Two days after reports that Kendrick Perkins routinely criticized teammate Russell Westbrook during the past season, reports from Oklahoma City described a mini training camp the Thunder held last week at the University of Texas. Two-thirds of the Thunder participated in the workouts, ten players. Nazr Mohammed called their games “the best pickup games in America,” and the Thunder used what could have been a wasted summer to step a little closer to an NBA championship.

All of which begs the question: should fans be concerned that the Boston Celtics haven’t met once this offseason?

Many teams have organized offseason workouts. Mike Conley brought the Grizzlies together. Amare Stoudemire rallied the Knicks. Durant rounded up the Thunder. But the Celtics have yet to gather in the same area.

Last week Kevin Garnett suggested he would plan a Celtics get-together soon, but his details were vague and the plan hardly seemed like one of his priorities. He said, “I’m going actually to the East Coast sometime soon and I am actually going to try to get everybody together just to be in the same area.” But when and where were not mentioned, and Garnett even admitted the workout likely would not consist of more than four or five players.

The problems are in geography and numbers. Garnett and Pierce live in California, and Pierce spent time barnstorming in China. Jermaine O’Neal and Avery Bradley work out in Las Vegas. Ray Allen was most recently spotted in Connecticut. E’Twaun Moore is playing professionally in Italy. JaJuan Johnson, based on his tweets, spends most of his time in Indiana. Rajon Rondo is working out at the University of Kentucky, sometimes with Lebron James. Glen Davis, Delonte West and Jeff Green aren’t officially Celtics. Neither are Nenad Krstic, Carlos Arroyo, Von Wafer, Sasha Pavlovic or Troy Murphy — Krstic left to Russia, Carlos Arrroyo competed with the Puerto Rican National Team this summer, and Wafer, Pavlovic and Murphy presumably are still picking splinters from their rumps and having nightmares of the end of Boston’s bench.

With only seven players under contract (eight if you include E’Twaun Moore, a second-round pick who does not have a guaranteed contract), the Celtics could not possibly host a ten-man mini training camp like the Thunder did. But meeting at least a few times, if only so JaJuan Johnson could have heard Kevin Garnett’s advice or Avery Bradley could have asked Rajon Rondo some questions about running a team, would have been beneficial. Instead, the Celtics — led by so many veterans, who we assumed would remain unfazed by the lockout, if only because the main Celtics already experienced one in 1998 and should have learned from it — have allowed the summer to disconnect them and leave them scattered across the country, working out (or not working out, you never know) mostly on their own.

It’s nothing to worry about, at least not yet, as the Celtics still have plentiful experience together and don’t necessarily need extra reps like the young Thunder or Grizzlies do. But you have to admit — you would have preferred that the Celtics spend at least a portion of this summer together as a team, working out, bonding, and pulling a successful season just a little bit closer to their embrace.

Jermaine O’Neal isn’t necessarily afraid that a hard salary cap would beget smaller contracts, although that’s part of it. Mostly, O’Neal fears that a hard salary cap would irrevocably harm NBA basketball as we know it, leading to a selfish league where the middle class no longer exists and teammates are competing against each other for millions.

“Taking out the mid-level (exception to the salary cap) is going to ruin our game,” O’Neal told USA Today. “It’s going to individualize our game so much. Basketball is based off a system. Everybody is given a role in the game. It’s not just everybody running up and down. We have some really good mid-level players in our league, borderline All-Star players. If you’re going to say, basically, we’re going to roll back salaries and we’re going to give two of the top players on the team the top deals and take out the mid-tier and let everybody else fend for the $1 million, $2 million, $3 million (shakes his head). … Doing that is going to make guys go for their own. It really is.”

