Wally Feeling Right At Home

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After going through a heavy workout at the Celtics training facility yesterday, Wally Szczerbiak had to make a fast break to his new home in Lexington. The downer of dealing with moving and setting up residence was tempered by the fact that he will actually get to live in the place.

Earlier this summer, that was not exactly a lock.
Szczerbiak?s name was among those floated in the Allen Iverson trade talks, and word was he had some anxious moments as he and his wife closed on the property. It wasn?t until he met with Danny Ainge at Doc Rivers? golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., in late July that Szczerbiak heard some encouraging words.

?Things had calmed down by then,? he said. ?Danny assured me then that pretty much everything had blown over.?

Ainge?s comments didn?t save Szczerbiak from the initial sting of hearing he might be moved.

While he can deal with such things, he was nonetheless disappointed at the possibility of leaving the Celtics.

?I really enjoyed the time there, although I was kind of banged up,? said Szczerbiak, who was traded to the C?s from Minnesota in late January. ?I was looking forward to starting anew and having a training camp to establish myself, but trades are part of the business. You just kind of roll with it.

?My home?s always going to be on Long Island in New York, so wherever I play is always going to be an extension of home. I?ll adjust wherever I am. And I?ve always been mentioned in trades, especially with the Timberwolves. It?s just nothing new for me.?

It will, however, be new for Szczerbiak to run around in green without a nagging pain in his left knee. Surgery last April appears to have alleviated the problem.

?There?s no question,? he said. ?I?m moving so much better. I feel good. We took care of everything we needed to take care of. It was a pretty minor procedure. I?ve been working hard all summer, just doing a lot of rehab and strength work. Now we?re starting to amp up the running and the full-court work.?

Scrimmaging with newcomer Sebastian Telfair certainly helps to accelerate the process.

?Oh, he?s great,? Szczerbiak said of the third-year point guard. ?He?s so fast. Just keeping up with him going up and down the floor is going to be a challenge, but I love playing that way. You get easy shots, easy buckets. You put the pressure on the opposing team. You don?t always have to be running halfcourt sets, and I think with the personnel we have that?s going to be really good.?

Filling lanes with Paul Pierce and others, Szczerbiak is excited about Telfair?s ability to create shots for others.

?Sebastian?s not going to take a lot of time to get used to playing with his teammates,? he said. ?He knows the game. He plays the game at a frenzied pace. I think when you saddle him with plays, it?s to his disadvantage. If you let him go, it?s to his advantage. </div>

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