The prospect of pairing the past two consecutive NBA Defensive Player of the Year winners likely will be a hot topic around the Grizzlies in the next month.
Memphis is the first to put consecutive top defender award winners on one team the following season, but now it has to capitalize on the expectations that come with the loftiness.
The Grizzlies acquired Marcus Smart from the Boston Celtics in a three-team trade in part because of his defensive talent and reputation, and 2023 DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr. is already making himself a household name at 23.
Losing Dillon Brooks after he played his best defensive season and made his first NBA all-defensive team will be a challenge for Memphis, but the duo of Smart and Jackson is expected to ease that transition. Smart will be tasked with guarding the top perimeter scoring option most nights, no matter if it’s a point guard, shooting guard or power forward.
Jackson likely will continue to serve as an eraser who on some nights will be assigned to cover elite forwards one-on-one, and on others, play more off the ball in a roamer type role.
Memphis has a unique setup, but how good could this duo be on defense?
Benefit of having both players
One of the main reasons Jackson and Smart won Defensive Player of the Year is because of their versatility. The Grizzlies believe Smart can guard 1 through 4, and Jackson has held his own against shifty guards while also battling powerful bigs.
Jackson recently had a six-block game for Team USA, and some of his best defense came in isolations against dynamic German guard Dennis Schroder. Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins likes to use a variety of defensive coverages, but the combination of Smart and Jackson could allow him to simplify things with similar results.
Biggest challenge? Availability
After winning the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year, Smart wasn’t one of the 10 players to make the 2023 all-defensive team. That’s in large part because of his injuries. Smart, who will be 30 in March, has missed at least 20 games in two of the past three seasons. People around the Celtics speak highly of his non-stop motor and hustle, but there’s also a belief that sometimes he puts himself in harm’s way with that mentality.
Jackson has been mostly healthy the past two seasons, other than an offseason foot injury, but he can improve his availability in other ways. He has been in the top three of fouls per game in each of the past four seasons he has qualified for that statistic.
Defensive impact (by the numbers)
Smart played on a Boston Celtics defense that stifled opponents for most of his tenure. His defensive numbers from last season show signs of regression, but people around the Celtics said Smart’s injuries were the primary reason. According to Cleaning the Glass, Smart’s on-off the floor difference was minus-1.8 after being a plus-5.9 two seasons ago. His defensive Raptor rating, which grades how much a player contributes by using player tracking and play-by-play data that isn’t available in traditional box scores, dropped from plus-1.6 to plus-0.7. By comparison, Jackson has graded out as one of the top defenders in each of the past two seasons.
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Rank among defensive duos
On paper, the Grizzlies have the top defensive duo, but the numbers suggest more proof will be needed to claim that title. Los Angeles Clippers wings Paul George and Kawhi Leonard; Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels; plus Milwaukee’s trio of Jrue Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez are defensive groups with both the accolades and numbers to match. Now that Smart is in the Western Conference, he’ll run the gauntlet on guarding elite wings, and that could help grow his profile even more.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ranking Memphis Grizzlies’ Marcus Smart and Jaren Jackson Jr. as duo
