As Marcus Smart Returns to Boston, He Has Found His Home in the Grizzlies Rotation

Tonight, Marcus Smart will once again play basketball in Boston, a city where he thrived and was a favorite of the Celtics’ fanbase for nearly a decade. However, this time will be a bit different, as for the first time, Smart will be wearing another uniform once he takes the court. Nearly 18 months since Smart was traded from the Celtics to the Grizzlies, he finally get to enjoy a well-deserved “homecoming” in front of the Boston crowd.

While Smart’s return to Boston will be the key storyline on Saturday, another fun narrative is that Smart returns to Boston in the midst of a successful stretch of play where he finally seems at home on the Grizzlies roster. After missing nine of 11 games due to various ailments over a three week stretch to start November, Smart has returned to play a key role for the Grizzlies over the past few weeks.

The significance of Smart’s recent stretch of play is that not only is he thriving in his role as one of the teams’s “sixth men”, it seems to be a role suited for him moving forward. While Smart previously has had small stretches of success during his time in Memphis, injuries have limited him to playing in just 33 of a possible 105 games with Memphis over the past two years. More importantly, he has played in just a handful of games in which Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane were all healthy.

Due to the injuries, Smart has struggled at times to find his true role in Memphis. While his previous success and experience certainly made sense for the Grizzlies to use Smart as a starter, his fit at times seemed odd in certain Grizzlies rotations both last year and early this season. As a result, once Smart was set to return to the Grizzlies before Thanksgiving, he made it clear he was ready to embrace being a key part of the Grizzlies rotation as a reserve.

Fortunately for both the Grizzlies and Smart, not only has he embraced his role among the Grizzlies’ reserves, he has thrived in it. Over the six game stretch since he returned to action, Smart has averaged 12.7 points, 5.3 assists, and over 2 steals a game. He is shooting 40% from 3 with just over six attempts per game, and has improved as a playmaker with a 2.5 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.

More importantly, Smart has a had a clear and significant impact on winning. The Grizzlies are 5-1 in their last six games, and have outscored opponents by 48 points when Smart has been on the court. And the impact of Smart has not just been subtle; there have been multiple times he has been the main catalyst in the Grizzlies erasing a large deficit to come from behind and win games, especially in second quarters. A big reason for this success is not only due to Smart’s efficient scoring, but also his improved playmaking and impactful defense.

Smart’s improved play as a playmaker and point guard this season could be the biggest reason as to way he has thrived in recent weeks. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Grizzlies were outscored by 2.9 points per 100 possessions last year when Smart played point guard. This was mainly due to scoring just 108.9 points per 100 possessions when Smart led the offense, which was only in the 15th percentile among NBA lineups. This year, though it has only been 200 possessions so far, the numbers are a bit more encouraging:

This is not meant to suggest that Smart has been one of the best point guards in the league when he has been on the court this season. Instead, it shows that when Smart has been tasked with helping lead the Grizzlies offense, he has been highly efficient. As Smart was out with injury, the Grizzleis bench unit emerged as one of the best in the NBA. Since Marcus Smart has returned over the past few weeks, Memphis’s reserves have collectively outscored their opponents by 46 points, best in the NBA and 10 points higher than any other reserve unit in the league over that time span.

But of course, Smart’s excellent offense is simply icing on the cake and a compliment to his main value as a player, his defense. The impact of Smart’s defense has been evident through multiple perspectives over the past few weeks. Since his return on November 25th, he leads all NBA reserves in steals with 13. Before Smart’s return on 11/25, opposing benches were shooting just over 35% from three and committing 7.7 turnovers per game against the Grizzlies. Over the past six games with Smart, opposing benches are shooting just under 28% from three and committing 8.9 turnovers (best mark in NBA) per game versus Memphis.

Smart’s recent level of defensive impact shines a light on what was likely the major reason Memphis acquired him in the summer of 2024. The idea of two consecutive Defensive Player of the Year winners in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Smart playing together was highly intriguing. However, in recent weeks, that vision has evolved to Jackson Jr. anchoring the defense for the Grizzlies starting unit and Smart leading the defense for the reserves. And while the Grizzlies have struggled in the 4th quarter over the past few games, more often than not, Smart and Jackson Jr. in the Grizzlies closing lineup to protect leads should work.

While the numbers above offer multiple reasons as to why Smart has shined in a reserve role for the Grizzleis, it remains rather simple as to why he has clicked with the rest of the Grizzlies’ bench. His skillset offers a needed and different dynamic to the Grizzlies’ depth. Memphis already featured one of the best shooting reserve units in the league, and currently has the best offensive rating among bench units in the NBA. But with the addition of Smart, the Grizzlies bench units now have a reliable playmaker and impact defender to compliment the offensive production. And even if Smart were to regress a bit in terms of his shooting and scoring efficiency, his playmaking and defense should allow for him to sustain a high level of effectiveness. This will help Memphis’s depth to remain consistent erasing deficits or extending leads when their best players are off the court.

And that may be the biggest development of all from Smart’s recent play. When the Grizzlies won 50 or more games in back-to-back seasons, versatile depth was a big reason for their success. But the effectiveness of that depth regressed significantly in the postseason, especially offensively. The Grizzlies, like any team, will shorten the rotation as their best players play more in the postseason. However, across the 19 postseason games the Grizzlies have played under Taylor Jenkins, Memphis’s bench collectively has a +/- mark of -51.

But in multiple ways, the presence of Smart could improve the overall performance of the Memphis bench in the postseason. For one, Smart himself has continued to elevate his individual game over his career in the postseason. Across 46 playoff games over his last three years in Boston, Smart shot 36% from three with a 56.2% true shooting percentage. For the Grizzlies specifically, when Smart plays point, the Grizzlies shoot 76% at the rim (99th percentile) and 40% on above the break 3s (89th percentile). Those two spots on the court are typically where teams take their highest amount of shots, so if the Grizzlies are at their highest efficiency from those spots with Smart playing the point, that could really benefit the Memphis bench in the postseason.

Overall, if Marcus Smart can help the Grizzlies bench erase deficits or extend leads throughout games, Smart can then help the Grizzlies closing lineups secure wins. That seems to be the role the Grizzlies hope Smart can fill on their roster. Of course, the Grizzlies could (and should) look to upgrade their playoff rotation via trade over the next few months. But while at times using Smart in a deal seemed like a plausible idea, that seems less likely now. Smart’s playoff experience, elite defense, and now importance as a “bench ace” for the Grizzlies has not only defined his role for the Memphis rotation, but also validated his value in the Grizzlies winning both now and in the postseason.

And as he returns to Boston and the Grizzlies take on the defending NBA Champions, Marcus Smart has hopefully finally found his home on this Grizzlies roster that will continue to elevate Memphis’s own championship aspirations.