When it comes to confidence, that’s not something Marcus Smart is lacking. The Boston Celtics guard, who was selected with the 6th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft knows he’ll be going into a solid situation in Beantown.
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In fact, Smart seems to think it’s such a good situation that he’ll be named the 2014-15 NBA Rookie of the Year award winner.
Joining fellow rookies during an AMA Reddit chat on Sunday afternoon, Smart was asked who he thought would bring home the hardware. There was no hesitation on the part of the former Oklahoma State product who responded with a one-word answer.
“Me“.
The self-admission isn’t exactly something new as we’ve already seen Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle suggest that he would be the one winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award, though in fairness to both players they’re going to have a respectable shot at doing so.
While players like Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins will understandably be in the fold, Marcus Smart should get plenty of playing time with the Boston Celtics this season. Given that, he should have plenty of opportunities even if Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley are the starting backcourt players.
It’s going to be another year of rebuilding for the Celtics and who knows what’s going to happen to Rondo, either way, few players landed in a better spot that Marcus Smart assuming winning the Rookie of the Year award is their main goal.
Smart has drawn comparison to Tyreke Evans, who ironically enough won the Rookie of the Year award in 2009-10.