When Fred VanVleet went down with a season-ending injury before the start of the Houston Rockets’ 2025 training camp, the Rockets looked for a backcourt player to step up and replace their on-court leader.
The Rockets tried multiple players, including Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, and even Aaron Holiday. Each player had different levels of success, but overall, the Rockets couldn’t find anyone to replace the significant loss of VanVleet. The Rockets lacked the backcourt flexibility and depth to withstand
the loss of their starting point guard.
That issue reared its ugly head in the playoffs as the Rockets watched multiple late-game leads evaporate. It played a big part in the Rockets’ second straight first-round loss, this time to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers were without their best player, Luka Doncic, but they still had LeBron James, who did what he has done his entire career: led his team to a playoff victory.
However, it wasn’t just James who helped lead them to a series win; Marcus Smart also contributed significantly, especially early in the series. Smart did a little bit of everything in their first-round victory, and the Rockets coaching staff and front office had front-row seats to what Smart brings to a team.
Marcus Smart gives the Rockets the flexibility they need in the backcourt
In their first-round matchup, the Rockets saw a player who could run an offense one minute, grab an offensive rebound for an easy basket, guard a center the next, and then hound a point guard for 84 feet, forcing a turnover. Smart has built a career as a multifaceted player; like a utility player in baseball, he can do whatever a team needs.
Smart gives the Rockets not only backcourt insurance but also a player who can help win games in more than one way. Smart can play either guard position and, as needed, small forward. He can lead the offense or shut down the opponent on defense. In his Rockets debut on Sunday, Smart led the Rockets with 20 points and added five rebounds and four assists, but the Rockets fell to the Mavericks 132-117 in China.
Yes, it is just preseason, and you can never take too much from these games, but Smart did exactly what he’s done his entire career: fill the box score. The Rockets’ coaching staff, especially Ime Udoka, knows Smart’s game well, since he won Defensive Player of the Year in the 2021-22 season with the Boston Celtics, a team Udoka coached. Smart has made every team from the Grizzlies to the Lakers better, and even though that seems like a skill every player should have, it isn’t always the case.
That made signing Smart this offseason an easy decision, even with VanVleet returning. Smart gives the Rockets another defensive-minded veteran that you need to win close games, especially in the playoffs. Smart’s addition may have been buried by bigger moves this offseason, like LeBron James going to the Philadelphia 76ers or LaMelo Ball heading to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Still, it could be one of the offseason’s biggest moves.
