J-Speaks: Marcus Smart Wins Kia DPOY

 It had been a little over two-and-a-half decades since an NBA guard had won Kia Defensive Players of the Year. It was won by the perennial All-Star floor general who helped to the lead the then Seattle Supersonics to the 1996 NBA Finals. On Tuesday, the lead guard representing the boys from “Beantown” broke that long drought.

On Monday afternoon, it was announced by the NBA that Boston Celtics lead guard Marcus Smart was named the 2021-22 Kia Defensive Player of the Year.   

Smart, 28 who has played his entire eight-year career with the Celtics became the first guard to earn Kia Defensive Player of the Year since Hall of Famer Gary Payton won the honor in 1995-96. Smart also became the second player in Celtics history win Defensive Player of the Year, joining fellow Hall of Famer Kevin Garnet (2007-08).

On Sunday, the NBA announced the three finalists for Kia Defensive Player of the Year: in Marcus Smart of the Celtics, Mikal Bridges of Phoenix Suns, and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, who has won this award in three of the last four seasons.

At the Celtics practice facility New Balance Red Auerbach Center, Smart surrounded by his Celtics teammates, coaching staff and front office personnel was presented the Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award by Payton.

In his interview with the TNT “Inside the NBA” crew, Smart said to them how all of this came about was first-year head coach Ime Udoka meet up with Smart in the locker room to let him know to get dressed and meet the rest of team for a film session.

Following a nearly five-minute discussion about certain play sequences between Coach Udoka and Smart, he went up to the practice court and Smart meet up with everyone to learn he won Defensive Player of the Year and was going get the news from Payton.

“That was awesome,” Smart said to Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal about receiving the news and the award from Payton. “He was really, you know, the idol of the guards having even a chance, you know. He set the bar high. He allowed us to have our names in that hat, you know.”

In a Twitter post by Smart @smart_MS3 back on Mar. 8 said, “Somewhere in the fine print for winning this is… Rule 47.1A ‘No NBA guards without the initials GP are allowed to win DPOY.”

There was also a tweet @SethPartnow on that same date which said, Considering Draymond [Green] might only player about 40 games, who is DPOY? How much credit to we give Giannis[Antetokounmpo]/[Rudy] Gobert for dragging those rosters (as available in MKE’s case) to slightly above average? Is it someone like Marcus Smart or Mikal Bridges? That doesn’t seem right, viscerally.”

Smart won Defensive Player of the Year and Payton, a former Celtic said he was “honored” by that tweet from the guy he has honed his defensive game after.

“You a guy that, you know, I think reminds me of myself,” Payton said of Smart. “Everybody ask me about it all the time and it be you. You play that D the way you supposed to. Play it with a chip on your shoulder and some heart.”

Payton did say that you do not have to have the initials of GP because it was the DPOY recipient 27 seasons back that wanted to be the first to let him Smart know that he won the 2021-22 Kia Defensive Player of the Year.

After the announcement, Smart’s teammates as well as the Celtics front office personnel on hand from Chief Executive Officer Wyc Grousbeck and first-year GM and former Celtics head coach the previous eight seasons Brad Stevens on hand celebrated, which included Smart getting a water bottle shower from his teammates.

“First off, definitely want to thank you guys, man,” Smart said in appreciation for the honor. “My coaching staff. My teammates. It’s not easy playing in this league full of guys like Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen [Brown] and getting recognition on that defensive end and trying to guard these guys every night.”

“This is eight years, man. Just trying to make do what I do. You guys, have allowed me to do that.”  

Smart also acknowledged that in the early part of his basketball journey he watched film on Payton’s work at the defensive end that earned him his place in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Smart saw the tenacity and ferociousness and so-called “dog” Payton had in him wondered if he could ever win the same award that Payton won 32 years ago. Listening to Payton’s words, it earned him his Kia Defensive Player of the Year.  

