Marcus Smart: Not Worried About Grizzlies’ Early Struggles

“I’ll tell it like this. When I was with the Celtics, we made it to the [2022] Finals despite being one game under .500 halfway through the season,” Smart said, via Medina. “The Miami Heat last season made it to the Finals after just making the Play-In tournament. They lost the first Play-In tournament game, and then made the playoffs as an eighth seed and wound up beating every team in the East to make it to the Finals.”

In other words, Smart has been around long enough to know that all that really matters is that you play your best after the All-Star break in February.

“Stuff can happen,” he said, via Medina. “Where we’re at, we’re early in the season and we got time. At least when I was with the Celtics and we were half-way through, time was very limited. Same thing with Miami. Time was very limited. We got enough time to fix it. We have to keep going. Just like against the Clippers, that game shows what can happen if you just keep going and keep trying to figure it out.”

Smart is in his first season with Memphis after a three-team trade involving the Celtics and Wizards. He is considered one of the NBA’s best backcourt defenders and will soon team with star point guard Ja Morant, who’s serving a 25-game suspension.