Marcus Smart was among the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest offseason acquisitions. He was bought out by the Washington Wizards and signed with L.A. on a two-year, $10.5 million deal with a player option in the second season. The Lakers brought Smart in to improve their perimeter defense and overall toughness and physicality.
L.A. has been severely lacking in both of those principles for several years, dating back to the trade for Russell Westbrook back in 2021. And while Smart is a couple years removed from his days as a Defensive Player of the Year winner, he is among the most physical perimeter defenders L.A. has had since their championship roster.
Smart explained exactly how he plans to impact the Lakers with his effort and mentality, and what he can do to have that rub off on the rest of the roster.
“Just with my play,” Smart said after practice on Thursday. “Lead by example. It’s kind of hard to put that fight in your guys when you’re not out there doing it. So for me, it’s all about if I can put up or shut up, I gotta do it. And if I want someone else to follow my lead, I have to lead by example.”
The Lakers guard assessed the team’s physicality in their Opening Night loss to the Golden State Warriors and how they can improve upon it as the season progresses.
“It’s the first game. I expected it. And it’s OK, we wanted to establish our physicality at the start of the game,” Smart said. “That’s just something that we were kind of missing last year, we talked about it as a team that we wanted to be a more physical team this year and you just gotta start off the year the right way. We did that. Fouls were called but it’s part of the game.”
Smart has a specific motto when it comes to being physical and why it matters so much to win games — and more — in the NBA.
“The toughest (team) sets the rules. And that’s the motto,” Smart said. “I’ve been in the league for 12 years and that’s always been the motto. You see it, the team that comes out more physical, the momentum is kind of going their way and that’s how it is. We want to be the toughest team from the start to the end.”
The Lakers’ lack of toughness and physicality has been apparent for a few years now, and it was especially clear in their first round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last season.
They’ll have another chance to correct that when they face the Timberwolves on Friday night in their second game of the regular season.
JJ Redick discusses Lakers’ mindset going into Timberwolves rematch
The Lakers are gearing up to face the team that eliminated them from last year’s playoffs, the Timberwolves.
L.A. was favored heading into that first round matchup, but it was clear almost immediately that they were outmatched by the bigger, more athletic and more physical Timberwolves. L.A. lost in five, souring an end to JJ Redick’s successful first season with the Lakers.
Both teams made slight changes to their roster in the offseason, but their rematch on Friday night includes nearly all of the major players from that series. Redick discussed his regrets from last year’s series and the message to his team going into Friday’s rematch.
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