A hard cap would inevitably shrink the NBA’s middle-class, if not make it disappear. Even with salary cuts and a hard cap, superstars will get paid — they sell the most tickets, they sell the most merchandise, and they win the most games. Which means the middle class, like O’Neal fears, would take the brunt of the owners’ proposed changes. A hard cap would also likely force owners (or at least competent owners) to reevaluate their stance regarding borderline stars like Gilbert Arenas, Joe Johnson and Rashard Lewis, who were never quite superstars but were certainly paid as if they were.

Owners say a hard cap is essential to promote parity. The Los Angeles Lakers, armed with many millions of revenue, accumulated $91 million of payroll last season to field the best team possible. The New Orleans Hornets spent $48 million. The difference makes parity in the NBA, under its current rules, difficult if not impossible. Small markets have a difficult time spending Lakers money because, well, that money just doesn’t exist. It’s possible to succeed in a smaller market without an owner diving too deep into his own pockets — look at the Oklahoma City Thunder. But it’s almost impossible to replicate the Thunder’s success. They A) made a series of near-perfect personnel moves to reach their current perch near the NBA’s peak, including lucking into Kevin Durant, choosing Russell Westbrook higher than anyone expected, and watching idly as James Harden became a stud, and B) will need to open their wallets to continue competing once Westbrook and Harden finish their rookie contracts. Success won’t always come cheap, and parity has been a problem in the NBA for a long time.

But the players don’t see why the burden of parity is being thrust on their shoulders. Parity could just as easily be sought by implementing a revenue-sharing program that takes away at least some of the inherent advantages of bigger markets. If the Lakers, Celtics, Knicks and other large-market teams shared a percentage of their television and sponsorship money, the playing field could presumably be leveled off without instituting a hard cap. Especially considering that the players are willing to give back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of salary, they feel that owners need to make some concessions of their own to help change the (admittedly broken) NBA system.

Meanwhile, Jerry Buss is on board with revenue sharing. Yes, Jerry Buss, the owner who has the most to lose from sharing revenues, the owners whose Lakers team makes bushels of money and uses a large portion of that money to field championship-caliber teams almost every season, to spend on players other, less-financially successful teams cannot afford. Buss is also on board with a hard cap, but the players, at least for now, swear they will not accept one.  (OC Register)

“A team like the Lakers with well over $100 million in payroll and Sacramento at 45, that’s not an acceptable alternative for us,” Stern said. “That can’t be the outcome that we agree to.”

As much as Buss loves his rum and Coke, he has held a Molotov cocktail with the NBA’s limited revenue sharing and soft salary cap. It has allowed Buss and his minority investors to make a lot of money and feel comfortable spending a ton of it on great players others can’t afford.

But dramatically increased revenue sharing will inhibit the Lakers’ spending. A hard cap will flat-out prevent the Lakers from spending. It’s lose-lose when Buss is 77 years old and determined to come from behind the Boston Celtics in total championships, 17-16.

Yet the Lakers have accepted it. Why?

For the greater good.

And you can’t play in a league of your own anyway. However much he leads his unfettered, playboy lifestyle – his latest summer vacation to enjoy was through Europe – Buss is married to these other NBA owners, for better or worse.

So with their days of shopping alone on Rodeo Drive ending, the Lakers intend to go out gracefully – and loyally to Stern, for whom Buss has always had an appreciation.

The many specifics of revenue sharing still need to be worked out – and progress is expected on that front Thursday in the NBA’s board of governors meeting in Dallas – but Buss is fully accepting that his pockets will be where most of the grabs go. He’s hopeful the revenue-sharing system leaves him some protection, but wherever the details of the sharing and capping go, Buss considers himself – bottom line – a team player on the owners’ side.

A revenue sharing system could be just what the NBA needs to end this lockout, to offer a semblance of financial parity and help assure that most or all franchises will return to profitable business. The players have offered their own concessions — at least for now, they are willing to accept either a hard cap or salary cutbacks, but not both — and now it is the owners’ turn to negotiate in good faith. David Stern has taken a hard stance in the negotiations so far, and the prevalent thought is that he is waiting for the players to cave, waiting to crush the players underneath the league’s leverage.

