The Boston Celtics are a popular sleeper pick in the Eastern Conference to make some noise after surprisingly making the playoffs last season. The Celtics added a few pieces including David Lee and Amir Johnson and expect to take a step forward. One the keys to taking that step forward is second year man Marcus Smart who suffered an injury during summer league play but is now reportedly expected back on the court in two weeks, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
Smart dislocated two of his fingers during summer league play and is currently recovering after X-Rays came back negative. In the summer league Smart was scoring a lot but was also scoring inefficiently as he only made 35 percent of his field goal attempts while averaging 16 points per game. The good news from Smart's summer league play was the uptick in free throw shooting. Last season he shot just 65 percent from the charity stripe but in the summer league he shot 84 percent albeit in a small sample size.
Smart was the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Celtics and played big minutes as a rookie. In 27 minutes per game he averaged 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Smart shot just 37 percent from the field as a rookie and was just okay on offense last season but he had a big impact on defense averaging 1.5 steals per game and accruing 2.2 defensive win shares.
Smart, at 6 foot-4, has the potential to be one of the best defensive point guards in the league as he showed last season but the best sign from last year might have been his three point shooting. Coming out of college at Oklahoma State there were major concerns about Smart's jump shot but he answered the bell as a rookie making 34 percent of his threes which isn't great but at least makes him a threat on the perimeter.
Smart became a starter after the Celtics traded Rajon Rondo last season and is expected to start next season as well while Isaiah Thomas will be his backup. The fact that the 21 year old Smart will reportedly be back on the court within two weeks means he should be ready to go for training camp which is great news for the Celtics as Smart is a huge part of their future and their present.
