Nuggets should call Celtics about a trade for Marcus Smart

The Boston Celtics have made Marcus Smart available in order to create cap space for Gordon Hayward, and the Denver Nuggets should call about a trade.

The Denver Nuggets missed out on George Hill’s scoring, smart pick-and-roll play, 40 percent three-point shot and sound defense after he agreed to a three-year, $57 million deal with the Sacramento Kings. The chances of getting a major upgrade at starting point guard are out the window. But that doesn’t mean the Nuggets should settle with their roster and bench as is. For a start, they need to clear out their glut of power forwards. And now there’s an available target they need to ask about: Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics.

After the Celtics agreed to a four-year, $128 million contract with Gordon Hayward, they’ve started “aggressively” shopping some of their players to create enough cap space, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski. The trio of available players includes Smart:

"The Boston Celtics have been aggressively trying to create enough salary-cap room to give Gordon Hayward the four-year, $128 million maximum contract he agreed upon by discussing trades involving Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley, sources told ESPN."

I may be higher on Smart than most. He’s a historically bad three-point shooter for how many he takes (4.2 attempts per game last season, making a mere 28.3 percent) and I understand the negative impact of that. He’s putting up bad shots unless he gets absurdly hot for some reason, and defenses being able to sag off him can create more clutter in the paint. You need guards who can shoot.

That said, Smart still brings some offense to the table despite his inefficiency (35.9 percent shooting last season). His playmaking could be a little underrated by some. It’s not amazing by any means, but with his 4.6 assists per game in 2016-17 he showed again that he can find shooters, barrel inside with his strength to drive and kick and help an offense with some facilitating when he can’t hit shots. He does have vision and has some really good moments with the ball in his hands, even if not everyone is a fan.

For the Nuggets, though, the appeal in Smart should focus on his defense, which is undoubtedly elite. He’s so close to All-Defensive team caliber.

Smart is incredibly versatile. At 6’4″ with a powerful, 220 lbs frame that he fully utilizes with his aggressive mindset, Smart has a combination of speed, size and physicality that allows him to defend both guards positions, switch onto small forwards and even guard some power forwards at times.

Remember how effective Smart was against Denver’s own Paul Millsap in the 2016 playoffs, holding him in the post and pestering him all over the court to prevent Millsap scoring more than the 45 points he did:

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Smart is simply a fierce defender that no one wants to against. The Nuggets could use someone like that to bolster their 29th-ranked defense even more than Millsap, and adding Smart would give them give them great versatility whenever they’re on the court together.

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Also, beyond the Celtics’ need to shed salary right away that doesn’t help them command a ton in return for someone like Smart, he’s a free agent after 2017-18. While that obviously creates the issue for the Nuggets of keeping him next summer, and he’ll be after a fair pay rise, that does help keep his value down. And seeing as the Nuggets are set at shooting guard with Gary Harris and Jamal Murray, Smart seems like the logical, lower value target instead of Avery Bradley to add into the point guard mix.

The tricky part for Denver is what can they offer. Is Malik Beasley really going to get Boston excited when they already have guards (and shouldn’t need to lose both Bradley and Smart) and high-upside wings in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum? Definitely not by himself.

Instead, the Nuggets’ best bet is likely going to be offering Danny Ainge something he loves: a draft pick. Smart’s value shouldn’t be too high given the Celtics’ pressing situation to dump players and his upcoming free agency, so a trade offer centred around a pick and maybe Beasley makes sense.

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Much like Crowder, Smart is a player who can address a need and he’s available. The Nuggets would be foolish not to at least call and see what the asking price is, and hope that there aren’t enough better offers from other teams to make something work. And, of course, they should do the same for Crowder, as my co-expert Mathew Huff has written.