The Boston Celtics have won 14 straight home games, including Wednesday night's blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Throughout the majority of the season, the Celtics have been a very good team aside from one short stretch when Marcus Smart was out with an injury.
Since Smart has come back, however, the Celtics have been on point and currently have the third best record in the Eastern Conference. While Smart has shown that he can be a very good and valuable player on the court, he still has some maturing to do. The 22-year-old guard has had maturity issues since college, and while they haven't been too much of a problem in the NBA, Celtics president Danny Ainge is a little concerned about it.
Over the weekend, Smart picked up a couple of technical fouls and also received a $15,000 fine for an obscene gesture that he made towards a referee. Let's also not forget that Smart was suspended during his college days at Oklahoma State for pushing a fan, so you can't blame Ainge for being somewhat worried. While Ainge did admit that he was a little worried, it's not a big time concern for him, and he still enjoys his passion.
"I worry a little bit about that," Ainge said. "But I'd rather have it that way than the other way. Marcus is a very passionate and emotional player, and he's also very young. It's something that we've talked a lot about and he's working toward and he's getting better, but there's a maturing process for sure."
As mentioned earlier, it is fair to worry a little bit about Smart's inability to handle his emotions sometimes, but he brings so much to the table for the Celtics that the good far outweighs the bad on a night-in night-out basis. Smart is just 22 years old, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he still has maturing to do, but you would think after the incident at Oklahoma State, which was talked about a lot, that he would have learned his lesson. To be fair, he hasn't done anything nearly as bad since, but he knows from experience how immaturity can impact his career.
On the court this season, Smart has been about as impactful as the Celtics could have hoped. He is averaging 9.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, and his shooting numbers aren't very good. However, he makes his money on the defensive end, where he is one of the best in the league. For now, the good is outweighing the bad by a wide margin for Smart, but Ainge addressing it indicates that they are worried about it, and Smart will have to keep that in mind.
