Value of camp caught in photo

Kevin Garnett (21 points, 12 rebounds) gets an assist from a host of hometown fans after the ball went out of bounds. (Justine Hunt/Globe Staff)

Celtics coach Doc Rivers gave his players an early Christmas gift Saturday, one with an Italian theme.

Rivers gave each player a framed team picture taken in front of the Coliseum. The picture was shot Oct. 6 when the Celtics were in Rome for training camp and their exhibition opener. The Celtics, who entered the season with nine new players, have credited training camp in helping them jell.

"I always give them gifts," Rivers said. "I try to find something with meaning. Someone gave me the picture. It was done so well. So it was the perfect gift."

Forward Kevin Garnett described the picture as "powerful."

"Obviously we have a long duration of this journey, but it was the first part of the process," Garnett said. "Rome was good for us. It brings back those memories when I see that picture.

"In the future, 10 years, six, seven, eight years from now when I got that [hanging] over my mantelpiece and I'm watching [teammate Rajon] Rondo have an Afro playing in like 2013, 2014, and I look at that picture, it's going to bring back some memories. I guess that's why it's so powerful and I looked at it the way I looked at it."

Although it won't be overseas, Rivers hopes training camp next season will be outside the Boston area, too. He believes camp should be somewhere else to "re-engage you as a team."

"It was valuable because we have so many new players," Rivers said of this season's camp. "It was valuable to get guys to know each other. I'm serious. I joke about it, but I think it's important that guys' cellphones were not working [in Europe], because when they got on the bus they talked to each other.

"Most NBA teams, they get on their buses and then their cellphones, calling their agents or their family to ask how they played or what the [television] commentator said about them. Their family members and friends tell them how good they were and that they should get more shots. That's usually what happens in our league. That's what we usually call a peripheral opponent. But [in Europe], it was about each other. I thought that was nice."

Home for holiday

The Celtics will not practice today or on Christmas before playing in Sacramento Wednesday night. Although there will be a charter flight leaving for Sacramento tomorrow afternoon, several players will meet the team in California.

Forward Leon Powe is scheduled to fly from Boston to his hometown of Oakland, Calif., this morning so he can spend the holiday with his family. Oakland is less than a two-hour drive from Sacramento, and Powe plans on being there late tomorrow night.

"I talked to all my family," said Powe, who will have a lot of family and friends at the game against the Kings. "They are looking forward to me coming back and spending a little time with them."

Guard Eddie House, his wife, Charlsie, and their three sons will spend Christmas with family in Sacramento, where they have an offseason home. House's wife is the sister of Kings guard Mike Bibby and daughter of Sixers assistant Henry Bibby.

Garnett, 31, has only been celebrating Christmas since he entered the NBA out of high school in 1995. He said he didn't celebrate the holiday before that because it was against his religion at that time (Jehovah's Witnesses).

"This is my 13th [Christmas]," Garnett said. "I tend to gravitate toward [the holiday more] than others, and I really appreciate the true meaning of it."

Last-minute shopping

Those looking for the hard-to-find Gino T-shirts (the Celtics' irrepressible dancing fan) can go on www.cafepress.com and locate it by searching for "Gino."

Marc J. Spears can be reached at mspears@globe.com