Boston Celtics shooting guard Marcus Smart was limited at this year's FIBA tournament due to a calf strain. The former No. 6 overall pick says he's healthy now, and his goal is to remain that way heading into the coming NBA season.
According to a report from ESPN's Tim Bontemps, Smart has been arriving at Boston's practice facility for treatment before the media for the past two days:
Marcus Smart has been doing treatment by the time the media has gotten into practice the past two days. Smart said he is healthy after an injury plagued stint with Team USA this summer, but is trying to stay that way going forward.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) October 2, 2019
Smart is coming off a fairly productive season with the Celtics. In his 80 appearances with the team (60 starts), the 25-year-old racked up averages of 8.9 points on 42.2 percent shooting from the field (36.4 percent from beyond the arc), 4.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 27.5 minutes per outing.
Smart, who's sporting a new hairstyle for the start of this season's training camp, joked about “getting old” during Celtics Media Day:
“I'm getting older,” Smart said. “Your body takes a little bit longer to recover as you get older. Back when I was younger, I probably would've tried to play through the calf injury and caused even more pain.
“For me, this year is really about being that veteran player, understanding when to push it and when not to,” Smart added. “Everybody knows how hard I am, how tough I am. Sometimes, I feel like that gets the best of me, where I feel like I'm hurt, and I could probably still play through it, and I'll probably risk it by going out there and trying instead of giving myself that time to recover and get back to 100 percent.”
The Celtics finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 49-33 overall record, which earned the team a No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, though, Boston was defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round, 4-1.
Hopefully, with Smart getting healthier by the day, the Celtics will be able to make another run at the postseason.
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