Marcus Smart vs. Evan Turner: Who should start at PG?

The Celtics are in a weird spot.

Let’s just make that the caveat that defines this season, shall we? This is all weird, and there isn’t a lot that makes sense.

Especially the Celtics point guard situation.

With Rajon Rondo wearing a ten gallon hat and playing with new toys like a spoiled brat a Christmas, the Celtics are trying like hell to figure out which course of action they will take as they try to find a quarterback for their team. The problem is they face two completely separate, yet completely valid choices… which means we’re once again choosing sides and arguing about the team’s point guard.

Do they go with the guy that helps them win games now, or do they go with the guy who might help them win games in the future?

Option 1: Evan Turner

Evan Turner has largely been, well, Evan Turner for this season. Sometimes he shows you flashes of why the 76’ers thought he might be a franchise player. Then he shows you why the Celtics were able to sign him for virtually nothing. Let’s face it, there’s a reason why this guy is trying to salvage his career at 26. The problem, if you want to call it that, is that he’s succeeding pretty nicely in one role in Boston: Starting point guard.

Evan Turner has started three games, all at the point.  As a starter, he’s averaging 14 points, 3.7 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in three wins.  As a reserve, he’s averaging six fewer points while his other averages are about the same. He’s shooting 53% as a starter vs. 46% as a reserve. And the eye test shows us that Evan Turner as the starting PG for the Boston Celtics is remarkably better than any other role he’s played here.  He just looks better in that situation.

With Turner at the point, the Celtics can, maybe, solidify some rotations and have Marcus Smart fill a very nice backup role at either guard position. It leaves Jameer Nelson as the third point guard and the guy who can run with Brandan Wright and Jae Crowder as the “Dallas Squad”… a.k.a. the guys who are familiar with each other.  This wild hodgepodge of pieces the Celtics have seems to actually make a little sense when Turner is the starting point.

A young team like the Celtics can really benefit from some winning. Guys who screw up can learn from those screw-ups without the added guilt of knowing it cost the team a win… which is kind of big deal. Guys will understand that things they’re learning in practice are paying off, thus making them continuously eager to work hard. Winning also equals buying into what coach is selling, and buying into what coach is selling only serves to make the whole team better.

Let me ask you this… how much are you willing to work your ass off at YOUR job without seeing some results?

Winning brings structure. It fosters the acceptance of roles. It snaps things into place. It brings some focus into this mess of a season. And maybe it adds a little bit of value to some of these guys as other teams contemplate making moves with the Celtics.

Above all, sports are a results oriented business. This is a very small sample size, but Evan Turner at the point has gotten results.

Celtics by starting PG… Evan Turner 3-0 (108.3 ppg) Rajon Rondo 8-14 (104.4 ppg) Jameer Nelson 0-1 (95 ppg) Marcus Smart 0-3 (93 ppg)

— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) January 1, 2015

Option 2: Marcus Smart

The Boston Celtics are, to put it nicely, a mess. In the past couple of years, the team has gone about auctioning off their key 2008 championship cogs largely for undetermined pieces of the future. The draft picks they’ve received from Brooklyn seem amazingly valuable, but they are still subject to the lottery’s fickle whims. Brandan Wright and Jae Crowder are enticing pieces to a potentially successful team, but we’re not sure yet how much of an impact they’ll make.

The future is a hazy cloud of possibilities. We don’t know what’s really going to pan out. There are smart people out there that SWORE J.R. Giddens was a franchise scorer. So who can really say what’s going to happen.

So that’s what makes it more important to find out what the future holds as soon as possible. Yes, Evan Turner may have magically found a way to extend his career as a successful starting point guard, but that doesn’t really help the Celtics in 2017, does it?

A team with as many questions as the Celtics needs to start finding answers to those questions, post-haste.

It’s why Brandon Bass is losing minutes. The Celtics need to figure out how, or if, Wright is sticking around beyond this summer.

It’s why Jeff Green is on the trading block. The Celtics need to make room to see if James Young and Jae Crowder can be the swing men of the future.

So why not just start Smart at the point and just let Evan Turner figure himself out in another role? Yeah, he’s had success, but what good does that do anyone when the guy the team has clearly invested in can’t go up against the other team’s best and learn? The team can foster his development in practice and in film study. Smart’s a mentally strong guy who probably won’t be bothered by bumps in the road, so you’re not really risking hurting his psyche. The only thing there is to lose is a few games in a season where the wins don’t really matter anyway.

People go to school every day, struggle to pick up concepts, and then after practice and practical application, they figure it out. That’s how learning works. Why can’t Marcus Smart learn that way too?

Smart won’t be able to legally walk into Sullivan’s Tap and buy a beer until March. In three or four years, when the Celtics have presumably rebuilt their team and are fighting for playoff seeding, it’s a good bet Smart will be part of the starting backcourt. It’s also a pretty good bet that Turner won’t. So it makes sense to start the guy who’s part of the team’s future.

So… 

There is certainly merit to both arguments. I love the idea of starting a guy who can maybe give the team a little jolt and a few wins. I think wins are an important reward for a young team (which is why I HATE what Philadelphia is doing). I think Smart can play an important role on the team off the bench and play both guard positions. I also want the team to get as much information on Smart as the starting point guard as they can so they can make a proper decision about him. Three starts for either of these guys is in no way enough of a sample size to say it works or doesn’t. How can the team know if he’s got the DNA to run a team if he isn’t running a team?

I personally like wins, so I’m leaning towards Turner as the starter, but I can’t make a wholehearted argument for that. I do think the wins help the team grow. I don’t think Smart coming off the bench hurts his development because I think there is still a question as to whether he’s better suited as an off-guard. Coming off the bench gives the team some options to experiment with him at both spots. But like I said earlier, the argument to start Smart is totally valid. I can’t really argue strongly against either choice.

The one argument that I can make strongly is for Brad Stevens to make a decision soon and stick with it. I know he’s experimenting with rotations because he’s got a bunch of new players and a totally new situation now that Rondo is gone. He doesn’t have to make a decision today, but he has to make one soon. Once he does, he needs to just let it play out. One of the worst things you can do to a young player like Smart is jerk him around and not define his role on the team. If he’s a back up “utility” guy… then make him that. If he’s the starting point guard, then make him that.

This team desperately needs some structure. I know Stevens is trying hard to find it, and figure out his point guard situation soon is where he has to start.