Robert Williams, aka "Timelord"

[sam_I_am]

Rob is a good rim-runner and shot blocker who can pass a bit, but he's also 6'8 and has a very limited offensive game. Javale McGee and Bamba have scored more points than him this season. Rob is great for us, but he's not ever going to be a top 3 center in the league. And that's ok.

Limited offensively? Rob's offensive rating right now this season is 143.29. That's the highest offensive rating for a player....in NBA history.

Gobert has been a top 3 center in the league for the past few years. what does he do that rob does not? Rob is a better passer, and 5 years younger than Gobert so still getting better.

Rob is 6'8" but plays much bigger. He's got a 7'6" wingspan and a 40" vertical leap. He was actually measured at 6'10" before the draft: https://www.nba.com/stats/articles/2018-nba-draft-profile-robert-williams/

Bball reference’s offensive and defensive rating are pretty misleading, to be fair. The Celtics have a 111.3 offensive rating when Rob plays, and 108.1 when he sits.

Rob is definitely limited offensively, but it’s not a knock. Because he’s such an elite threat as a rim runner, they are much better offensively with him on the court.

Baynes became an effective 3 point shooter starting with the Celtics and getting even better in Phoenix. Rob is a much better looking free throw shooter and mid range shooter even though he hardly ever attempts them in games. He is often behind 3 point line with the ball and not a defender within 10 ft of him. It is inevitable that he adds the wide open 3 pt shot to his game. I bet we see a few as soon as next season.

[darrendaye]

Wow at the Ft percentage.

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YUP
Robert Williams III ist ein bucket

If he can do this, one dribble drives, jump hooks, and a turnaround jump shot the defense will be even more **** than they are with his all-time high offensive rating.

DO IT!

And if he can throw in an occasional attempt to draw contact and increase his FTr that would be nice too.

[Feed Your Head]

I think it’s a battle between Jaylen, Rob, and Smart over whose our second most important player. But I think Rob has really taken the crown, he’s just a massive game changer.

[Fencer reregistered]

If that's really ALL of his jumpers ... that isn't very many.

But his form looks nicely consistent. And while he has a slow release, so do many other bigs.

[steefP2]

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/hidden-gems-robert-williams-celtics/zw4cxlj1httzlmdwnkyw6ayz

[LewisnotMiller]

If that's really ALL of his jumpers ... that isn't very many.

But his form looks nicely consistent. And while he has a slow release, so do many other bigs.

I think a slow release is fine when you literally just want to keep the defence honest.
I don't think we're looking for him to jumpshoot against an engaged defender anytime soon/ever.

Be interesting to see if his form holds over increased volume.

[LewisnotMiller]

I think it’s a battle between Jaylen, Rob, and Smart over whose our second most important player. But I think Rob has really taken the crown, he’s just a massive game changer.

Every time he has even a slight limp (like after Smart collided with him the other day) my heart is in my mouth. He's become very important, and Ime really seems to have worked out how to free him up to impact games.

[zoyathedestroya]

If that's really ALL of his jumpers ... that isn't very many.

But his form looks nicely consistent. And while he has a slow release, so do many other bigs.

I think a slow release is fine when you literally just want to keep the defence honest.
I don't think we're looking for him to jumpshoot against an engaged defender anytime soon/ever.

Be interesting to see if his form holds over increased volume.

Does he have the touch for those half-hook floater thingies? Could look to Jarrett Allen for a bit of game near the rim that isn't a dunk.

[LewisnotMiller]

If that's really ALL of his jumpers ... that isn't very many.

But his form looks nicely consistent. And while he has a slow release, so do many other bigs.

I think a slow release is fine when you literally just want to keep the defence honest.
I don't think we're looking for him to jumpshoot against an engaged defender anytime soon/ever.

Be interesting to see if his form holds over increased volume.

Does he have the touch for those half-hook floater thingies? Could look to Jarrett Allen for a bit of game near the rim that isn't a dunk.

I kinda think he does, and he seems to have been a hard worker based on development. I'm basing this mostly on a decent mid range stroke/free throw shot, plus generally soft hands.

[Shak_Celts]

I think a slow release is fine when you literally just want to keep the defence honest.
I don't think we're looking for him to jumpshoot against an engaged defender anytime soon/ever.

Be interesting to see if his form holds over increased volume.

Does he have the touch for those half-hook floater thingies? Could look to Jarrett Allen for a bit of game near the rim that isn't a dunk.

I kinda think he does, and he seems to have been a hard worker based on development. I'm basing this mostly on a decent mid range stroke/free throw shot, plus generally soft hands.

I cry a little inside every time rob stands there wide open while we take 10 seconds to get the ball back to the jays, SHOOT IT!! I believe in him, I wish the coaches did too. even if he isn't good in practice, he's too young not to try and build!

[Feed Your Head]

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[zoyathedestroya]

Ironic thing is each of our candidates for defensive team hurts each other's case to be part of the defensive team or win DPOY.

[Fencer reregistered]

Ironic thing is each of our candidates for defensive team hurts each other's case to be part of the defensive team or win DPOY.

You're right.

Even so, the Celtics have enough buzz on defense that our two buzziest guys (Marcus and Rob) could conceivably make teams together.

And neither has much chance at DPOY anyway. Gobert still has the biggest rep among the centers, and some of the younger perimeter guys seem to have leapfrogged Smart in defensive esteem.

[Fencer reregistered]

This article raises an interesting question.

Rob's current role on defense is to guard the opponent's worst shooter in the corner, but help frequently away from him.