But maybe he is just waiting for the owners to budge, and maybe Jerry Buss is leading the way, and maybe the league can find some common ground after all, and maybe Jermaine O’Neal won’t have to worry about players becoming too selfish, because the owners have finally started to look in the mirror and realize that the broken system involves them, too.

Last season, the terms “comfortable”, “offensively” and “Avery Bradley” could only be used in the same sentence two different ways:

1) Avery Bradley was not comfortable offensively, or even close.

2) Offensively, Avery Bradley was as comfortable as a 400-lb. man riding a kiddie roller coaster.

But yesterday after Bradley played in the Impact Basketball League, A. Sherrod Blakely praised the young Celtic. There is now a third way to include the terms comfortable, offensively and Avery Bradley in the same sentence.

Avery Bradley — By far his best game of the week, Bradley looked very comfortable offensively before finishing with 20 points and four assists.

The Impact League doesn’t have the world’s best competition — other point guards include Damon Jones, who last played when Sasha Pavlovic was a legitimate starting small forward, and the level of play can perhaps best be described by a one-on-one duel that erupted yesterday… between JaVale McGee and Mareese Speights. But Bradley is using the league like his very first NBA Summer League. He missed summer league (and training camp) last season, so these seemingly half-organized pickup games could actually be an important step in his development. Sometimes, players just need to know they belong.

I sense that Bradley developed some confidence issues last season, and nobody could blame him. He was a raw, 20-year old rookie with only one college season under his belt, and not even a truly successful one  – in his sole college campaign, Bradley averaged only 11 points and 2 assists. It was natural for Bradley to be overwhelmed by the competition, the dazzling array of Hall of Famers in his locker room, and the new playbook he needed to learn without the assistance of a training camp.

But the time for being starstruck is over. Year two needs to be a major step up for Bradley. He should feel more comfort. He should know the plays. He should start to show signs of progress. Nobody expects Bradley to become an All-Star overnight. But it would be nice to occasionally see the existence of a few vital signs.

The Day 2 Impact League highlights are out, and Avery Bradley — during a game when he scored 14 points and dished 5 assists — made a nice cameo catching an alley-oop, then making a nifty dribble move and finishing with a mid-range jumper. Though I guess the headline already spilled the beans, we won’t mention how a Wes Matthews crossover had Bradley running the wrong direction.

But most importantly, Corey Maggette passed the ball. And there’s actually video evidence.

Avery Bradley just wants to improve, whether he does that in the Las Vegas, Boston, or somewhere overseas. With the NBA lockout potentially extending into the regular season, Bradley will give serious thought to playing in another country. Whatever is best for his development. (CSNNE)

Still, there’s no way to ignore the impact of not having an NBA season will have on younger players like Boston’s Avery Bradley.

Heading into this third season, Bradley is more concerned with being somewhere – anywhere – working on his game.

“If going overseas is going to be good for me, that’s what I’m going to do,” Bradley told Comcast SportsNet New England. “If I can improve my game overseas, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Bradley needs reps. He needs playing time. He needs to have the ball in his hands, running an offense, accruing experience that can only come from top-notch competition, rather than NBA garbage time.

But he also needs gym time to fill in the holes in his game. Bradley has all the physical tools of a successful point guard. Vertical leap? Check. Quickness? Check. Strength? Size? Check, Check. But right now, he has million dollar athleticism and five dollar skills.

Should Bradley sign overseas to get playing time? Stay in the States to work on his handle and jump shot? As long as he’s working hard and living in the gym, good things will happen. Based on all indications, Bradley is a humble, hungry young player who has nothing against hard work. He’ll get better.

But how much better will determine whether he has a role in Boston’s rotation next year and beyond.

