BOSTON — Most of the talk surrounding the Boston Celtics and their bevy of Team USA participants focused on the intangible of all intangibles when it comes to being a good team - chemistry.

The time spent together on and off the floor can do nothing but aid the Celtics in their quest to put as much distance between this team and last season’s squad that by all accounts finished what was a disappointing year for the franchise.

But as much as developing chemistry is important, there’s another benefit from having so many players involved with the FIBA Basketball World Cup this summer - conditioning.

The games they played, the practices in between those games, finding the balance between rest and recovery, all those things should pay off immediately for the Celtics when training camp opens next week.

Indeed the impact of the FIBA Basketball World Cup was felt by Boston more than any other NBA team with the Celtics having a league-high six participants.

In addition to the Team USA contingent of Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, other Celtics players competing in the World Cup included Daniel Theis (Germany) and Vincent Poirier (France).

And while most of the Team USA players suffered some form of an injury that either sidelined them or limited them at some point during World Cup play, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens expects to have a full slate of players healthy when camp opens.

But the conditioning that those players experienced with their respective teams this summer, will be especially handy in the coming days with a short preseason schedule.

“The preseason is so short with the three weeks now,” Stevens said. “You start on (October 1) and you play (the first regular-season game) on the twenty-third.”

It puts a greater emphasis on players using the offseason to condition their bodies for the wear and tear of playing games that’ll begin in earnest soon.

In past years, it wasn’t all that unusual for players to begin camp with a little extra baggage around the waistline, and use the month or so of preseason games and practices to whip their bodies into playing shape just in time for the regular season.

“Maybe in the past you come to camp to get in shape,” Stevens said.

But now?

“You gotta be ready to roll,” he said. “It’s one of the benefits for the guys that played overseas. They got a lot of time conditioning. And you just have to be mentally prepared for games to be right around the corner.”

Stevens added, “you get a couple of warm-up games, practices games to get our legs underneath us. And then we go right into the lion’s den early. So, it should be a lot of fun. Our guys are excited to get after it.”

Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.