The Celtics have finally signed rookie guard Lester Hudson.

Hudson worked out all summer long without a contract, but that changed on Monday.

"I was very anxious about it," he told the Boston Herald. "But it's a great feeling. I got to work out with all of the guys on this team."

Hudson, the 58th overall pick in June's NBA Draft out of Tennessee-Martin, is the 15th man on Boston's roster.

Celtics forward Kevin Garnett pronounced himself close to fully healthy and ready to go on Monday.

He has been scrimmaging 5-on-5 with his teammates for the past week, a strong sign that his rehabilitation from right knee surgery is close to complete.

"It's up and down, man. There ain't no standing around in 5-on-5," Garnett told the media.

The future Hall of Famer added that the severity of the surgery surprised him slightly.

"No surprises other than the severeness of it -- I didn't know it was that bad," Garnett added. "They evaluate you from A to Z, but until they actually get in there and see what the problem really is, then you know a 1-to-10 on how severe it was. It was pretty severe, but the best thing about is that I got it out of the way, and my leg is almost 100 percent going forward. Better than anything I'm playing without any pain, which is something I really haven't had for some time now."

The bone spurs in his knee were considerably larger than doctors had expected.

Rajon Rondo referred questions about his contract status with the Celtics, which expires after this season, to agent Bill Duffy.

"Ask my agent," Rondo said. "I don't really think about that (contract), I just try to focus on camp. If it's going to happen it's going to happen. If not, I'll play it out. I want to be wherever I'm wanted the next 10 years; if Danny wants me, I'll be here the next 10 years. I have sat down with Danny, but we didn't speak about contract, we talked about expectations for the season. I try to focus on -- trying to get a ring, got to get one this year. I don't think it will be on my mind, I won't alow it to affect me when I play. But, of course, everyone wants security and it would be great if I could sign now.

Rondo said he weighs about 186 pounds, about 11 pounds more than last season:

"We didn't win it last year and we felt we should have won it, regardless if people got hurt, we should have got the job done, which we didn't," Rondo said. "And, we're even better this year, I believe. We've got to get our chemistry together and we've got to believe in each other throughout adversity and continue to stick together.

"Regardless of how many games we win in the regular season, I think we can win the championship, that's the bottom line. I'm not going to say we can win 67 games this year, or anything like that. But we should definitely get the job done and win it, that's my opinion."

Celtics star Paul Pierce believes that the team will contend for a championship over the next handful of years.

"We put a team like this together knowing most championship contenders have like a five- or six-year window," Pierce told the Boston Globe. "This is our third year. Hopefully we have a few more years to compete but were trying to get it done now."

While it's conceivable that the Celtics could contend for a title for several more years, there are some question marks about the near future.

Ray Allen is entering the final year of his contract and has made it known that he's interested in an extension.

Trade rumors involving Rajon Rondo swirled this summer and Pierce said recently that he sees himself playing for another four seasons, the first indication he's given to life after basketball.

Paul Pierce believes that when healthy, the Celtics are the team to beat in the NBA.

"Before the season even started last year, I was asked, 'What is going to stop y'all from winning it all?' " Pierce told Yahoo! Sports. "The first thing I said was, 'If we're healthy, we're going to win it all.' And I'm going to say it again: 'If we are healthy, we are going to win it all.'

"I honestly believe that. I think we're the best team in the NBA, healthy."

Kevin Garnett missed 25 games last season, including the playoffs, because of a knee injury that required offseason surgery.

Dan Dickau had a standing invitation to Boston's training camp but elected to take his shot with the Suns instead.

Phoenix already has 13 players under contract and is unlikely to add another player but their system provides a better showcase for Dickau to potentially pickup with another team.

"This summer, I was just going to be as patient as I could," Dickau said after playing pickup games with the Suns on Wednesday. "There were other European teams that showed interest and wanted to make an offer. I told them I want to be as patient as I can, knowing there probably wasn?t going to be a guaranteed deal. But if I was patient, maybe there?d be a good opportunity to go to camp with a team. If you play well, you never know what happens."

Rasheed Wallace says the Celtics are ready to get the preseason underway.

"With the caliber of guys on the team," Wallace told the Boston Globe, "with Paul [Pierce], Kevin [Garnett], Ray [Allen], Big Baby [Glen Davis], a whole lot of guys, it's going to be fun. We're looking forward to it. We're pretty much tired of beating up on each other and we're looking forward to that first [exhibition] game against Houston [Oct. 7].

"The younger guys are ready, they're in the gym working hard every day, and it's going to work out for us, in my opinion."

Wallace has spent time getting used to the community in Boston, which he described as much different only cities.

"Definitely, guys are huge Pats fans, huge Red Sox fans," Wallace added. "They support their teams well up here and that's what a city should do. You have a whole lot of professional teams - there's five up here - and they're behind them 100 percent and that's good. That's what a community, a city, needs."

Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine chose not to play basketball all summer after dealing with three concussions in a month last season.

"I didn't play any basketball," Scalabrine told WEEI.com. "I didn't want to risk getting a concussion in that environment. So I just didn't play any basketball and then I've been playing since I got back here."

He began playing roughly three weeks ago when he arrived in Boston, and said that he doesn't plan to be limited this season.

"We're just going to take it day by day and see what happens," Scalabrine said. "The only time you're really going to know is until you take a blow. It's going to happen one time or another, just how I respond to it is going to be key."

Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca said on Thursday that he wants to succeed late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

"It is time for me to give back to this country and this commonwealth," Pagliuca said when announcing his bid for Democratic nomination.

Pagliuca made his announcement at TD Bank Garden, home of the Celtics and the NHL's Boston Bruins.

Kevin Garnett is making steady progress in his recovery from knee surgery, but the Celtics are being cautious with the future Hall of Famer.

"Kevin looks good, he's in here working out every day," Celtics president Danny Ainge told the Boston Globe. "He's doing his training, but he's not playing full-court basketball yet.

"We're taking it as slow and as cautious as we can with him. He's anxious and he has a ton of energy, but I think he gets it," Ainge added. "We don't have bodyguards on him to keep him from working too hard. He's on the program with the staff."

Garnett played in just 57 games last season and missed the playoffs after injuring his right knee. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs on May 26.