Auerbach Center's two-story windows -- with a stained-glass Celtics logo in the middle -- overlooks BostonNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The Celtics have opened the Auerbach Center at New Balance World HQ in Brighton, "unveiling a 70,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art workspace that more than doubles the size" of the team’s old practice facility in Waltham, according to Julian Benbow of the BOSTON GLOBE. The Celtics’ new facility is an "upgrade in both function and form." They are now "neighbors with the Bruins at Boston Landing." The Celtics partnered with New Balance Development Group on an "endeavor that was two years in the making," and they "didn’t spare any bells or whistles." Countless flatscreens make the building "look like a Best Buy." The kitchen is "decked out with Smoothie machines and ice cream makers." The lounge has a "pool table that doubles as a ping-pong table." There is also a barber’s chair "right outside the locker room." Celtics coach Brad Stevens' fingerprints are on "several of the basketball elements, particularly the video room" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/20). In Providence, Scott Souza writes the Celtics went "bigger than most could have ever imagined when plans for the facility began taking shape five years ago." It contains "two full-length parquet courts," as well as a 40-foot "exercise pool, two hydrotherapy pools, and a float tank." There is a "film theater, a nap room, a kitchen with a dietician on site, ... a game room with a pool table and a putting green." Then there is the "two-story, floor-to-ceiling windows -- with a giant stained-glass Celtics logo in the middle -- in the workout room that overlooks the Mass. Pike and most Boston" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 6/20).
NEW TOY: In Boston, Steve Bulpett writes the new facility is "undoubtedly a practice-changer." From two "full-sized courts instead of just the one at the Waltham site to larger and better medical and strength training operations and a host of amenities," the facility puts the Celtics at the "head of the NBA class in this category." Stevens said of the new facility helping lure free agents, "It’s a huge boost. ... It’s about prioritizing your players. It’s about prioritizing their growth, being committed to them in every which way and showing that in as many ways as you can. This clearly shows it. And both from a long-term retention standpoint and when you bring new players in, this checks every box" (BOSTON HERALD, 6/20).
