Back in time: Celtics rookie Robert Williams III stepped out of a time warp, into the NBABut there was still that red pepper deficiency, that lack of ego, only a partial awareness of the massive talent that he has brought to the Celtics and the NBA. Ricky Evans, his mentor and former AAU coach, marvels at how far Williams has come without a hint of affectation.
“He still doesn’t understand it. He’s so humble and unique,” said Evans, who renamed his team the RW III All-Stars this season in honor of the Celtics rookie. “I was having a conversation with him the other day. He gives everyone so much credit. He thinks everybody else is so great and he’s just average.
“He don’t understand — you are just as great as everyone else. But he’s so humble and unique that he doesn’t put it up here,” the coach said, pointing to his head. “All through high school I was saying this boy has rare talent. He could be one of the best in the world. He still hasn’t wrapped his mind around it — how good he really can be.”
“Honestly, he’s a good, kind-hearted kid,” said Slack. “I’ve watched him here, when the younger kids would come up to him, and he would always talk to them, and I’d tell him always be a good role model. He was like, ‘I’m not a role model.’ But yeah, you are. He said, ‘I just like to play the game,’ and I was like, ‘You don’t even realize that these kids are looking up to you.’”
“And then I’m watching him at A&M, and all these little kids are lined up and he’d greet every one of them, and I teared up,” she said. “He said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I told him, ‘Don’t you ever stop that, don’t you ever change that. In the end it’s about the fans. Yeah, you love the game, but you also have these people who love to watch you. Don’t ever change that.’”
“Well, he’s gonna find out like the rest of us,” said Robert Jr. “It’s not easy to juggle a career when you start with a newborn kid. He didn’t tell me about it because he knew I would lose it.”
But count Robert Jr. in the camp that believes that missed flight and practice may have been a blessing for Williams. The rookie’s life has been structured down to the minute by Brad Stevens and his staff ever since.
“My original thought was, ‘This is the way he’s gonna get it,’” said Robert Jr. “You’re a pro now. You have to grow up. It occurred to me that’s what he needed — someone in his face letting him know this ain’t college. He took it to heart, too. It doesn’t surprise me that his work ethic is as good as it is. Now he has people constantly letting him know how it’s going to be.”
