Smart move to act now
Chance for playoff return
ORLANDO, Fla. — It was just after Marcus Smart had undergone surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb yesterday, and Danny Ainge was talking about Smart’s more immediate future.
Then he brought a long-term view into the frame.
The suggestion was made that Smart may have been more interested in getting the surgery now — rather than waiting to see if he could play through the problem — because there’s a chance he can get back if the Celtics get past the first round of the playoffs. According to the Celts, Smart is expected to return to basketball activities in 6-8 weeks — though it’s a lock he’ll push to speed that process.
“I can have all the hope I want and we can try to predict,” said Ainge, “but the bottom line is it’s better for Marcus and his career and all that kind of stuff — he’s a young kid with a bright future — to get the surgery while it’s easier to do the surgery.”
Ah, the future. When the severity of the injury Smart suffered while diving for a loose ball last Sunday night against Indiana became more clear, there was talk he could miss the rest of the season. Even harsher was the fact that, as a restricted free agent this summer, it raised the possibility he’d played his last game as a Celtic.
But that’s a highly unlikely scenario. Barring a blow-out-the-budget offer from another club, the Celts seem very much prepared to match anything Smart will attract in the marketplace. This summer’s market clearly will be softened by all the big contracts handed out after the new television deals spiked the salary cap. And that may yield only the mid-level exception (some $8.5 million for non-taxpaying teams, and somewhere in the $5 million-plus range for teams in the luxury tax).
But Smart could easily get more than that, and the belief here is that the Celts would be willing to match anything into the mid-teens to keep him.
Ainge didn’t want to talk numbers. Ainge never wants to talk numbers. When asked if he expects Smart to be a Celtic next season, the president of basketball operations said, “I don’t know that. None of us know that. I hope so. I’m a big fan.”
Added Ainge, “Marcus is one of the harder playing guys in the league, and he’ll be missed by us. We need to step up and play like Marcus. We need Marcus on our bench inspiring our guys when he can and the time is right — to help continue to inspire his teammates to play hard.”
As for when Smart can get back on the court, it would appear the Celtics need to have some playoff success without him first.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Brad Stevens said before last night’s tipoff against the Magic at the Garden. “That’s a long way away, and we’re going to have to figure out how to play our best basketball.
“I’m glad for him it doesn’t sound like a long, long term recovery process, but even if he comes back at six or seven weeks, you’re probably talking about a splint of some kind (on the thumb). So he could still have some issues with game play depending on how it goes. We’ll see.
“He’s a guy that really wants to play, but it clearly needed to be fixed, and all the doctors agreed on that. So it’s good that he was able to get it done. Obviously it’s another guy we’re going to be missing.
“It’s a tough deal for Marcus, but he has been an incredible player for us all year. He’s meant a lot to us for the last four years, but certainly all season.
“Knowing him, he’ll try to be back at whatever he can be at as soon as he can.”
This latest injury comes a little more than two weeks after Smart came back from 11 games on the shelf because of a lacerated right hand. The fourthyear guard needed 20 stitches to repair damage suffered when he punched a picture frame in his Beverly Hills hotel room during a Celtics road trip.
Smart had been playing well in the eight games since. He started the Pacers game in place of Kyrie Irving (knee) and had 20 points in 36 minutes, playing on after sustaining the thumb injury.
If the Celts can get through a firstround series against someone in the Miami, Milwaukee, Philadelphia range (with Washington and even Cleveland still possible for the seventh seed), then Smart may get to dive on a floor and risk limb, if not life, for the C’s again this season.
And, the club hopes, next season and beyond, as well.
‘I can have all the hope I want . . . Marcus is one of the harder playing guys in the league, and he’ll be missed by us. We need to step up and play like Marcus.’ — DANNY AINGE