BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – For Paul Pierce, last year was a low point.

Before the start of his sixth professional season, the Celtics swingman saw his co-star, Antoine Walker, traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Coach Jim O’Brien resigned in January, and Pierce seemed to lose interest as the team limped to a 36-win season under interim coach John Carroll and was swept from the first round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers.

Pierce averaged 23 points, his lowest since 1999-2000. His 40-percent field goal percentage and 30-percent shooting from behind the three-point arc were both career lows.

The Celtics began training camp Tuesday at the University of Vermont with the expectation that if the team is going to turn things around, Pierce must do better. With a new coach and a new supporting cast, he may now have the tools to do so.

“You can’t leave everything on Paul,” said point guard Gary Payton, perhaps the biggest offseason acquisition for the Celtics after Coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers.

“He’s been trying to do it for years here,” Payton said. “He needs some help and needs to be able to go out and play basketball instead of trying to dictate what everyone else does. He needs a veteran like me to take some pressure off, and that’s what’s going to happen.”

Despite his struggles, Pierce ranked fifth in the league in points last season. But without Walker to shoulder some of the load, he seemed impatient at times and often rushed his shots.

Rivers thinks the team has been molded in a way that can help Pierce to succeed this season.

“Gary has the ability to get Paul the ball in the spot he should get it. And I think with Jiri (Welch) and Ricky (Davis) back, and Paul more comfortable with them I don’t think Paul will feel the need to force shots now,” Rivers said.

Pierce’s sees the new season as a chance to start over. Despite being a veteran on a team that includes five players with a year or less of NBA experience, he sees the tools to succeed and seems at comfort with the situation.

“I look at this camp as something refreshing for me,” he said. “It’s like a new start I feel. You got a whole new staff, a whole new system, a whole new set of players, it’s almost like starting over, but I’m already seven years in.”

Playing with veterans like Pierce and Payton should help rookies Tony Allen, Al Jefferson, and Delonte West adjust to NBA life.

Add in veterans Mark Blount, Davis, Raef LaFrenz, Walter McCarty and Welsh, and Rivers has something to work with.

“Paul didn’t forget how to shoot last year, he was just put in some positions where he felt he needed to win the game for his team,” Rivers said. “This year I’m hoping he doesn’t have to do that.”

AP-ES-10-05-04 1639EDT