Steve Kerr spoke about how the NBA has moved away from traditional power forwards in which those players are almost exclusively either centers or wings.

"The other thing that hurts all the centers is there's no four-man anymore," Kerr said. "David West used to be a four, now he's a five. (Kevon) Looney -- ten years ago would have been a four. Now he's a five.

"So as a result, we end up with six centers on a roster ... now you're either a five or you're a three. The four position has almost been eliminated from the NBA.

"Unless you're Draymond Green and you just play whatever the hell position you want to call it."

The Boston Celtics will enter training camp with potentially 11 new players as they've overturned their roster this offseason.

Most notably, the Celtics acquired Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving while losing the likes of Avery Bradley, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder.

“This isn’t any sort of plan like we wanted to make a whole bunch of changes — part of it is just managing payroll and getting guys to fit on the court, just building a team,” Danny Ainge said. “It’s not about getting rid of somebody or bringing new faces in, but in the world we live in today you have a salary cap and a luxury tax and there are short contracts that are attached. When I played, I signed a six-year contract. Now, most contracts are four years [at the longest]. It’s just the nature of our business and it’s not ideal not to have continuity. But there are rewards for a freshness. What really matters is how well they play and as I said, time is our judge.”

The Celtics have been ahead of schedule in their rebuild but they felt like they needed significant changes to become true title contenders.

“I’m excited, no question, as I said, you can feel it,” Ainge said. “You can feel the energy here at our practice facility, you can see it in guys that are trying out for the [G-League], guys that are going to play major roles on our team this year, young and old, you can just see the energy that exists around here and it’s good. It’s exciting. I’m excited to get the season started and see how it all works.”

During Rodney Hood's exit meeting after the Utah Jazz were eliminated from the playoffs, Dennis Lindsey spoke candidly about becoming a better player.

Hood is entering a contract year and was asked to get to the free throw line more often and become a more efficient scorer.

“He told me the truth,” Hood said. “He said he wanted me to get better and to prepare myself for a bigger role.”

“There were a lot of challenges we gave Rodney,” Lindsey said. “What he needs to be doing, his commitment level to his development. And he’s responded this summer. He’s going to be given a prominent role, and his development will be significant to us.”

Hood stayed in Salt Lake City for most of the offseason.

“In general, we feel like we can help players get better, and now we have a track record,” Lindsey said. “Guys know that if they are doing what’s needed in-house, they have a base to improve.”

The Charlotte Hornets will start Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at small forward again this season. There has been some support amongst fans for the Hornets to start Malik Monk over Kidd-Gilchrist due to his superior shooting.

“MKG – everybody wants to know – he’ll start and I think he’ll have a great year,” Steve Clifford said.

“Spacing is the basic tenant of offensive basketball,” Clifford said, acknowledging Kidd-Gilchrist’s limited shooting range. “But it’s not as important as competitiveness, it’s not as important as character, and it’s not as important as natural talent.

“He is a natural athlete. He has a feel for the game, he’s a tough guy who cares about the team, and I think he can be one of the top 10 defenders in the league this year.”

Al Horford has traditionally preferred to play power forward, but he may need to start and close games at center for the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics' optimal lineups would have Horford at center instead of Aron Baynes in order to have some combination of Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris on the floor at the 2-4 positions.

"I do think they're going to start Horford at center, which is interesting," Lowe said. "I think organizationally, that's the way they're leaning."

The Celtics lost one of their versatile players in trading Jae Crowder to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Boston Celtics believe the playmaking ability of Kyrie Irving will expand with his trade to their team where he can work within the system of Brad Stevens.

“You’ll see that he’s a better passer," said Danny Ainge. "I think people that watch Kyrie play a lot can see his passing and his potential there as a passer. LeBron (James) was pretty much the point guard in Cleveland and Kyrie was a point guard often when LeBron wasn’t on the court. I think that he’s a fantastic passer and I think that defensively he’s got to improve and I think he will in Brad’s system”

Irving's assist rate was over 30 percent in each of his first three seasons before the arrival of James.

Kyrie Irving spoke candidly during his introductory press conference with the Boston Celtics.

“I can’t wait to get on the floor to maximize my potential,” Irving said at his introductory news conference in Boston on Friday. “I just want to be around those incredible coaches, those incredible minds, those incredible individuals and I felt like in doing that Boston came at the right exact time and it was meant to be that way. I trust in that, and I’m glad to be here.”

Irving tried to avoid talking about his reasons for leaving Cleveland.

“I just knew that I wasn’t going to come up here to specifically point at individuals, specifically point at issues because that’s not important to me at all,” Irving said.

Irving admitted he hasn’t talked to LeBron James since the trade machinations began.

“I’d be telling you guys a lie if I didn't tell you I learned so much from that guy,” Irving said. “The perfection of the craft comes in a variety of forms, and you watch and you ask a lot of the great players, ‘What does it take to be great?’ And I’ve had the unique opportunity to play with one of the greats, and it was awesome.

“At times it was all over, just like it is in any other team, and when you look back and you're eternally grateful for the moments that you had and you shared, you’re able to put peace with that journey and start anew.”