Kemba Walker Sees ‘Special’ Quality In USA Basketball’s Celtics Contingent

Kemba Walker didn’t take long to notice something special about his new teammates.

The Boston Celtics guard hailed the “passion” and “intensity” of his three Boston Celtics teammates who are trying out for the U.S. men’s national basketball team ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup. “Team Shamrock,” as Walker, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum have have been dubbed, is practicing this week in Las Vegas at USA Basketball’s first pre-World Cup training camp, and Walker really likes what he has seen from his soon-to-be Boston teammates so far.

” … Those dudes are so talented, it’s unbelievable,” Walker said. “You don’t see them every day. You know what I mean? For me, to be here and see those guys, and the way they compete and how much passion and love they have for the game, the intensity they have for the game, that’s special to me.”

The admiration between Walker and USA Basketball’s other Celtics is mutual, as Jayson Tatum proclaimed Thursday how much he is enjoying playing alongside Boston’s marquee offseason acquisition.

Chances are Team Shamrock will carry the tone they’ve set in Las Vegas into Celtics training camp when it begins next month in Boston. Good things are bound to happen in 2019-20 if other Celtics adopt the attitude Walker has noted in Brown, Smart and Tatum.