“I just wanted to implicate that in my game and go out there and make history like he did. And tonight, me and my family we’re excited. My teammates, the organization, the city of Boston for this. It’s been a long time coming.”

The two-time All-NBA Defensive First-Team selection (2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons) and 2018-19 NBA Hustle Award recipient finished the regular season in ranking high in the “hustle” categories from tied for No. 4 in the league in loose balls recovered (75) and tied for No. 10 in both deflections (206) and charges drawn (16), while setting a career-high in defensive rebounds (10). Smart, who registered 119 total steals and 18 block shots, while averaging 12.1 points, 5.9 assists-a career-high and 3.8 rebounds in 32.3 minutes per game during the regular season.

Behind Smart, first-year head coach Ime Udoka’s squad led the NBA in points allowed (104.5); field goal percentage (43.4) and opponent’s three-point percentage (33.9) on their way to a 51-31 record, finishing No. 2 in Eastern Conference standings for the 2022 NBA Playoffs, presented by Google Pixel.

When asked by O’Neal, a teammate of Payton’s with 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers and 2004-06 champion Miami Heat about what it took for him to be Defensive Player of the Year, Smart said it is all about having a “mentality.” How it is about having a “demeanor” with yourself and a “belief” in yourself when nobody else does, and just go out there and make it happen. Always have a “chip” on your shoulder, which Smart says he continues to do.

When Barkley asked on what players he knows he will be checking on gameday that requires a good night’s sleep for, Smart said specifically the Nets duo in perennial All-Stars in 2014 Kia MVP Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who the Celtics took down in Game 1 over their opening-round series (115-114) thanks to Smart finding Tatum for the game-winning layup at the buzzer.

Smart also said the like of four-time Kia MVP and four-time NBA champion LeBron James of the Lakers. Fellow All-Star Bradley Beal of Washington Wizards.

“When you got guys like that as a competitor, as a defender, you want to get bed early so you can get up early and do everything you can to figure out how you’re going to contain and stop there guys.”

The Celtics in their aforementioned Game 1 win got that stop on Durant, who missed a three-pointer in the final seconds that led to the Celtics runout where Brown dribbled the ball to the right block, passed it to Smart, who faked a three-pointer with Nets’ Bruce Brown and Nic Claxton closing down on him; dribbled inside the three-point line and found Tatum, who spun on Irving and hit the game-winning banker layup at the buzzer.

Smart credited Brown for the patience he showed in pushing the ball after the Celtics forced a tough miss on a jumper moments before to try to get the Celtics the advantage in the open floor. But Brown decided to turn down taking the possible game-winning shot at that meant to get a great one. Smart did the same thing in faking a three-point attempt with Nets Bruce Brown and Nic Claxton closing his airspace, leading him to attack off the dribble and finding Tatum who caught the ball, spun on a closing Irving for the game-winning layup at the Finals buzzer.

“It was only right, especially with the way we started the year off and how things went” Smart said of how the Celtics trust was displayed on that game-winning sequence. “It was only right that us three came down stretch of that game to end it for us.”

It had been 26 years since the last time an NBA guard won Kia Defensive Player of the Year. It has been 14 years since a Boston Celtic won the honor. That all changed on Monday afternoon when Celtics Marcus Smart became the first Celtic to win that honor since Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett and the first guard to win this NBA award since Gary Payton.

Smart and the Celtics hope they end up in the same place that Payton and the Supersonics did when he won that award 26 seasons back, in the NBA Finals. Only the C’s hope to win it unlike the Supersonics, who lost to fellow Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and head coach Phil Jackson and the Chicago Bulls in six games.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 4/18/2022 www.nba.com story, “Boston’s Marcus Smart Wins 2021-22 Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award;” 4/18/2022 7 p.m. TNT “NBA Tip-Off,” presented by Carmax With Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 4/18/2022 8 p.m. “NBATV’s Pregame Show,” presented by Carmax With Ro Parrish, Steve Smith, and Robert Horry; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Celtics.