The defending NBA champions set up camp in Newport on Tuesday, heading about 90 miles south of Boston to get away from the bustle and allow the team to bond. They'll work out for seven days at Salve Regina University, right down the street from a row of former summer "cottages" like The Breakers, the Vanderbilt Family's 70-room Italian Renaissance-style getaway.

"I don't know anybody who lives in a house that big," Ray Allen said. "Some of them might think they do."

The Celtics trained in Rome last year, an experience that the players said helped them bond after an offseason overhaul that introduced a new Big Three and put them on the path to the NBA title. Rivers enjoyed it so much that he encouraged general manager Danny Ainge to find someplace this year, too.

"I preferred someplace warm, preferably Florida next to my house in Orlando," Rivers cracked, adding that he wanted it to be just far enough away to make driving home inconvenient.

Ainge set the team up in Newport, a town more accustomed to the swishing of tennis rackets, polo mallets and the spinnakers of America's Cup yachts. Forward Paul Pierce had never been before, and he said he didn't plan to partake in the scene this time, either.

"I'm not worried about the mansions. I'm here for training camp," he said. "It's got a regulation court and 10-foot rims. That's all I need."

The Celtics won their record 17th NBA championship last season, the first after Ainge brought in Kevin Garnett and Allen to team with Pierce in a new Big Three. The June 17 clincher left them with a short summer, and because Rivers told his veterans not to show up at the practice facility until about a week ago, they were a little more out of shape than usual.

But unlike last year when the majority of the roster was new, Rivers has just five new players in camp and all of them are role players.

"Last year, we had to teach everybody something new," the coach said. "Compared to last year, I think we're further along."

The notable exception is center Kendrick Perkins, who will be kept out of scrimmages during training camp because of offseason surgery on his left shoulder.

"He can run up and down the floor, as long as no one else is running up and down the floor with him," Rivers said.

Perkins injured his shoulder in Game 4 of the NBA finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and sat out Games 5 and 6. He had surgery July 3, then spent the rest of the summer stretching and working out on a stationary bicycle.

On Tuesday, Perkins ran sprints the width of the court with the rest of the team during the portion of practice reporters were watching.

Perkins said doctors told him he would be ready to handle contact in practice in about a week. He is shooting for the third exhibition game, on Oct. 11, to get back in uniform.

But Rivers said he wanted to hold Perkins out for four exhibition games, meaning he would return Oct. 16. The coach said he wasn't worried about Perkins' availability for the Oct. 28 opener.