Celtics Prepare for 09-10 Season at Salve

By: Angelina Berube
Posted In: Sports

The Celtics returned to Salve Regina University for their annual training camp. The team worked hard all week, pushing their limits and adjusting to new players.

Eddie House, Celtic’s guard, discussed the level of intensity of this year’s camp. “Everybody’s pushing each other,” House said. “The second unit is pushing the first unit. The first unit is pushing second unit. The black unit is pushing both units so everybody’s out there competing and playing extremely hard and we’re getting the most out of the time we’re here.”

House also described the brotherhood the Celtics share and how this positively affects training camp and the upcoming season. “Everybody wants to see everybody succeed,” House said. “Once you feel that from somebody else, they want to see you win, they want to see you do your best and you want to return the favor and see them do well.”

For House, goals for the season deal with improvement. “My personal goals are always just to be better than I was last year, not average so many points or do things,” House said. “I just want to be better player and evolve as a better player than I was last year. As far as a statistical goal, to shoot better free throws. I shot 79 percent, lowest of my career average so I’m trying to bump that up by ten points and get where I’m supposed to be at around 89 percent.”

For Paul Pierce, Celtics’ captain and forward, goals for this season include teamwork, integrity and getting the Celtics another championship. Pierce also said his 12th training camp went well. “It’s good to be around the guys and just soak it all in and get ready for a new year,” Pierce said.

This year, Rasheed Wallace joins the Celtics lineup. As evident from this week’s training camp, Wallace fits right in with the team. His previous friendship with the players on the Celtics shows on the court.

“It’s like he’s been here for a couple years,” Pierce said of Wallace. “We all love his personality, what he brings to the team. It’s good for what we’re trying to do.”

“He’s an all-star player right there,” House said of Wallace. “He’s like another Kevin (Garnett) basically.”

Marquis Daniels, guard, also joins the team this year. Doc Rivers, the head coach of the Celtics, explained about coaching against Daniels. “If you don’t like coaching against a guy, you try to get them on your team so you don’t have to worry about them anymore,” Rivers said.

Wallace will serve as a forward for the Celtics. A long time friend of several of the Celtics, including Kevin Garnett, Wallace says the relationships will help the team. “It’s going to be something definitely to watch,” Wallace said. “Those guys are so unselfish. It’s just going to make the game easier for all of us.”

Wallace focuses on the bigger picture of the season and what he needs to do for the Celtics. “To do what I can, the big things or little things, to try to have success, to try to get us to win and to try to bring the hardware back in,” Wallace said.

Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis is glad to be back and playing for Boston as he resigned a two year extension contract. “It feels really good just to be signed, just to be loved on a team and be back in Boston,” Davis said.

Davis hopes to become a better teammate and working on staying within his game this year. “Luckily this year I’m in better shape so I feel better about my stamina and the way I’m playing,” Davis said.

For Ray Allen, working on his shooting percentages is a goal. Ray Allen hopes to keep his free throw percentage where it currently is or higher. “You know percentages are important because you don’t know how many shots you’re going to take you don’t know how many minutes you’re going to play,” Allen said.

With his contract up this year, Allen says he would love to re-sign with the Celtics. “It’s not like I have allegiance to any other team or any other part of the country,” said Allen, who is from Connecticut.

The Celtics wrapped up training camp with an intra-squad scrimmage for Salve Regina students and faculty. The 30 minute scrimmage showcased how far the team has come along during the week’s training camp.