At 32, Smart is still a staunch defender and on-court irritant. His stint in Los Angeles proved he was still effective on the floor, a solid leader and occasional scorer. Houston is a franchise that needs a veteran boost. Udoka has enjoyed regular season success with Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Alperen Sengun, but it has been eliminated from the playoffs twice in the first round.
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Last season, the Rockets lost in six games to the Lakers, who were missing Luka Doncic and had a hobbled Austin Reaves. Smart was stellar in that series, averaging 14.7 points, 5.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 44.8 percent shooting from the 3-point line.
The Rockets need a point guard and floor leader, and Smart’s job is to join Fred VanVleet and help the club avoid its propensity for fourth-quarter collapses. He was intrigued with the opportunity to play for Udoka again after the coach led the Celtics to the 2022 NBA Finals in his lone season in Boston.
“I know what Ime brings mentality-wise and what he expects,” Smart said. “We have meshed together in the past, so for me that was a key factor. Getting guys back like [Steven Adams] and Fred and being able to see the growth and the journey with these younger guys.”
Udoka is tough on his players and that criticism can spread to comments to the media. The tough-love approach has lifted the Rockets but there’s another step that needs to occur. Smart said Udoka’s leadership can be successful.
“He played and he understands what it takes; he understands what we go through as players,” Smart said. “But he also understands both sides. He gives the best of both worlds for us. That coaching style is definitely unique and I think every player would want a coach that coaches like he’s still playing. It brings the best out of you as a player. It allows your confidence to be boosted. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He’s straight up with you and it allows you to grow.”
Smart was one of the players most visibly impacted by Udoka’s unceremonious exit from the Celtics for an inappropriate relationship with a team employee. The two had bonded and Smart said he’s excited about his tutelage in a new situation.
“I grew up with that type of play style, probably worse, coaches cussing me out,” Smart joked. “I’ve seen where the coach’s son is on the team and they’re fighting each other. So I’m just laughing. I like a challenge. That’s why it just clicked for me so well.”
With former NBA champ VanVleet back from an ACL injury and Smart a veteran presence, the hope is for Houston to become more poised and less Durant reliant late in games. In Boston, Smart had no issue assuming control late in games, with mixed results. But he does have big-game experience and savvy.
“A lot of these young guys, they haven’t been there,” he said. “They haven’t been there that long to understand what it takes to keep pushing when things start to get a little tiring. You have another player, another voice on the court you can lean on. The experience wasn’t there [last year] and it cost a lot of those games to be lost. And I think I bring that experience changes the outcome on some of those games.”
A critical component to the Rockets’ success could be the relationship between Smart, a former Defensive Player of the Year, and Thompson, one of the league’s top defenders who recently signed a lucrative contract extension.
“Allowing him to be as effective without using much energy,” Smart said of his potential impact on Thompson. “When to pick his spots to be aggressive without wearing himself down. When you’re younger you don’t think about those things, you just go, go, go. But as you get older, your body says ‘hold on now,’ and I just want him to be able to do this for a very long time without getting too worn out, especially when we get late in the season. He’s going to be really good and I’m jealous, now is the time I’m getting matched up with him to be able to teach him.”
Kawhi Leonard (center) is returning to a Raptors team that he won an NBA championship with in 2018-19.Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
RICH GET RICHER
Raptors welcome reunion with Leonard
Not only did Kawhi Leonard walk away from the Clippers upheaval with just a $700,000 fine despite being the central figure of the NBA’s investigation into salary cap circumvention, he also was traded to the Raptors and now signed a two-year, $115 contract extension, which could keep him in Canada for the rest of his career.
The Raptors did not want to lose Leonard in 2019 after he led them to their lone championship with a brilliant postseason. But they couldn’t meet his contract demands and eventually signed with the Clippers, who also acquired current Celtic Paul George, as was Leonard’s request.
The Clippers were looking to move on from Leonard this summer, even before the penalties were levied, and the Raptors, looking to compete immediately after a first-round elimination last spring, were the ideal trade partner.
“I was excited,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said about Leonard’s interest in a reunion. “We all have good memories and good feelings from 2018-19. I think at the same time you have to be honest with yourself, which is: ‘Does it makes sense at this time.’ But your antennas go up and you want to hear more.”
The last time Leonard was in Toronto, he arrived as a rental. Then general manager Masai Ujiri acquired the former NBA Finals MVP from San Antonio on the last year of his contract and his hunch worked as Leonard put the Raptors on his hulking shoulder in the postseason and catapulted them to a championship.
But his heart wasn’t in Toronto, regardless of how comfortable the Raptors sought to make him. He wanted to play near his Riverside, California roots and parlayed his desired Clippers deal after flirting with the rival Lakers. This time, it’s drastically different. Leonard’s stint in Los Angeles was disappointing and damaging at best and the Raptors needed a veteran presence to push their younger team to another level.
“There’s a familiarity from being with Kawhi seven years ago,” Webster said. “We stay in touch. You keep in touch with him when you see him on the road. From a person and a player we were really comfortable. There’s obviously a curiosity to know what has happened since then but we’ve had those conversations and we also felt comfortable. That gave us a lot of confidence to move forward with the deal.”
Webster said the organization is assured Leonard is healthy and wants to stay in Toronto. It was a risky deal, especially considering the Raptors sent two first-round picks and a swap to the Clippers along with Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick, but it seems to be an ideal fit for a player looking to resurrect his career in a low-pressure situation.
Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti had a busy offseason trying to re-tool his team.Cliff Brunt/AP Photo/Cliff Brunt
ETC.
