BOSTON — Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart ran on a treadmill at the team’s practice facility on Tuesday then engaged in light shooting work including some jump shots as he navigates the early stages of rehab from a torn oblique suffered in the final week of the season.
While Celtics coach Brad Stevens suggested there had been no change with Smart’s return-to-action timeline, which called for him to miss 4-6 weeks before resuming basketball activities, it appears that Smart is at least ahead of where he expected to be this early in his recovery.
Smart said this weekend in Indiana that he might not resume jogging until a couple more weeks. But a shirtless Smart instead went hard in small bursts on the treadmill, then joined assistant coach Jay Larranaga on the court for a shooting session that included some one-legged shots and tiny jumpers.
"I don’t have an update,” said Stevens. "I haven’t asked. I know he’s not close to playing. I know he’s progressed well but I don’t know what that means.”
Stevens was asked if he was surprised to see Smart on the treadmill.
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"I don’t know what he’s doing up there, was he jogging?” asked Stevens. "So I didn’t really see it. It doesn’t surprise me because they said he’s making good progress. But it didn’t sound like the timeline was changing all that much from when I last talked to the training staff about it. I really haven’t talked about it in the last probably week or so.”
A 4-6 week return to basketball activities would mean Smart wouldn’t likely be able to return until closer to the Conference Finals. The Celtics are scheduled to start their series with the Bucks this weekend but even the team was still waiting for direction on exactly which day (Saturday or Sunday) and time they will begin play.
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