"I'm a little bit revived," Garnett said after yesterday's press conference at the Rome mayor's office. "It's good to be around excellence. It's cool . . . The organization, everything so far has been first-class. Obviously, the guys on the team [and coach Doc Rivers have] been phenomenal. In 13 years, this is the best camp I've been involved with by far . . .
"I've never experienced a lot of things that have been going on. But you can definitely tell a difference in the organizations. It's revived me, I will say that. I'm having a lot of fun."
The Celtics and Raptors are staying at the same hotel, which made it easy for Garnett and Mitchell to visit. Mitchell spent nine seasons in Minnesota and was Garnett's teammate from 1995-2001. Garnett, a 10-time All-Star, has said Mitchell taught him how to be a professional after entering the NBA out of high school.
Not long after the Celtics acquired Garnett in a blockbuster trade in July, he called Mitchell to tell him how ecstatic he was to be going to Boston. Garnett reiterated those feelings to Mitchell in Italy.
"[Garnett] loves being in Boston, loves his teammates," said Mitchell, the winner of this year's Red Auerbach Trophy as Coach of the Year. "He said if he knew the NBA was like this, he would have wanted to be traded a long time ago . . .
"I just think everybody does things a little different and he just enjoys it. When you've been in one place your whole career, you forget how other people do things and he's never seen how other organizations work. I think he's very impressed with the way Boston treats their players and how they do things."
Tonight will also be the first time the Celtics see how Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce work together. Pierce acknowledged the trio is having some "growing pains" adapting to one another, but he expects everyone to be on the same page by the start of the regular season.
"To be honest, we've had our inconsistencies, our ups and downs," Pierce said. "But we kind of expected that as we're getting to know each other. We're learning each other's tendencies, learning what each other likes.
