Why Celtics’ Marcus Smart Believes Chemistry Is ‘Big Part’ Of Basketball

Team chemistry seems to be a popular topic for the Boston Celtics this offseason.

Several recent reports have suggested there was friction between a number of Celtics players (including Kyrie Irving) throughout the 2018-19 season. On Monday, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge told reporters “good people make coming to work more fun.”

Now, Marcus Smart is chiming in on the subject.

In an interview after his youth basketball camp Tuesday with WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche, Smart said getting along off the court is just as important as it is on the court.

“My mom used to say when she would tell my brothers and tell us when we were young about getting married … is why would you get married to somebody if you don’t know if you can live with them first?” he said. “It’s kind of like that. So if we as a team can’t go hang out outside of basketball, how are we supposed to get along on the court?”

Smart thinks a mindset like that plays “a big part” in a team’s development and chemistry.

“Being able to do those things off the court really help you on the court because you start finding out more and more about each individual and the things they like and don’t like, and you start feeling when they’re comfortable and when they’re not, and you pick up on those things and you know … what not to do.”

(You can check out the video here.)