ROME — As the Toronto Raptors closed a high-energy workout in preparation for the start of their exhibition season schedule Saturday against the Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh strode to centre court and held up his left hand, commanding his teammates to huddle up.
It was the most natural thing in the world. There is no doubt Bosh is the Raptors' leader, captain, best player and focal point.
It makes for a sharp contrast with the team the Raptors will be facing.
The Raptors may have won the Atlantic Division last season, but the Celtics won the off-season, quite handily. They traded for sharp-shooting Ray Allen and pulled off a blockbuster deal by landing the 2004 NBA most valuable player, Kevin Garnett. They joined Paul Pierce to form what is being called the Big Three.
The Celtics know what they have, but do they know what they are?
"I don't like the Big Three [title]," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "You have to win first and then you can be called big something, but we'll see."
There's something appropriate about the new-look Celtics being unveiled in Rome. The franchise has won 16 titles and ruled the NBA seemingly unchallenged in the league's early days. Lately, the once-great franchise has deteriorated to the point of ruin, its championship banners and iconic logo a reminder of its storied past.
The Celtics won only 24 games last season and were accused in some circles of tanking the last part of the schedule to increase their chances of earning the No. 1 or No. 2 draft pick and snaring either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant in the hope of beginning a new era.
Instead, the Celtics slipped to No. 5, made a draft-night trade to get Allen, 32, from the Seattle SuperSonics and made another deal to get Garnett, 31, and suddenly the future is now.
"I am optimistic," Rivers said. "It's the right age for them. They've done everything they can do individually, so they don't have a lot more to play for. I don't know what another all-star ring will do for them at this point in their career."
The hope is that bringing the three players together will give each of them their best chance at winning an NBA title.
"I've never experienced a lot of the things going on. You can tell the difference between the two organizations," said Garnett, who had played his entire 12-year career in Minnesota. "It's reviving, I will say that."
But good timing can't replace time.
"As a coach, I've always had eight or nine players each year, so continuity is amazing," Rivers said. "This year, [Raptors coach] Sam Mitchell comes to practice and says let's run four down on the first day, everyone knew what he was talking about. They can work on the little things, the details. We're still working on the big things."
The Raptors were in the Celtics' shoes last season — less the three big stars — and after handing out the name tags in training camp, they started the season 7-14.
Staying largely the same has been welcomed. "It makes a big difference, we know we have a really good thing going here and we're trying to improve and continue the whole thing," Bosh said. "I think it's very good. You have to have chemistry on offence and defence.
"Boston might come in and have great chemistry off the bat, but you can't rush it. Sometimes it's not going to be the best situations and people get frustrated with that and tend to ask, 'What's going on?' It happened with us. If they don't come out and start the season spectacularly, people are going to wonder why."
For their part, the new-look Celtics have done what they can to foster the togetherness that good teams have, even though their time together is short.
Earlier this week, three of the five projected starters — Pierce, Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo — all shaved their heads in tribute to the already smooth domes of Garnett and Allen.
Training in Europe for two weeks has also helped the process, Rivers said.
"I'll take the change [of routine], because during the bus rides there's no cellphones going off, and after practice, guys are hanging out together rather than [with] their own guys," he said. "It's been a forced bonding situation. If I could pick a year to go to Rome, this is it."
But a visit to Rome doesn't mean the expectations have gone away for a franchise hoping to reach great heights again.
"I'm fine with [the expectations]," Rivers said. "But as far as I'm concerned, the Toronto Raptors are the defending [Atlantic Division] champs.
"They've proven they can win it. We've proven nothing."