P.S. – Bradley scored 14 points to go along with 5 assists in the Impact Basketball League yesterday. That would be phenomenal if Bradley did that in an NBA game, but then you hear about Josh Selby, who scored 42 points yesterday, or Kyle Lowry, who contributed 18 points and 20 assists, or Dahntay Jones, currently averaging 29 points per game, and you realize stats are easier to come by in summer league.

Jermaine O’Neal played limited minutes and added 6 points and 7 rebounds. I guess stats weren’t much easier to come by for him.

At some point last season — maybe it was when he returned from injury, or when he started protecting the basket like it was his only daughter, or when I learned he swatted shots and grabbed rebounds all with a broken wrist — Jermaine O’Neal won his way into my heart. His body wasn’t built for this anymore, it wasn’t built for 82 game schedules and back-to-back games and bumping and grinding in the low post, but O’Neal proved himself to be tough, a winner, a player who would give until his body wouldn’t let him give anymore.

The body is still the issue, and  it could keep him from playing further than this next season. In an interview with CSNNE, O’Neal admitted he will likely retire after the 2011-’12 season. (CSNNE)

Jermaine O’Neal told CSNNE.com that, barring an unexpected change of heart, which he says is unlikely, this will be his last season. …

“I’m going into my 16th year, so I know my time is near,” O’Neal said. “I know someday the ball is going to go flat; you have to plan for life after basketball and that’s what I have been doing.” …

“I have a 5-year-old son and a 12-year-old girl,” he said. “They want to spend a lot of time with Daddy. At this point in my career, it doesn’t make sense to go overseas and play for half-a-season. I want to be able to be ready and be fully prepared mentally and physically for what may be my last season.” …

“You never say never, but like I said earlier, my kids are getting older,” he said. “The only thing left that I want to do in this league is win a championship. That’s why I came to Boston last year, because I felt this was the best place for me to do that: Win a championship.”

O’Neal is not the first Celtic to be linked to possible retirement — Kevin Garnett said he can see the end of his career approaching, Ray Allen, 36 years old though aging quite slowly, likely won’t be around for too much longer, and Paul Pierce, though younger than Garnett and Allen, is already on the down slope of his Hall of Fame career. There will be an exodus of retirements within the next handful of years, and the Celtics will transform into the unrecognizable, a team devoid of the Big Three and reliant on Rajon Rondo — and hopefully another All-Star or two — to light the path into the future.

After admitting his plan to retire, O’Neal noted that only one goal remains unaccomplished on his career checklist: winning an NBA championship.

“For me now, it’s not about scoring or statistics,” O’Neal said. “I’ve proven that I can score in this league, do a lot of good things. For me now, it’s all about winning, being part of a winner. That’s my motivation.”

Perhaps he’s delusional to consider the Celtics championship contenders. They were smacked around by the Heat last season, they have just seven players on a roster that’s already over the salary cap, eight if you count E’Twaun Moore, whose contract is not guaranteed, and most significantly, the core that led Boston back to relevance, the core that won one championship and came minutes from another, is one year older. The NBA landscape is passing the Big Three Boston Celtics by; if they did not pass the Eastern Conference torch to the Miami Heat last season, Lebron James ripped it from their wrinkly fingers and battered them over the head with it.

But there’s always hope. What if Kevin Garnett returns just as mobile as he was last season? What if Ray Allen continues to stiff-arm the aging process? What if Paul Pierce holds his slow decline to a crawl? What if the Celtics re-sign Delonte West, fill out the rest of their bench with shooters, rebounders and knowledgeable defenders, and somehow, improbably, miraculously, arrive at the playoffs without a list of injuries longer than this column?

If everything goes right, if Danny Ainge makes the right moves, if the Big Three remain near the top of their games, if Jermaine O’Neal and the rest of his teammates somehow coax health out of bodies that aren’t necessarily built for this anymore, this 82 games of grinding and bumping and bruising and running and jumping, then the Celtics have a shot at winning a championship. Then O’Neal could retire on top, and the slew of retirements to follow in the coming years would be less painful.

If only everything goes right.