Robert Williams, aka "Timelord"

Joshyjess · Post #1061 » by **Joshyjess** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 6:16 pm

One of the greatest impacts RW has doesn't even show up on any charts. Just watch how many times players from other teams drive into the lane, see Rob waiting, and run out as fast as they can. He changes so many shots a game it's absolutely amazing. If players actually challenged him more, he'd probably be avering close to 8 blocks a game.

Hal14 · Post #1062 » by **Hal14** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 6:46 pm

Joshyjess wrote:One of the greatest impacts RW has doesn't even show up on any charts. Just watch how many times players from other teams drive into the lane, see Rob waiting, and run out as fast as they can. He changes so many shots a game it's absolutely amazing. If players actually challenged him more, he'd probably be avering close to 8 blocks a game.

Yeah. So many little things like that he does to impact winning. Another thing he does so well that is not a stat (maybe it should be?) is all of the times he jumps up and taps the ball back out to a teammate out on the perimeter to give us an extra possession..

sam_I_am · Post #1063 » by **sam_I_am** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:18 pm

Hal14 wrote:
Joshyjess wrote:One of the greatest impacts RW has doesn't even show up on any charts. Just watch how many times players from other teams drive into the lane, see Rob waiting, and run out as fast as they can. He changes so many shots a game it's absolutely amazing. If players actually challenged him more, he'd probably be avering close to 8 blocks a game.

Yeah. So many little things like that he does to impact winning. Another thing he does so well that is not a star (maybe it should be?) is all of the times he jumps up and taps the ball back out to a teammate out on the perimeter to give us an extra possession..

He is still rusty and making his share of dumb plays - likely due to rust. His backcourt violation/turnover just before halftime last night was egregious. Led to 3 pointer with 2.9 sec. left and killed a chance for final shot of half. Could have been a 5 pt swing. He has made a few lazy passes, fouled unnecessarily a bunch of times too. One area he has improved greatly is setting screens - he already looks like the best on the team.

ConstableGeneva · Post #1064 » by **ConstableGeneva** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:26 pm

Some things Timelord has added to the team since he came back (eye test only, no stats to back this up):
• cleaner defensive rebounding
• second chance opportunities
• bail-out option as a dumpoff guy/lob threat
• drives deterrent/rim protection
• screen-setting
• another quick ball-mover
• energy/hustle plays
• coolness factor
• relieves pressure/minutes off Horford
• well, he's better than Kornet/Griffin/Vonleh combined

Fencer reregistered · Post #1065 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:50 pm

Hal14 wrote:
jmr07019 wrote:25 mpg is not enough for Rob in the playoffs. He needs to be 30 plus. Benching Rob is quasi acceptable right now as I assume they’re just ramping him up and managing people’s expectations but don’t get confused…. Rob is not a 6th or 7th man on this team. He is our best big and should be starting. If Joe cannot see this he should not be the long term coach.

Sure, if this is a made up fantasy land where Rob's injury history doesn't exist..

With a plausible level of health consistency, Rob is very likely to be the best center on the team, and more generally one of the top players. But that doesn't quite imply he should start. The Celtics have had multiple championship seasons over the decades in which somebody lesser than their Sixth Man started over him.

Homerclease · Post #1066 » by **Homerclease** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 9:40 pm

Read on Twitter

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Smart2Nesmith43 · Post #1067 » by **Smart2Nesmith43** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 11:50 pm

Usually when guys shoot better from the field than the line they are terrible free throw shooters but Timelord is managing it while knocking down 80% of his FTs.

Post #1068 » by **djFan71** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:15 am

Smart2Nesmith43 wrote:Usually when guys shoot better from the field than the line they are terrible free throw shooters but Timelord is managing it while knocking down 80% of his FTs.

lol, that's insane.

ConstableGeneva · Post #1069 » by **ConstableGeneva** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:34 am

ConstableGeneva wrote:Some things Timelord has added to the team since he came back (eye test only, no stats to back this up):
• cleaner defensive rebounding
• second chance opportunities
• bail-out option as a dumpoff guy/lob threat
• drives deterrent/rim protection
• screen-setting
• another quick ball-mover
• energy/hustle plays
• coolness factor
• relieves pressure/minutes off Horford
• well, he's better than Kornet/Griffin/Vonleh combined

He's not human.

Read on Twitter

Ran from FT line to block a shot, bothered another shot, and recovered a defensive board to complete the possession. Freak.

Fencer reregistered · Post #1070 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:55 am

ConstableGeneva wrote:
ConstableGeneva wrote:Some things Timelord has added to the team since he came back (eye test only, no stats to back this up):
• cleaner defensive rebounding
• second chance opportunities
• bail-out option as a dumpoff guy/lob threat
• drives deterrent/rim protection
• screen-setting
• another quick ball-mover
• energy/hustle plays
• coolness factor
• relieves pressure/minutes off Horford
• well, he's better than Kornet/Griffin/Vonleh combined

He's not human.

