Smart floated in trade talks
Rumors fly as deadline approaches
With the March 25 trade deadline looming, Danny Ainge is about to be reminded repeatedly why he values Marcus Smart so much — especially if the Celtics president hopes to land an impactful addition.
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
Multiple reports from The Athletic detailed the Celtics’ interest in Atlanta’s John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic , as well as their pursuit of Orlando’s Aaron Gordon. In the case of Atlanta, Smart’s name was listed as part of the return package.
A league source said Monday that Atlanta isn’t the only team that has inquired about Smart during discussions with the Celtics.
“Atlanta’s not the only team that wants Marcus,” said the source, who added that the Celtics are not actively shopping Smart to teams, and that talks with Atlanta are not ongoing, though could certainly be revisited.
Instead, Smart’s name is the most common to come back from the other side, though for the Celtics to part with the player described as their heart and soul, the source said “it would have to be a significant deal.”
Back-talk
The Celtics have not won on the second night of a backto-back swing since a Jan. 25 win over Chicago, losing their last five such opportunities heading into Monday’s game in Memphis. With Kemba Walker routinely sitting out second nights as part of a knee maintenance program, and Smart missing 18 straight games to a torn calf muscle, the Celtics were particularly vulnerable in these situations in February and early March.
“It’s harder without (Smart and Kemba). We’ve had several of those games during that stretch,” said coach Brad Stevens. “That said, we’ve always kind of hung our hat on — at least our good teams have — on being resilient and being able to play well on the second night of back-tobacks.
“We started the year off great on back-to-backs and they have not been good in the past month. In most of those games you’re missing Kemba and Smart, obviously, but we just have to have other people step up. Just like we’ve talked about all week. We have to engage in each other, play together, move on to the next play and don’t expect it to be perfect. And then will we be better late than we’ve been. The formula doesn’t change just because you played yesterday, and you have to have the ability for guys that are fresh to impact the game, and guys that aren’t to be tough and play the next play well.”
Stevens added that Smart, who played 33 minutes during Sunday’s win over Orlando, is no longer on a minutes restriction.
Nesmith impresses
Aaron Nesmith, like the rest of the Celtics’ young bench brigade, has floated in and out of playing time, and making more of an impression with his defense and aggressive play than what got him here -— a promising jump shot.
But Stevens has clearly been impressed by the rookie wing.
“The challenge for guys like him, especially young, young shooters who come into the league, is just adjusting to the speed of the game and the tests of these guys at this level,” said the Celtics coach. “But he is a great worker, and he has really worked hard to say if I am not scoring the ball like I’d like, or if I’m learning where my spots are offensively, I can still impact the game in other ways.
“That for him has been (being) a reliable multiple effort defender and some offensive rebounding. He’s probably the best of our wings at crashing the glass from the opposite corner, and that’s a valuable thing to carry with him as he moves on. Those can be separators, those guys that get a couple of possessions a game. I think it’s been very obvious that none of those young guys have really separated themselves from the others, but I do think what Aaron has brought to the table is encouraging, and I do believe strongly in his work and who he will become, for sure.”