NEWPORT, R.I.

A couple weeks ago, several Celtics gathered to play pick-up basketball in Boston. It was pick-up, mind you, but it was a chance for some of the team’s (many) new and (few) old faces to feel each other out and build some chemistry.

According to Jeff Green, it worked out well, too.

“It was a good start,” he said.

Now, the Celtics will continue to work on their chemistry and, well, everything else, from installing a new system to seeing which players will succeed at which positions, during two days of training camp at Salve Regina University.

The first two practices were held during the first day of camp Tuesday, one in the morning to focus on offense, and another in the late afternoon to work on defense.

Were the players surprised by anything? Jared Sullinger didn’t hesitate. His answer? The level of intensity.

“Everybody came in here and they busted their butts,” he said.

It could’ve been easy for them to be distracted by the scenic surroundings on a postcard perfect day.

“It’s beautiful,” coach Brad Stevens said of Newport. “I was kind of laughing, this isn’t the place you’d choose if you wanted to develop toughness.”

Toughness is a goal when it comes to the type of defense that Stevens wants the Celtics to play. For training camp, though, Avery Bradley has a simple goal in mind.

“We all want to learn each other’s games,” he said. “It’s all new to everybody.”

It’s especially new for the 36-year-old Stevens, the firstyear coach (and the NBA’s youngest this season) who was previously the head coach at Butler University.

Stevens said he didn’t have any extra emotions heading into training camp.

“I enjoy getting back on the court, but the only thing I’m thinking about right now is, we have Practices three and four and I gotta go back and write them up,” he said. “So, that’s all I’m thinking about. That’s just the way it goes. I don’t know when I lost my fandom and it became more of a job, but it did at one point.”

He is working with a different caliber of athlete, but Stevens said he’s been around enough NBA players — and enough training camps — that it’s not too much of a shift.

So far, through media day Monday and then Tuesday, the players have had nothing but praise for their new coach, who replaces Doc Rivers.

“He’s just very smart, very precise,” Jeff Green said of Stevens. “He’s a perfectionist. He works hard at his craft. We enjoy that.”

Stevens said evaluating a new team learning a new system will come later. For now, it’s about implementing that system and learning about the players.

“Because part of evaluating is seeing how they are going to fit into what you are trying to do,” Stevens said. “And how well they can translate that. So, that’s a big start of the evaluating process. This team may be unique in that the best five people may not be the first best that play together. Because you have to play some guys that have certain strengths to accommodate our better players.”

Though some of the drills are new, Sullinger said he recognized the wording of one from when he played at Ohio State under coach Thad Matta.