And why JJ Redick equates him to a banshee.
 | | Why Marcus Smart is the Meanest Guy on the Court | | And the nicest guy off it. | | by Taylor Geas | | | “If somebody followed me for a day,” explained Marcus Smart, “I think what would surprise them the most is how chill of a guy I am. And how goofy I really am. I’m just a big kid, but you see me on the court, you see me in a whole different light.” | | | “You’re mean on the court,” he was told.
“I’m way meaner,” he replied with a laugh. “I’m way more intense. That’s my motto. If anyone really knows me, they understand when I step on the court in between the lines, it’s time to work. We’re going to work. And then afterwards we can have all the fun in the world. But when we’re on the court, we’re working.”
This is exactly what the Lakers want this season—guys who will play hard and who will play hard “Every. Single. Night.” As head coach JJ Redick noted. He’s called on certain games as reference points of playing hard, games that the team can call back to, imitate, and along the course of the season surpass.
It was their second game of the season versus Minnesota, their first encounter with the team who knocked them out of playoff contention last year, where Redick denoted the victory as his team’s first reference point of playing hard this season.
“Did you feel it? Because I saw it. I felt it. And I didn’t play,” Redick declared.
He wants the team to see physicality as second nature. He wants the team to make playing hard a habit.
That’s Smart. Always has been. Effort’s non-negotiable. He learned at a young age people rely on how hard he plays, people outside of just his teammates. He experienced a heartbreak that would harden him in a certain way forever.
“The biggest one for me is when my oldest brother passed away,” Smart explained. “I got to the hospital, and the oldest brother that was living pulls me to the side while my whole family’s crying and goes, ‘You don’t have the luxury to cry. You don’t have the luxury to be a child anymore. Those days are over. You’re the last one that mom has. If you don’t make it, the family falls.’”
His entire world changed when he lost his brother Todd Westbrook to leukemia. | | | | | |
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