When Vin Baker opened the door to his brick mansion late Tuesday night, he looked different than he did six months ago. He was clear-eyed and harder edged. Most noticeably, the puffiness that followed his jawline was gone. He sounded different, too; stronger and surer.

It has been a long journey, and Baker was ready to speak candidly and publicly for the first time about events that led the Celtics to suspend him Feb. 27.

"I am an alcoholic," Baker said, detailing a struggle with "binge drinking" that reached such a self-destructive level last season that he went through nearly four months of treatment to change his life. Now, with Celtics training camp three weeks away, he believes he has an opportunity to save his career. In a wide-ranging interview, Baker discussed his treatment, his early denial, the team practices where he admittedly smelled of alcohol, the concerns coach Jim O'Brien voiced in December, the pressures that came with a contract worth approximately $86 million and All-Star honors, the start of his drinking problem following the lockout in 1998-99, the plans for a successful return to NBA life, and the challenge of winning back teammates and fans.

Last Wednesday, Baker marked six months of sobriety. He stopped drinking the day he was suspended. He has spent the summer eagerly preparing for a return to the NBA. With a private trainer and two workouts a day, Baker has trimmed down to a sculpted 241 pounds, his playing weight his first two seasons in the league and at least 15 pounds lighter than he appeared last season. He suffers no lingering health problems. While Baker feels his lift, coordination, speed, and skill have returned, he is keeping his expectations vague. No numbers, just meaningful contributions to the Celtics. Poor performances coupled with unfulfilled expectations, in large part, precipitated the drinking problem, he said.

"The Celtics, the organization, cared for me as a person," said Baker. "The suspension gave me a chance at a new life, gave me a new lease on life, gave me a new chance at my career. I know a lot of people view the suspension as an ax job and he's out of here. But I didn't view it as that. I viewed it as a chance that they gave me to change my life. Obviously, now six months later with not touching a drink, I can see clearly how that gave me a new lease on life.

"I don't know how much I was hiding it or how much I was covering it up. It wasn't a situation where I would get plastered or get wasted. I just didn't want to think about the success that I wasn't having that I had in the beginning of my career. It would just be a situation where I would try to numb myself to all the expectations. So, it could be three days in a row, four days in a row, or it could be no [drinking at all for] a day. It was in and out. It was like binge drinking."