Marcus Smart would enjoy basketball a lot more if modern NBA players hooped the way it was done in the ’60s and ’70s.
Smart says the League today is too “cute” and lacks the type of phyical play he thrives on.
The 24-year-old Celtics fan favorite re-upped in Boston on a four-year, $52 million extension last summer.
Per Bleacher Report:
“The best thing that I can say about him is: He’s been here five years, and all five years we’ve been a playoff team,” [Brad] Stevens says. “All five years, he’s really, really added to winning, and that has never stopped. He’s doing it at an even higher level.
“When he’s on the court, people play better.”
That makes him a fan favorite, because he’s everything Bostonians are: Gritty. No nonsense, no patience. Not here for a gold star. A throwback player to his core.
“Back in the ’60s, ’70s, my mindset and the way I play would be perfect. They play like that every game,” Smart says.
That’s just what it is.
“That’s just what it is! Exactly!” he says, a smile breaking through. “I think we kind of lost that in today’s game. Everything’s become real cute. Everybody’s scared to go to the rim. Everybody’s scared to get hit. Everybody’s scared to touch. I thrive on the contact. Contact is in my nature.”
