The Time Lord: Welcome Robert Williams!

[Tiny ball]

Meh. I’m not really worried. Not an ideal start but not every rookie is perfect from day one.

I’m not comparing them as players but Embiid was pretty bad when he first got to the Sixers. Staying up till really late playing games or watching ****, not anywhere near as serious as he should have been.

Maybe Williams is similar. The NBA is a big shock for a lot of these guys, they need a bit of a kick up the arse so to speak. If we were a **** lottery team like the Kings I would be concerned because those teams leave immature players on their own a lot of the time and they develop **** habits.

We’ve got Brad as coach and Horford, Kyrie and Smart (hopefully) as leaders that won’t stand for any BS and will show him how to be an NBA player. Plus Tatum and Brown who work hard and are shining examples of taking things seriously from day one.

Embiid had excuses like injuries and the death of his brother. This guy is just unprofessional as people reported.

Is he not from really small town in middle of nowhere? He seemed to make it to the games in college. Best if they located him very close to practice facility. Send limousine after him for games. He is just not ready to drive around Boston and be on time. Driving in city for small town people is nightmare.

This is going to be huge adjustment for him.

[Tiny ball]

Kid needs KG to come live at his house for the entire season.

I think he also needs one of those apartments at Boston Landing--and no car, just to be grounded there for the year.

Great idea.

[Ben-N1ce]

I didn't think this is what they meant when they said we drafted a sleeper.

[Fidel Sarcasmo]

I didn't think this is what they meant when they said we drafted a sleeper.

Excellent post

[radcot]

I didn't think this is what they meant when they said we drafted a sleeper.

Great line -- let's use it to put this incident to bed unless (hopefully not "until"!) Williams gives us further reason for concern.

[Scoonie]

I didn't want to draft Mitchell Robinson due to things like this. I never expected Robert Williams III to be pulling this stuff, especially considering he already played two years of high D1 basketball.

[Larry Legend 33]

Yeah I (and many others) said him sleeping through his conference call was a worrying first sign. People told us to relax, and that it was understandable. Those people need to stand up and admit they were wrong, we had a right to be concerned.

[cloverleaf]

So the C's knew already this was a potential big issue. They got a big red flag waved at them with his telephone presser.

But they knew he was scheduled to fly from Shreveport to Boston on the day that practice started--and they didn't say anything? (Reportedly they were aware of his plans.) Williams now has a very well-respected agent that the C's have a lot of experience with. They should have put some pressure on him to get his butt back on Saturday--and let him know it is neither wise nor acceptable to start his first day of work thousands of miles and upwards of a dozen states away without a massively good cause.

[cloverleaf]

Yeah I (and many others) said him sleeping through his conference call was a worrying first sign. People told us to relax, and that it was understandable. Those people need to stand up and admit they were wrong, we had a right to be concerned.

No worries, Brad already backed you up on that. I can just imagine what he is thinking now.

And enough with the maturity bit--this is the sort of stuff that children should master in elementary school.

[Celtics_History_Lesson]

Erase that silly nickname.

Call him "The Snooze Button".

Is he from the same place as Robert Parish. Get him to talk to him, help him out for a while.


Williams has already had a better Celtics career than Nader, Herren and Vin Baker. Nate Driggers too.

It is better he makes his mistakes now, and hopefully learns from them, than to go AWOL during the season.

[OldCeltics]

anyone else seeing signs of substance abuse here?
I don't think it's anything that an NBA routine and schedule can't fix but I do hope he gets it out of his system quickly and grows up.
Our locker room/culture will hopefully be good for fixing this immature behaviour.

100% weed involved. I can't get up for work either when stoned

Sent from my SM-G930V using RealGM mobile app

[theman]

I think we now know why he slipped to 27.

[John Murdoch]

Like Ive said multiple times, he isnt a bad kid but he is really immature. The missed phone call and now the missed flight are all signs of just a lack of maturity and not having the proper priorities set. Hell if Im just hoping on a plane to see an old buddy for a few days I still show up to the airport a couple hours before takeoff. I can tell you that if I had a flight taking me to the first day of my job that was going to pay me millions, I would basically sleep at the airport.

The kid just needs to grow up. Ainge and Stevens seem to have the perfect foundation for the front office and coaching staff, Horford has always been looked at as a very mature guy, so you have the vets and you got Jayson and Jaylen who are 2 freakishly mature guys for their age. Plus the team is stacked with unbelievably hard workers. If he cant get it straight with you guys he will be a lost cause. But I think he puts it all together and becomes a massive steal. Love his game.

he prob did

[Green89]

Anyone know if he made it to practice today??

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

Off to a rousing start! Guess it is no mystery why his stock dropped so much.

[cloverleaf]

Anyone know if he made it to practice today??

Pretty sure it hasn't started yet.

[CelticsLV]

Has all the red flags of someone who simply doesn't give a **** about this game.

Supposedly out of shape. check
Comments like "I'll play where the money is!" check
Missed conference call, missed plane and first practice. check, check and check

Larry Sanders 2.0? But this guy might not even get to big $ like Sanders did.

[cloverleaf]

I remember they assigned a junior assistant coach to pretty much handle James Young full-time, though we know how that turned out.

I believe they said they are promoting a kid from their video room to be an assistant this year. I wonder if he will get the Williams assignment as far as life management goes. (I'd hope they'd have someone more experienced coaching him on his game.)

[amory87]

He has all of the physical gifts that you look for in a lottery pick, and we got him at #27 for a reason. Even with how ridiculous this stuff is, I'm still happier to get him than a raw, long term gamble project at the end of the first round.

At this point at least we can say he hasn't had much of a chance to meet the team and its leaders yet. If anyone can get this kid's head in the game, it's guys like Horford, Tatum, and Brad Stevens. And Marcus Smart especially, if we manage to bring him back.

[cloverleaf]

He has all of the physical gifts that you look for in a lottery pick, and we got him at #27 for a reason. Even with how ridiculous this stuff is, I'm still happier to get him than a raw, long term gamble project at the end of the first round.

At this point at least we can say he hasn't had much of a chance to meet the team and its leaders yet. If anyone can get this kid's head in the game, it's guys like Horford, Tatum, and Brad Stevens. And Marcus Smart especially, if we manage to bring him back.

Smart couldn't even bring his fellow rookie Young along.

And my guess is that especially after yesterday, Williams is tired of hearing "Tatum, Tatum, Tatum!"