Read on Twitter

Ran from FT line to block a shot, bothered another shot, and recovered a defensive board to complete the possession. Freak.

"Oh bother", said Poohel, "Tiglord is jumping around."

Bostondave · Post #1071 » by **Bostondave** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 10:32 pm

This kid is just cursed with not being durable. It's happened before. Guys that should have been All World but their bodies just betrayed them. I fear that might be the case with this kid and that's a crying shame because I absolutely love this one. He's magic and could do amazing things game and career wise. I just don't think he's gonna be around much now or later.

Homerclease · Post #1072 » by **Homerclease** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 3:37 pm

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Homerclease · Post #1073 » by **Homerclease** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 3:41 pm

Read on Twitter

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celticfan42487 · Post #1074 » by **celticfan42487** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 4:20 pm

Bostondave wrote:This kid is just cursed with not being durable. It's happened before. Guys that should have been All World but their bodies just betrayed them. I fear that might be the case with this kid and that's a crying shame because I absolutely love this one. He's magic and could do amazing things game and career wise. I just don't think he's gonna be around much now or later.

I have no idea why our #1 goal wasn't going into the off season.

Looking at a 36 year old Horford, a Timelord out for half the season, and jack **** for the rest of our bigs.

And it wasn't with our MLE to find the best TimeLord replacement we could find.

If we even went out and got Drummond instead of Gallo right now to play these minutes we could limit TimeLord to 15 mpg in the regular season and our rebounding and defense wouldn't fall off a cliff and keep him fresh for when we need to ramp him up slowly in the final month or two of the season until we unless him for 36 mpg in the ECF and Finals.

That should have been priority #1. He's our entire rebounding and our entire defensive ability because we refused to get any other big who is athletic, can rebound, and is a shot blocker on the team.

Even a blind man could have seen that should have been our #1 priority. Especially if they had a Brogdon trade in the works to help with the offense.

Andrew McCeltic · Post #1075 » by **Andrew McCeltic** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 4:42 pm

Bostondave wrote:This kid is just cursed with not being durable. It's happened before. Guys that should have been All World but their bodies just betrayed them. I fear that might be the case with this kid and that's a crying shame because I absolutely love this one. He's magic and could do amazing things game and career wise. I just don't think he's gonna be around much now or later.

Does anyone know why he’s “injury-prone”? Like Brogdon has a knee cartilage issue I think.. Everyone knew the book on Brandon Roy.. IT was an injury waiting to happen..

Occasionally guys get more durable with age, thinking of Grant Hill and Marcus Camby

Andrew McCeltic · Post #1076 » by **Andrew McCeltic** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 4:55 pm

ConstableGeneva wrote:Some things Timelord has added to the team since he came back (eye test only, no stats to back this up):
• cleaner defensive rebounding
• second chance opportunities
• bail-out option as a dumpoff guy/lob threat
• drives deterrent/rim protection
• screen-setting
• another quick ball-mover
• energy/hustle plays
• coolness factor
• relieves pressure/minutes off Horford
• well, he's better than Kornet/Griffin/Vonleh combined

He’s put on muscle and it’s making his life a lot easier on the boards. He looks a step slower to me, unless he’s being asked to stay in the paint, but he’s making up the difference with his length. Curious how much agility comes back as he gets in shape and heals up.

Andrew McCeltic · Post #1077 » by **Andrew McCeltic** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 4:59 pm

Homerclease wrote:

Read on Twitter
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Thought this bit was interesting:

With Al Horford showing a drop-off in play on both ends of the floor in recent weeks (particularly with his rim protection), the time has come to re-insert Rob Williams back into the starting five for Joe Mazzulla.

zoyathedestroya · Post #1078 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Sun Jan 8, 2023 7:22 pm

Watch on YouTube

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Fencer reregistered · Post #1079 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Mon Jan 9, 2023 9:40 am

Let's try to compare Rob's current play to what he did in the Finals.

It looks to me like last June:
-- He jumped at least as high as he's jumping now.
-- He did not have the amazingly quick second jump he usually has (and has now).
-- He had some other atypical limitations back then that I have trouble specifically identifying.

Watch on YouTube

bigfoot_cryptozoology · Post #1080 » by **bigfoot_cryptozoology** » Mon Jan 9, 2023 1:00 pm

You simply can't depend on Timelord.

He's in a class (though at a lower level) with AD and Zion, who make a great deal of difference on the court
but are physically fragile and miss chunks of games.

“My teammates wanted me to dunk but my knee buckled a little bit,” Williams told reporters, per NBC Sports postgame coverage.
https://nesn.com/2023/01/celtics-robert-williams-really-surprised-he-got-chance-for-highlight-reel-block/

For his own and the team's good, the Celtics need to injury/load manage him the rest of the season, to somehow try to keep him healthy for the playoffs.

But he can never stay healthy.

So, as many have suggested, the Celtics need to acquire another big. Toss in Horford's decline and it's a sizeable priority,
if you want to win a Championship.