Right, let's not forget that one is entering his prime while the other is firmly on a downward curve. Usually defensive anchors fall off a cliff at the age of 33-34. Smart is 32. I genuinely think last year was his last good season as a defensive anchor. He'll still be excellent as a scheme-dependant specialist for 20-25 minutes, but given that his offense will also be taking a hit, how much value can he bring to a team? So yes, I think we improved with Grimes moving forward.
I agree. Smart was a great player for us, but let's be real, he was better than we though was possible (he was 5 million for a reason) and it was the healthiest season he's had in a while. What are the odds of all that happening again with him being a year older? Once you hit your 30's the aging process becomes logarithmic like the richter scale. Lol Grimes may not be quite as good defensively (if Smart somehow stayed healthy again), but he will overall be a much better player over the next 4 years.
I've been putting a little more work into looking Grimes over and I agree completely about the next four years. Another even better than I thought signing.
Smart was one of the better defensive players in the league last year. He kind of got over the hump physically and was relatively healthy. That could be a positive sign - but at 6.5m per, it’s hardly a risk for the amount top line talent he brings on that end. I just don’t think we need to drag Smart down to be happy with Grimes. You guys will like him, he plays with an edge, he is deceptively athletic and a two way player. He is a starter quality two way guy in my opinion - I do think we’ll probably ask too much of him being the third option offensively and the main POA. But if he rises to that, we’ve got a huge win.
saying that based on both his own and other players' history that smart might not be as good as last year heading forward isn't dragging him down. obviously, others shared the sentiment, or he wouldn't have signed up at the price he did. he was worth full mle or more last year, based on production. grimes won't provide the leadership/intangibles smart did. he won't provide the ability to switch up to larger players, either--which we'll feel right now because we have literally nobody to do that. but he'll provide a LOT more on offense and will be suprisingly solid on d, imo.
Referring back to the player comparison analysis posted a while back (Smart vs Grimes and Rui vs Mamu), the points that stood out to me were: 1) shot difficulty. Grimes should see an increase in % with better looks 2) even more important, the gravity he brings to the offense. The data showed how much defenses would sag off Smart, mucking things up for Luka and AR. Not only will this improve offensive output, but also limit turnovers. There were stretches where we’d have repeated live ball turnovers that resulted in easy points for the opponent. I’ll miss Smart’s energy, but as we’ve already discussed, we may gotten out of that business before a drop off and betting on a guy entering his prime that will excel playing next to Luka again.