OK -- what if the opponent's worst shooter doesn't actually play in the corner?

https://www.celticsblog.com/2022/3/8/22967027/how-a-switching-defense-adjusts-star-play-boston-celtics-ime-udoka-kevin-durant-ja-morant-trae-young

[Hal14]

Does he have the touch for those half-hook floater thingies? Could look to Jarrett Allen for a bit of game near the rim that isn't a dunk.

I kinda think he does, and he seems to have been a hard worker based on development. I'm basing this mostly on a decent mid range stroke/free throw shot, plus generally soft hands.

I cry a little inside every time rob stands there wide open while we take 10 seconds to get the ball back to the jays, SHOOT IT!! I believe in him, I wish the coaches did too. even if he isn't good in practice, he's too young not to try and build!

I hear ya. I think he's always working on his jumper. Right now. though, he's like not a knock down shooter in that 18-20 foot range. So until then, it's a numbers game - he (and the coaching staff) probably figures that if he takes that 18-20 footer with plenty of time left on the shot clock, there's what a 30-40, maybe 50% chance it goes in. Instead, they'd rather keep working for a better shot, one that is more in the wheelhouse for 1 of the 5 players on the court at the time, which has a higher chance of going in, or even if it's a slightly lower chance of going in, if it does go in it gives us 3 points instead of 2..

You watch Capela, Gobert, Steven Adams, Richaun Holmes, etc. they do the same thing when they get the ball that far from the basket. They stand there and look for either a cutter or someone out on perimeter to pass to or dribble hand-off to..

[Hal14]

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Doesn't surprise me.

If he's not at Gobert level defensively yet, he's getting awfully close.

Side note - it's pretty crazy that stats like this even exist. Just shows how far we've come with technology, machine learning, analytics, etc.

[24istheLAW]

If that's really ALL of his jumpers ... that isn't very many.

But his form looks nicely consistent. And while he has a slow release, so do many other bigs.

Slow release is fine. But I must say, while I'm no shooting coach, I don't think his form looks great for extending range. He repeats his form well, but he doesn't square up and he finesses the ball with his guide hand a bit. His shooting form looks very specialized to that range to my eye, and I don't think it's a coincidence that, while he takes them from every angle to the basket, he's always roughly the same distance away.

He was a stretch big prospect as a recruit to TAMU, so he clearly has been thought of as a potential shooter in the past though.


EDIT: Here's the guy's shot chart in the NBA

[Shak_Celts]

I kinda think he does, and he seems to have been a hard worker based on development. I'm basing this mostly on a decent mid range stroke/free throw shot, plus generally soft hands.

I cry a little inside every time rob stands there wide open while we take 10 seconds to get the ball back to the jays, SHOOT IT!! I believe in him, I wish the coaches did too. even if he isn't good in practice, he's too young not to try and build!

I hear ya. I think he's always working on his jumper. Right now. though, he's like not a knock down shooter in that 18-20 foot range. So until then, it's a numbers game - he (and the coaching staff) probably figures that if he takes that 18-20 footer with plenty of time left on the shot clock, there's what a 30-40, maybe 50% chance it goes in. Instead, they'd rather keep working for a better shot, one that is more in the wheelhouse for 1 of the 5 players on the court at the time, which has a higher chance of going in, or even if it's a slightly lower chance of going in, if it does go in it gives us 3 points instead of 2..

You watch Capela, Gobert, Steven Adams, Richaun Holmes, etc. they do the same thing when they get the ball that far from the basket. They stand there and look for either a cutter or someone out on perimeter to pass to or dribble hand-off to..

They get taken right out of the playoffs too. I want Rob to evolve to where he's at least not afraid to shoot. Then again, I keep seeing the stat on his offensive impact so wth can I really quibble about?

[Hal14]

I think it’s a battle between Jaylen, Rob, and Smart over whose our second most important player. But I think Rob has really taken the crown, he’s just a massive game changer.

I think that's fair.

Jaylen, rob and smart each have a case for being our 2nd most important player.

Smart's case is based mostly on the on/off numbers and net rating numbers for this season - especially since december/january. some of them paint him as extremely valuable, combine that with the numbers someone tweeted recently that showed that like january 10 or something his usage % has more than doubled since before january 10 or something like that which obviously shows you that earlier in the season he was just standing in the corner and then as the season has gone on, he's been more of a floor general, quarterbacking, facilitating the offense more and voila the team is doing way better than it was before combine that with first-team all defense he's continued to play

Jaylen's case is simple - this team really only has 2 legit scorers, guys who can light it up and go for 20 or even 30+ points on any given night. Obviously that's jaylen and jayson. you take 1 of those guys out of the lineup and the team is now relying way too much on the other guy. Plus jaylen is a strong defender and has improved his passing

Rob's case - right up there with smart in terms of the on/off numbers and net rating stuff. As Udoka was quoted saying the other day "he's the anchor of our defense", rob is the one calling out coverages defensively, guarding 1-5, right up there as one of the best defenders in the league, and on the offensive end it's the combination of his energy + being arguably the best lob target in the league + when he's out on the perimeter he's almost like a point center out there, getting the ball where it needs to go, hitting cutters, making the dribble hand-off to keep the play flowing, etc.

These 3 guys along with tatum has developed into a really solid core.

[zoyathedestroya]

I could be wrong but Timelord has a bonus incentive if he doesn't miss any more RS games (69 games), is selected for All-Defense, and if team reaches ECF.