Marcus Smart needs more time in Sensory-Deprivation tank - J. R. Smith doesn't need it

In reader comments to my articles yesterday surrounding the dust-up between Marcus Smart and J. R. Smith, at least one thing became very clear - Celtics fans despise J. R. Smith. But most love Marcus.


But in a previous article centered on the terrific Auerbach Training Center, I had mentioned Smart's praise of the flotation tank, which is generally called a Sensory Deprivation Chamber.

The tank is constructed to relieve stress by floating the occupant in warm water with an extremely high concentration of salts, thereby depriving that person of the senses of sight, smell, hearing and sound.

The idea is the occupant is deprived of most senses and emerges from the tank totally relaxed. But as I wrote in that article, in the movie Altered States, the occupant emerged not relaxed, but rather as a feral caveman that goes on a rampage.


What we saw on Saturday night in the game against the Cavaliers was as close to a rampage as I have seen with Marcus. He certainly was not relaxed and stress free. But the tank didn't produce the rampage. That is what J. R. Smith does to opponents. His dirty play, body language and verbal insults just piss opponents off.

Why doesn't J. R. need the Sensory-Deprivation Tank? Simply because he is a senseless individual as things stand right now. If he was deprived of any more of his senses, he would cease being a human being at all. Marcus simply plays tough, in-your-shirt defense. J. R. makes dirty defensive plays. Here is the comparison:





Seriously, horror movies aside, Smart could use more sessions in what he calls the flotation tank. J. R. Smith? Nope! In Altered States, the occupant of the tank finally emerges as an amorphous mass of primordial matter. He's close to that already! He couldn't take the chance.

Follow Tom at @TomLaneHC

Top photo via Matt Stone/Boston Herald
Altered States photo via IMBD.com
Top video via KANGKONG
Bottom video via PHP