Given the circumstances of the upcoming season, Paul Pierce (left) believes the Celtics need a change of pace in training camp. For years, they have worked out for a week at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island before embarking on the preseason schedule. It’s 90 minutes from Boston, a comfortable environment, and the Celtics are popular with the local community.
Pierce, however, believes that with Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine O’Neal, Von Wafer, and Nate Robinson experiencing their first training camps in green, it may be time to seek seclusion and build chemistry.
“I think it would be good for this group to get away,’’ said Pierce. “I’m really getting tired of Newport. Really, I want to go somewhere else.
“Newport is good, but I want to go somewhere else. It would be good to get away with this type of group, when you have Jermaine and Shaq.
“When you got new guys and these types of personalities, I think it’s good for all of us to get out, be at a dinner table — me, Shaq, Kevin [Garnett], Ray [Allen], Jermaine. I think it would be good for that relationship, building that chemistry. We get away and go somewhere, that’s something we’ll definitely do.’’
I agree with Paul. A renewed emphasis on Ubuntu will benefit the current and new members of the roster. However, I'm not sure there's time for management to reschedule to a foreign destination. The team could find another location in New England (Burlington, VT or Orono, ME), but I doubt either town will have the desired effect.
Russia. If it's good enough for Balboa, it's good enough for the Celtics.