Marcus Smart named to All-Defensive 1st Team

After years of wondering when, or if, it would happen, the NBA announced that Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart made the All-Defensive 1st Team for the 2018-19 season. This was Smart’s first career selection to the All-Defensive team. His appearance is the first for a Boston player to make the All-Defensive 1st Team since Avery Bradley in 2015-16.

Smart started in a career-high 60 games this season and was regularly asked to guard the opponent’s best wing player. He delivered on a regular basis with a team-best defensive rating of 107. As for counting stats, Smart picked up a career-high 1.8 steals per game.

Smart was joined on the All-Defensive 1st Team by Eric Bledsoe, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul George and Rudy Gobert. The 2nd Team was comprised of Jrue Holiday, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard and Joel Embiid.

Smart led all guards in voting by a healthy margin, with 145 total points. He garnered 63 votes for 1st Team and 19 for 2nd Team. The next closest guard was Bledsoe with 100 total points on 36 1st Team votes and 28 2nd Team votes.

Other Celtics to receive votes were Jaylen Brown (1 2nd Team vote), Al Horford (4 2nd Team votes) and incredibly Kyrie Irving (1 2nd Team vote).