After nine seasons in the league, five trips to the conference finals, one stop in the NBA Finals and garnering Defensive Player of the Year honors, there’s absolutely nothing Marcus Smart needs to prove in a relatively meaningless preseason game.
But there is something he wants to accomplish.
“Build that chemistry – that’s really it,” Smart insisted. “All preseason, we’ve been talking about how our entire focus is really on us. I’ve already missed four preseason games. Our goal is to get better with every opportunity we get. And we have this next opportunity. For me, it’s just to get a feel for everything before we go into our season opener.”
Those words and that mindset will propel Smart into Friday’s debut with the Grizzlies when they wrap up the preseason in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
After missing the first four preseason games with abdominal soreness, Smart pushed through a ‘ramp-up process’ that featured high-intensity individual workouts and team practices this week. The regimen culminated with Smart participating in Wednesday’s extensive intrasquad scrimmage in addition to Thursday’s team walk-through before the team’s flight to Milwaukee.
Smart is expected to play limited minutes Friday, his first game action with his new teammates after arriving from Boston in a three-team trade in June. Although Smart has been a vocal leader throughout the preseason, the Grizzlies have taken precautions with his workload since the abdominal soreness surfaced in training camp earlier this month.
By all indications, the Grizzlies are encouraged by the way Smart has progressed through the treatment, practices and recovery this week.
“It’s responded really, really well actually,” Smart told Grind City Media of how his body feels. “The training staff has been great doing their thing. They’ve allowed me to be who I am, knowing I’m going to give it 100 percent. But overall, we’ve made sure to be safe. I was able to do the full scrimmage without any pain, and I will be ready for Friday and the season opener.”
After facing the Bucks, the Grizzlies have four days to regroup and evaluate before Wednesday’s season and home opener against the Pelicans.
A three-time, First-Team All-NBA Defensive Team catalyst, Smart is expected to open the season as the Grizzlies’ starting point guard while franchise star Ja Morant serves a 25-game, conduct-related suspension mandated by the league. The ultimate plan is likely to employ a three-guard lineup with Morant alongside both Smart and swingman Desmond Bane on the wing.
The goal now is to get Smart acclimated on the court as he establishes chemistry with a Grizzlies team eager to bounce back from a tumultuous season that fell short of expectation.
Memphis finished second in the Western Conference regular-season standings each of the last two seasons and is the lone team in the West coming off consecutive 50-win campaigns. But the Grizzlies lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Lakers last season and were eliminated in the second round the previous year by eventual champion Golden State.
Highly decorated veterans such as Smart and former league MVP Derrick Rose were added to the roster this season to help mature a young Grizzlies squad both on and off the court.
Both have provided vocal leadership since training camp opened, while Rose has stepped in to fill the starting point guard void majority of the preseason. With Smart on the runway to return, Rose is expected to shift to the primary backup point guard role.
Smart and Rose guided their respective units through recent practices as coach Taylor Jenkins settles on a starting lineup and playing rotation. Depth will be a strength for the Grizzlies this season, particularly at small forward, power forward and center.
Teammates are encouraged to see how things are starting to align with Smart fully in the mix.
“We’ve already felt his presence in so many ways since he got here, with the way he’s connected with his teammates and our staff, the way he pushes me and pushes his teammates,” Jenkins said of Smart. “But (Thursday’s) intrasquad was awesome, where we felt Marcus out there in so many more ways. He backs it up with his voice to help us understand what it takes to get us to the highest level. That’s just Marcus being Marcus. That’s what we love about him.”
What Rose loved about sharing the court with Smart was witnessing his unbelievable timing and defensive instincts.
“You should have seen some of the plays he made, and how he made things look out there – only he could make plays like that,” Rose described of Smart at practice this week. “It’s the way he reads the ball, the placement, the way he’s always in the right spot, the way he communicates, everything we need. It’s great to see.”
Grizzlies second-year forward David Roddy described Smart as a natural schematic fit.
“For him to be out there has been pretty seamless right now,” Roddy said. “Bringing that brand of basketball, that grit and grind. He’s the perfect symbol for that, and that’s something that’s going to be huge for us. He’s pushing us even more to be competitive, and we’re already a super, highly competitive team.”
Smart acknowledged it may take some time before he’s at peak performance levels. But he looks forward to gradually building rhythm and continuity each step along the way.
It’ll be a work in progress that stretches into the season.
But that process essentially starts with Friday’s preseason finale.
“It’s one thing to be in practice and scrimmages, but then there’s another level to get to,” Smart evaluated. “This group has already been together for so long and has been playing already. So, it’s just me wanting to get a feel before going into the opener, with where guys want their shots and where they like the ball. It’s also so they can get accustomed to me and how I like to play.”
Jenkins was reminded this week about his initial reaction when he learned from president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman that the Grizzlies acquired Smart.
“People always ask me what I said when Zach broke the news to me that we’d traded for Marcus,” Jenkins relayed. “The first thing I said was, ‘Let’s (expletive) Go!”
Friday’s final test run lurks and next week’s season opener looms.
For this Smart edition of the Grizzlies, it’s now freaking ‘Go’ time.