Celtics Practice - Wednesday 10/24

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CHRIS WILCOX WORKS OUT WITH THE TEAM! YEAH! NOW THAT'S NEWS!















WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Boston Celtics had full attendance -- save for
rehabbing Avery Bradley (shoulders) -- as the team got back to work
Wednesday after taking two days off. Celtics coach Doc Rivers ran his
team through a three-hour marathon session, but the team did only
halfcourt work with a focus on execution. Some news and notes from the
session:


* Rivers raved about the first full-team practice for newly acquired guard Leandro Barbosa.



"He’s been here for three or four days and the last two days we ran
him through all the stuff. So he had a concept of what we’re running.
He’s played against us for so long -- that helps as well. But he had a
great practice."



Added Rajon Rondo: "[Barbosa] was very vocal today. He was the point
guard. He moved [Jason Terry] to the side and I think they both liked
that situation. JET's more of a scoring point guard and Barbosa set a
lot of those guys up today in practice."



Barbosa said this week of practices leading up to opening day will be important for him getting comfortable in the system.



"I think those practices before we start the season are going to be
great for me," he said. "Coaches have been helping me from an offensive
standpoint and the defense. I’m a little familiar with what they do on
offense and with the defense. I don’t think it will be a problem for me,
or take a long time to learn. I’ll be fine."



* Chris Wilcox, who has been sidelined with back issues since the
first practice of the season, returned and went through a full session.



"It felt good," said Wilcox. "First day out there, it’s tough
because you can’t really -- you kinda got to feel out what’s going on.
But I felt great out there today."



Later he added: "Man, big relief. Just sitting back there, working
out everyday on the sideline, seeing these guys go up and down, I wanted
to be a part of it. They're out there grinding, getting ready for this
year and I couldn’t be part of it, so today was a great challenge for
me. I went out there worked hard -- it’s first day, so I didn’t expect
too much, but I think I did well."



* Center Darko Milicic, who sat out the final four games of the
exhibition season, deemed himself 100 percent after going through the
practice. Milicic got a cortisone shot last week to alleviate discomfort
in the ligaments around his sore right wrist, but said it's not an
issue moving forward.



"It feels good," said Milicic. "I practiced today. It feels good."



Added Rivers: "He was heavily taped, but he was fine."



* Rajon Rondo spent a minute talking about his
improved free throw percentage
during the preseason. Asked if he had a target percentage in mind for
the 2012-13 season, he quipped: "One hundred. Subtract, like, 10. So, 90
[percent]."


* Asked why he decided to return to Boston this season, Jeff Green
directed the cameramen towards Rondo as he worked on a court nearby:
"Turn the cameras right there. That guy right there. Rajon. I wanted to
play with him. He's the best point guard in the league. I mean, who
doesn't want to play with a good point guard? Then you've got guys in
the locker room like [Kevin Garnett], Paul Pierce, and now with the
addition of [Jason Terry], and Brandon [Bass] coming back, and you've
got Courtney [Lee]. I mean, we have a hell of a team. Who doesn't want
to be a part of something special like this? We have a great opportunity
to win a championship. I want to win, so this is a great chance for me
to do that."





bob



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http://www.csnne.com/basketball-boston-celtics/celtics-talk/Barbosa-gets-his-feet-wet-at-Celtics-pra?blockID=792985&feedID=10424



Barbosa gets his feet wet at Celtics practice




October 24, 2012, 4:45 pm




















Jimmy Toscano
CSNNE.com Editor/Staff Writer

WALTHAM — Leandro Barbosa is getting a crash course in what it takes to play for the Boston Celtics.

With the team set to start their season in six days, Barbosa worked with
Celtics staff on Monday and Tuesday — two days that Rivers gave off for
the rest of his team.

On Wednesday, Barbosa took part in his first real practice with the team.

