WALTHAM, Mass. - Something appeared different about the Big Three when they took the podium at Celtics Media Day on Monday afternoon at the team’s practice facility.

It wasn’t any hardware on their fingers since Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen won’t receive their championship rings until the season-opener next month.

It was that they finally looked the part of bona-fide leaders.

A championship will do that to you.
 
One year ago, it didn’t matter what they said when they got up on the podium. Sure, it was all cool that Danny Ainge had pulled off the miraculous when he somehow got the trio together.

However, they were each identified as some of the best the NBA had to offer – sans a championship. None of them were considered stellar leaders and it was justified. They could talk all about coming together for the ultimate goal, but they had a combined 32 seasons without a title.

I wasn’t buying it. It was just generic player-talk. You know, when players babble what they feel they are supposed to say after coming to a new organization.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Now it’s different.

The C’s rolled through the regular season and overcame adversity in the playoffs when they were forced to go the distance against Atlanta and Cleveland.

Then they took out the battle-tested Detroit Pistons and then stomped on Kobe and the Lakers.
 
James Posey may be history, but losing his leadership isn’t nearly as critical as it was a year ago when he was basically the one guy who actually played and had tasted the ultimate success.

Now Posey may be gone, but virtually everyone on this roster of note has a title.

They can walk with a swagger because they’ve talked the talk.

From K.G. all the way down to Scal.

Even Kendrick Perkins can justifiably scowl at the refs and toss up his arms in disbelief every single time he commits a foul and not look nearly as ridiculous.

That empty spot on the wall of HealthPoint is now occupied with banner No. 17, but that isn’t enough.

"We don’t want to get to this level and take a step backward,” Garnett said.

"Once you’ve tasted it, you don’t want to let it go,” Pierce added.

The Celtics won’t give it up easily. Trust me. They’ll take that championship swagger with them each and every time they take to the court this season.

"We don’t have a huge hangover,” said Celtics reserve big man Brian Scalabrine, the most honest and forthcoming of anyone on the team. “And I thought for sure we would.”

Instead of settling for one title, this group wants to prove its no fluke.

"All those great Celtics players and teams did it more than once,” Pierce said. “That’s the challenge now.”

Pierce will turn 31 shortly after this season begins and he’s the youngster of the trio. Allen turned 33 this past summer and Garnett is 32.

Let’s be realistic. There are only a few years left for the core of this franchise to produce anything close to a dynasty.

Posey’s leadership can be replaced. It’s his defensive abilities that will be far more difficult to plug.

If Tony Allen buys into the role of becoming a defensive-stopper, he has the natural ability. Rookies J.R. Giddens and Bill Walker are at least a year away.

But the Celtics can still win another title.

"Everyone has to get better,” second-year big man Glen Davis said.

Rajon Rondo will need to become more consistent than he was a year ago and his perimeter shot will have to continue to improve. Davis was admittedly a deer in headlights at times during his rookie season, but his minutes should increase dramatically with the apparent retirement of P.J. Brown. Maybe Gabe Pruitt is ready to turn into a legitimate backup point guard that this team needs since Eddie House and Sam Cassell were unreliable in that role a year ago.

"The three of us aren’t going to be dealing with a lot of questions about ’08,” Garnett said.

I wouldn’t have believed it a year ago.

Jeff Goodman is a senior basketball writer for FOXSports.com.