WALTHAM, Mass. -- What does Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens think of the new one-footed shots that Isaiah Thomas is integrating into his offensive arsenal?

"Shoot it," said Stevens. "It's great. Hey, creative players have to make creative plays. If you’re 5-9 or 5-10, and if you’re the kinda scorer that he is, if you’re going to draw a ton of attention like he does, traditional is not going to work. So just because somebody says it’s untraditional or just because somebody deems it to be unsolid or whatever the case may be, the great players have those plays in their game.

"And if you wanna be great, you better keep being creative," Stevens added.

Thomas, who said he studied film of Steve Nash in the offseason, spends time before each practice working on one-footed shots from various spots on the court. He's expressed a desire to find new ways to score, particularly when defenses target him like the Cleveland Cavaliers did during Boston's brief stint in the 2014-15 playoffs.

Stevens has raved about Thomas both as a scorer and playmaker this preseason. Thomas is averaging 15.8 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and 5.3 assists per game.

"You look at just his stats -- he hasn’t played quite 100 minutes and he’s shooting great from the field; he’s making a lot of the right plays; he is moving the ball; teams are starting to guard him different ways, which is good for him to see," Stevens said. "I feel really comfortable with how he’s playing heading into the regular season."

Before Saturday's practice, Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck stopped mid-conversation to marvel at Thomas working on his one-footed shots. Grousbeck raved about what Thomas has brought to the team and said both Stevens and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge had told him the team would be "notably better" by adding him at February's trade deadline. The Celtics went 24-12 to close out the regular season and surged to the No. 7 seed in the East.

What exactly did Stevens expect from Thomas?

"First of all, I thought he’d really impact our team," Stevens said. "I thought his ability to get into the paint would be like a shot in the arm for our team. From an efficiency standpoint, on the offensive end of the floor, both at the end of last year and through the first four preseason games, he’s just playing at such a high level; he’s such a good fit. I think that I thought he’d have a huge impact, but I think he’s probably --- and my expectations were high -- but I think he’s probably been at the top of those at least."

INJURY REPORT: David Lee (illness) sits out

David Lee was the only player absent from practice Sunday, as the team said he was sitting out with an illness Boston can't seem to get out of its locker room.

Lee was under the weather during the team's trip to Europe but played in both games overseas. Some of his teammates haven't been as fortunate. Amir Johnson missed a game in Madrid with illness, while Marcus Smart missed two games in New York this week while battling strep throat.

Stevens said he believes at least half of the team's 20 players in camp have battled illness at some point or another during camp.

One other health note: Jae Crowder, who did not play in the second half of Friday's loss in New York, was sporting tape over his right wrist and thumb as the Celtics stretched before Sunday's practice.

Rozier, Smart ready for action

Smart and Terry Rozier (knee) returned to practice activities on Saturday, and Stevens said on Sunday that both should expect to see plenty of floor time this week when Boston plays three games in five days to wrap up its preseason slate.

"I think it’s really important that guys like Terry, who sat out all last week, guys like Marcus, who sat out last week, play a lot. Just to get themselves going again," said Stevens.

That's fine by Smart.

"This is gonna be huge for me. My body is weak from being in bed all day and my conditioning is down," he said. "The season is right around the corner, opening night, so it’s important that I get my conditioning back up these next couple games."

Rozier tweaked his knee early in camp and eventually developed swelling that required him to have the knee drained. He missed a week of on-court activity, including the team's two games in New York.

"I feel real good. It’s just great to be back out there," Rozier said. "You want to pace yourself. I’m just now coming back, so you want to be cautious with stuff, but I feel good, so I’m just ready to get out there for a full practice with the other guys."

No trims in sight -- yet

Stevens said he wasn't certain when the team would start trimming down its roster. Boston is carrying 20 players, four of whom are training camp invites who could be funneled to the Maine Red Claws of the D-League. But Boston also has 16 guaranteed contracts and must shed one before the start of the regular season.

"I haven’t talked to Danny about the final cuts at all," Stevens said. "In fact, I haven’t done that really in my years here. They usually just tell me, ‘Hey, by the way, we have to make cuts soon.'"

Perry Jones III, acquired this offseason from Oklahoma City, faces an uphill battle to stick on the roster and logged a DNP on Friday in New York. Stevens said he'll play more this week.

"I think the biggest thing for Perry is, Perry has a chance to be a very very good multipositional defender, and he’s got a chance to be a guy that can play off closeouts, make shots or play switches," Stevens said. "So being able to do those things regularly is a huge key. But I’ve been impressed with what Perry can do, what he has done, especially in practice."

An Indy guy in Boston

An Indianapolis native, Stevens grew up a fan of the Colts and was friendly with many members of the staff there while coaching at Butler University. Invariably, when the Patriots and Colts renew their rivalry, Stevens is asked about the matchup and tries to avoid upsetting either side.

"One of the things that I’ve kinda found since being in it and being in sports is you just tend to appreciate what good organizations do," Stevens said. "They share a lot of similarities -- more so than probably people want to talk about. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of good people in those organizations and there’s a lot of hard workers in those organizations."

Stevens has a son named Brady and has found the name is a lot more popular here than in Indy.

"What a wild twist. When my Brady first went to day care there were Peytons in his class," Stevens said. "And we had named him because we liked the name from a kid that I was actually recruiting [at Butler]. I didn’t even think about [the Patriots quarterback]. But now he fits right in. As I’ve said many times, we’ve got kids on our street, dogs on our streets; we got a lot of Bradys."