for showing heart that is much bigger than his size.
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