Presti being Presti in OKC
Only the astute Sam Presti could be brilliant enough to connect the NBA from 40 years ago to the NBA today, linking the two eras because of the unprecedented growth spurts from that began in the mid-1980s — Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan — and now — Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Anthony Edwards.
“I think we can use history in these conversations to try to understand what this moment potentially means for the league and ultimately for our organization,” Presti, the Oklahoma City general manager and Concord native, said this week. “I think the best way to do that is always look at history and I think there’s a window of time in the early 80s that could be extremely informative to understand where Adam Silver and his group could potentially be taking us and what role we could be playing in that.”
Presti pointed out that in 1983, the league’s first collective bargaining agreement that included a salary cap and revenue sharing was instituted. And he added that just six of the league’s 23 teams were profitable. By 1990, that number increased to 20. Presti’s research revealed the NBA had only three primary sponsors in 1983 and that number swelled to 20 in 1990.
“It always comes down to people and incredible group of owners,” he said. “You have this culmination of things that was left by a generation of players.
“I think the current initiatives of the league are putting us on the doorstep of another great era. And we as an organization want to be a part of that. The key for is to not let all these different initiatives, all these different irons in the fire, distract us from the main thing: keeping the Thunder better.”
It’s been an offseason of transition for Presti, who had to make some difficult roster decisions to keep his team away from the second apron and more viable long term. He traded Luguentz Dort and Aaron Wiggins to the Hawks and moved Isaiah Joe to the Pistons. But that has become the norm for teams who want to sustain cap flexibility and afford their highly paid players such as Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren.
“I think it’s OK to feel disappointment when those things happen,” Presti said. “As long as you can separate the personal from the professional. I welcome the professional part of that. Because those guys were such great Thunder players because they were underdogs. It’s certainly disappointing but also necessary for us to transition to create another foundation that could take us into the (new) Continental Coliseum and beyond that.”
With Williams returning healthy, Gilgeous-Alexander coming off another MVP season and Holmgren emerging as an elite defender, the Thunder hope to emerge past the likes of the Spurs and Timberwolves in the Western Conference.
With Jared McCain back for a full season along with rookies Aday Mara, Thomas Sorber, and Bennett Stirtz, the Thunder feel confident about their supporting cast.
“I really do feel that by season’s end, we could have a really exceptional basketball team if we stay healthy,” Presti said. “But we’re going to be different. There’s no way to avoid that. I do think the new lottery reform is definitely going to have an impact on net rating, on records. If this team is given an appropriate amount of time to play together, grow together, I think we could have an exceptional season.”
Gilgeous-Alexander may face voter fatigue in his quest for a third consecutive MVP award, a feat not accomplished since Bird in the mid-1980s, but he has cemented himself as the unquestioned leader of the OKC franchise and off-court asset to Presti.
“We have a good dialogue so not every conversation is about something weighty,” Presti said. “But I never want to put him in a position where he is having to weigh in one way or the other in a way that could affect one of his teammates. I always want to know what he thinks. I think he has a great perspective. He’s such a unique person and I can’t stress that enough.”
Presti said Gilgeous-Alexander’s personality and disposition make him a perfect cornerstone. He has embraced playing in Oklahoma City, turning the franchise into an NBA power after the departures of Durant and Russell Westbrook.
“The best players are problem solvers and not guys that fan flames,” Presti said. “Those franchise guys, they’re incredibly valuable because of that. That’s a big part of it. His emotional awareness and regulation are superior in my opinion. He’s extraordinary. He’s got a lot more levels to go and his mind-set is the No. 1 think I think that drives all that.”
Bob Pettit, seen here with the MVP of the 1958 NBA All-Star game, died on Thursday at age 93.Uncredited/AP Photo/
Blessings and farewell to the great Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter, who passed away this week at 76. Tanter was the definition of cool, a mainstay at the Forum, Staples Center and Crypto.com Arena for 43 years, using his silky voice on some of the game’s greatest stars such as Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. What made Tanter different from most of the league’s PA announcers was his smooth style and ability to make the game experience comfortable. Unlike many of today’s game voices, who have taken to the AND1 Mixtape style, feeling as if they are part of the entertainment package, screaming for fans to chant “defense” or even offering their remarks on big plays, Tanter never dominated the game experience. He was the perfect fit, the way announcing is supposed to be done. He was a radio DJ at KJLH-FM before taking over the Lakers job, and he was a staple and a soothing voice for generations of Lakers and NBA fans. Even opposing players enjoyed their names being called by Tanter … Another farewell to the great Bob Pettit, the league’s first true power forward who passed away this week at age 93. Pettit may have been overshadowed by the greats of his era such as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain, but he was a brilliant player in his 11-year career with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks. The 6-foot-9-inch Pettit was the 1954-55 Rookie of the Year, two-time MVP, 11-time All-NBA, two-time scoring champion, four-time All-Star MVP, and a member of the NBA’s all-time 50th and 75th anniversary teams. Before the Lakers and 76ers, the Hawks were the Celtics’ biggest rival in the 1950s and early 1960s and Pettit’s teams faced Boston in the NBA Finals four times in a five-year stretch. The Hawks bested the Celtics in 1958 four games to two, with Pettit averaging 29.3 points and 17 rebounds. He scored 50 points in the close-out Game 6 a Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. That series has historically been an irritant for Celtics faithful because Russell severely sprained his ankle in Game 3 and missed Games 4 and 5 before making a return for Game 6, when he was limited to 8 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes. Pettit was an All-Star for all of his 11 seasons and retired in 1965 at age 32, considered one of the game’s great power forwards and too often left out of the discussion with the likes of Kevin McHale, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Karl Malone.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.