Of all the trips Etan Thomas has made to Boston, either when he was with Syracuse or with the Washington Wizards, the last one might have been the least necessary but the most important.

Thomas, a 6-foot-10 reserve center, could have taken the recent week off that the Wizards' rookies, young veterans and free agents spent playing in the Reebok Pro Summer League.

Brendan Haywood, whom he will share time with upfront, elected to stay away, while Kwame Brown came to Boston for a couple of days before taking off.

But after missing most of last season with a fractured orbital bone in his left eye, Thomas, whose three-year career has had more stops and starts than a municipal bus on a downtown route, felt Boston was the place for him to be to get his career jump-started again.

"I enjoyed it," said Thomas. "I haven't really played competitive ball since my injury, and it's still healing. So I wanted to come up here and learn the offense and get a jump on things. The coaches have been really positive with me, and I think it's great. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the new coach [Eddie Jordan] and his system. I used it as an opportunity to get more familiarized with basketball."