featured-image

Celtics Lengthen Shootaround in Milan

Marc D'Amico
Team Reporter and Analyst

addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");

MILAN – Game day has finally arrived for the Boston Celtics, and with that, so has the team’s first shootaround of the season.

This shootaround, however, was not a typical pre-game experience.

Standard shootaround protocol calls for the C’s to simply walk through their game plan for about 30-45 minutes each game day. Today, Brad Stevens deviated from that routine.

“We’ll go typical shootaround,” Stevens told reporters, “but then we’ll add 20 minutes and do some up-and-down stuff.”

That additional 20 minutes took the session past the one-hour mark. To put that into perspective, a standard, full-fledged practice for Boston typically lasts 90 minutes.

Stevens believes the additional work is necessary for his team at this point of the preseason.

“It’s time to practice,” he said. “At the end of the day, these are practice games. I think practice and getting better is the most important thing.”

Players are usually not fans of shootarounds, let alone shootarounds that resemble a full practice, but the Celtics know that there is a method to their coach’s madness.

“I think he’s just trying to get us more familiar with each other and get a routine going and just get our minds right, especially being out here [in another] country,” said Isaiah Thomas, who learned of the alteration this morning.

Another motive for the lengthened shootaround is to improve the team’s conditioning. Many of Boston’s players will only see limited action in tonight’s preseason opener.

“It’s good to get out here now, especially with a lot of us who might not be playing a lot,” Marcus Smart said before the session began, “getting out here and getting that work in now and getting our legs under us.”

NBA players are typically creatures of habit, especially on game days. But Smart does not believe the altered schedule will affect the Celtics in a negative manner. In fact, he believes it will be a good thing for the team.

“It’s going to kind of keep you engaged and ready to go, rather than coming in for 30 minutes and kind of just walk-through and everybody is just nonchalant with it,” he said. “(It will help) get your mind set right now.”

That’s the plan. Today’s shootaround was all about getting the players ready – both mentally and physically – for their first preseason game and beyond.