"It was a good practice," Barbosa said. "I have to get to know the plays
from the defensive standpoint and all the things that they've been doing
at training camp when I wasn't here. I think it was OK. The coaches
have been giving me a lot of attention at the beginning, but also the
players have been helping too."

C's coach Doc Rivers, who said Barbosa could play either guard position, was happy with what he saw.


"He was terrific. He's been here for three, four days so the last two
days we ran him through all the stuff so he had a concept of what we
were running, Rivers said. "He's played against us for so long, so that
helped as well. But he had a great practice."

Barbosa admitted that he hadn't been playing much basketball in Brazil, but conditioning
seemed fine. That said, the team didn't do any full-court action today.
Tomorrow they look to go up and down, and that could determine just
where he's at in his conditioning.

Going into his 10th year in the NBA, he's been on some deep teams with the Phoenix Suns, and also
won a Sixth Man of the Year Award while there. But Barbosa has averaged
24.6 minutes per game in his career. With Rajon Rondo, Courtney Lee,
Jason Terry, and eventually Avery Bradley, those minutes will
undoubtedly shrink by a lot. That seems fine by Barbosa.

"Yes, I'm OK for whatever," he said. "Whatever minutes I have on the court I'm
going to try to do my best and help my teammates. But if I don't come
to the court it's fine for me too as long as the team [is successful]."

Rajon Rondo sees one thing right away that Barbosa can bring with him on the court.

"Speed," said Rondo.

Speed, OK. But they already have speed . . .

"We don't need more but it's nice to have more. More is better," Rondo said.

Rondo also noted that Barbosa was "very vocal" on the court as the point guard today.

"He moved Jet (Jason Terry) to the side and I think they both liked that
situation because Jet is more of a scoring point guard. And Barbosa set a
lot of those guys up today in practice."

So while Rivers looks to play Barbosa at both guard positions, it looks like he'll fit in nicely at the point.


bob


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Darn this is going to be one heck of an exciting year. With this depth the inevitable injuries every team has shouldn't limit us at all.

Youth, veterans, height, speed, shooting, coaching, attitude, defensive mindset, swagger and more.......

I don't think Danny gets enough credit but thank you Mr. Ainge thank you!

To no one in particular:

Some pretty interesting stuff after only the first real practice (and no full-court stuff) since the last preseason game:

Doc's statement that "I think we're going with 13 this year" would seem to indicate that both Melo and Joseph will be going to the DL. But that league doesn't start until the latter part of November. Even if their preseason starts in mid-November, that would still give those two guys another could of weeks of practice with the Celts.

Depth can sometimes be overrated because it's not a panacea. It's great for matchup flexibility and dealing with injuries, but there are still only five guys on the floor at any given point in time.

You want to be the coach who dictates the matchup game rather than the one who's playing what I'd call "matchup catchup."

Doc says, "Our 2 and 3 are the same position. "They run the same stuff." That's consistent with doing a lot of switching from small to big lineups and seeing a guy like Lee playing some 3 and possibly seeing some of Green at the 2.

Barbosa seems to be learning the Celtics system very quickly, although we won't know how well-conditioned he is until they begin full-court play starting tomorrow. (I'm sure Doc will put Leandro to the conditioning test early and often.)

Various tidbits from Doc and Rondo suggest that Barbosa may take more naturally to backup floor general duties than other candidates, though he's obviously a combo guard. (1) Leandro moved Terry around during practice, and they both seemed to like it because JET is really what Rondo calls "a shooting PG." (2) Rondo called Barbosa "very vocal" on his very first day of team practice suggests a certain comfort level and willingness to take charge that are desirable traits in someone who might be placed in a floor general role.

It's very good to hear Wilcox say that, based on admittedly limited activity, he felt no problem with his back.

It would be silly to try to draw real conclusions into just one day of a full team practice. But each succeeding day yields little hints that eventually become increasingly meaningful. Consequently, this time of the year can be very exciting, and at least we're not hearing a lot of negatives.

Thanks to those (especially BobH) who are keeping us informed .

Sam