Marcus Smart is aware of Blake Griffin isn’t the high-flying menace that made him a must-watch participant a decade in the past, however he nonetheless thinks he has sufficient left within the tank to provide the Celtics a raise.
The Celtics reportedly signed the 33-year-old Griffin to a completely assured one-year deal on Friday, which ought to give them much-needed depth within the frontcourt after dropping Rob Williams to begin the season. Smart is a fan of the transfer.
“Love it,” Smart stated after Saturday’s follow. “He’s not above the rim anymore, but he still does great things. He’s a great professional. Last year he led the league in charges taken. For a guy that doesn’t play as much, that speaks volumes of what he does. He can affect the game not just with his offense, but defensively. So it’ll be a great pickup for us. It’s a great vet for some of these young guys to listen to and what he has to offer.”
Griffin led the NBA with 26 prices taken final season regardless of taking part in in simply 958 minutes, whereas his new Celtics teammate Derrick White adopted carefully with 25. Smart, who drew 16 prices final 12 months, stated there’s already an early competitors this season that can solely intensify as soon as Griffin joins the crew.
“I already started with D-White,” Smart stated. “It’s definitely going to be great. We are going to challenge each other every day and you got three of the best charge takers in the game on the same team, it’s only going to help everybody else.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla declined to touch upon the signing of Griffin, which isn’t but official.
“Front office hasn’t told me anything yet,” Mazzulla stated.
Smart maintaining C’s regular
Since coaching camp started this week, a number of Celtics gamers have spoken of how vocal Smart has been and the way his presence has been clearly felt. But the purpose guard stated he’s not making an attempt to do something greater than common within the wake of Ime Udoka’s season-long suspension.
“I’m not trying to step on any toes, I’m just trying to do what I can and what I do best,” Smart stated. “I believe I don’t must do extra due to what I do. I’m not simply on the market speaking, I’m on the market proving by instance, how I work and the way I method the sport day by day. I don’t suppose I’ve to do extra, I simply take extra emphasis for guys to comply with and actually get in step with the id that we’re making an attempt to create.
“The beauty of it is we have our starting five last year, everybody got a vote for the All-Defensive team so that speaks volumes about where we’re at with our identity and who we’re trying to be.”
Smart praised Mazzulla – describing the coach as a pure – and stated the Celtics have been profitable at eliminating outdoors distractions early in camp.
“When we’re on the floor it’s just us and nothing else matters, and that’s how we have to approach it,” Smart stated. “Everybody’s been very skilled and everyone understands the severity of what’s taking place proper now the place it might go one among two methods and we seen the way it went if we don’t step up and put our foot down and proper issues we have to do and keep up to the mark, so for us we don’t need to begin like we did final 12 months, placing ourselves in that dogfight early and having to struggle all the best way again.
“So we’re trying to keep that up. When we’re on the floor it’s just us. The energy has been great and everybody has been real professional and participating very well and trying to do everything they can to help this team and help themselves.”
Kornet everyday
Mazzulla confirmed that Luke Kornet suffered a sprained left ankle this week in follow, and the middle is everyday as he will get remedy. Kornet – who is anticipated to make the crew and play a larger-than-expected function with Williams out – is unlikely to play in Sunday’s preseason opener in opposition to the Hornets.
“It gives us another opportunity to just look at different things,” Mazzulla stated. “It gives other people opportunities. Obviously we wanted him to get some minutes, but we’re just going to have to figure that out.”
Without Kornet accessible, Sunday ought to supply a chance for Mfiondu Kabengele – signed as a two-way participant – to earn some prolonged motion as he continues to acclimate himself to the Celtics.
“Regardless of what’s going on, his role shouldn’t change,” Mazzulla stated. “We talked to him originally of coaching camp what we’re on the lookout for, and he’s executed an incredible job doing these issues: screening, operating the ground, bringing power, rebounding, after which actually studying our defensive system. …
“He’s doing great,” Mazzulla added of Kabengele.” He’s coachable and he likes to be taught and he performs onerous. To me, anyone that does these three issues has an opportunity. That’s one thing he’s executed very properly.”
What is Mazzulla on the lookout for within the Celtics’ first preseason recreation on Sunday?
“Just want to see everything we emphasized in these first four days of practice, what our defensive identity is and the concepts that we talked about on the offensive end,” Mazzulla stated. “We’ve made it a point to work on reading the game and playing at a certain pace, and we just want to see some carryover in that.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com