Let's talk Robert Williams

[cloverleaf]

Lets face it he's 2-3 yrs from being ready. He's got a lot to learn on and off the court.

Ready--on what level?

With good coaching and health he should be a regular rotation player this season. Sure, likely another two to three years to be a solid starter. But he should learn that role while contributing regularly this year.

[Wes-J]

Lets face it he's 2-3 yrs from being ready. He's got a lot to learn on and off the court.

Ready--on what level?

With good coaching and health he should be a regular rotation player this season. Sure, likely another two to three years to be a solid starter. But he should learn that role while contributing regularly this year.

On a level that he's an every game 20-25mpg rotational player for a CONTENDING team.

[cloverleaf]

Lets face it he's 2-3 yrs from being ready. He's got a lot to learn on and off the court.

Ready--on what level?

With good coaching and health he should be a regular rotation player this season. Sure, likely another two to three years to be a solid starter. But he should learn that role while contributing regularly this year.

On a level that he's an every game 20-25mpg rotational player for a CONTENDING team.

I'll be okay with a 15-minutes a game rotational player by the playoffs. And I think that's doable. Also, I at least really don't know whether he still needs more time to develop off the court or not. A couple of mishaps the week of his drafting doesn't really tell us that now, more than a year later. But yeah, likely a lot more ready in 2 to 3 years to be significant for a contender. Also, young teams generally don't succeed deep in the playoffs.

[brackdan70]

Let’s give him the keys to the paint. Keep it locked RW.

[darrendaye]

If they have a plan for Robert Williams, he's playing in the rotation this year. The role Williams is going to fill (gradually) will include a fair share of a playmaker role with the ball. He's got collegiate highlights of a face up game, including dishing it off on the drive. And though he bumbles and stumbles some on defense, his very quick reflexes and twitchy athleticism generate a fair share of impact plays. The only thing holding Robert Williams from being an all-star level big man is his work ethic.

If the team knows he doesn't have the drive to get there, they should move him ASAP. Next off-season is going to require a big financial commitment to Brown and Tatum the following summer. Ainge needs to know if a team led by those 2 have any chance of sustained contention. I can't see how you don't give yourself a chance to evaluate where Robert Williams stands by next summer. Particularly not with multiple 1st round picks possible again.

[Celtics_History_Lesson]

If drafted by some other teams a year ago, he would have been a starter.

New York, the obvious one to consider, and Williams has per minute numbers the same as M Robinson, although with more blocks and fewer fouls.


In small minutes, but still NBA minutes, was blocking shots at 3 times the rate of the next best the Celtics had for that. He and Baynes were the only ones grabbing plenty of rebounds, per minute. 70% shooting from the field. Everyone should be happy he is on the roster.

Right now, he starts for Boston. Some will point out problems with that, he doesn't fit "the system", he doesn't hit 3s, don't care about that.

He fixes some problems, like Perkins did, but with added athletic ability. R Williams won't be hogging the ball, his offense will be catching lobs and putting back offensive rebounds, that means happier scorers on the floor with him. His defensive intimidation will mean teams miss shots, and he will block plenty as well. If the Celtics are smarter and less lazy this season, and block out Williams' player when he helps on defense, the team will be effective at limiting scoring inside.


R Williams, right now, is the only Celtic on the roster who has to duck down to go through doorways.

[BostonCouchGM]

he's almost a carbon copy of Jordan Mickey. He has a sleight height, reach and athletic advantage, but again, really slight, Mickey had 7.3.5" wingspan and his vertical is just slightly less than Williams, but they're pretty much the same level of prospect when you factor in BBIQ and personality. Both were centers in college and Mickey actually performed better in the same conference. Neither can be centers in the NBA today because they can't shoot and just aren't tall enough. It's one thing to be decent centers in college but to then face bigger, stronger, guys who can spread you out and body you down low, it's just too much. I have zero expectations for Williams and have been pissed that Danny passed on Mitchell Robinson and a half dozen other guys I wanted, for Williams. I don't even consider him one of our young promising talents. He's the same tier as Grant Williams, Edwards and Yabusele to me. I think if you could transplant Smart's personality into him he could be special especially on defense. Maybe DPOY even. But he doesn't.

[Gomes3PC]

Mickey's shot blocking never translated to the NBA. Its clear even in limited minutes that Williams' rim protection does. Thats a massive difference. Williams also rebounds at a significantly higher rate and he finishes at the rim wayyy better.

So yes. Hes just like Mickey except with rim protection, rebounding and finishing.

[Triple M]

The physical tools are nice but lets hope his awareness on the court picks up. The hope is he can pick up what spot to be in because at least on offence you can see he can read the floor so there is some hope he can translate that on D.

[jfs1000d]

We're all following the free agency market and trying to forecast Danny's moves but how do you think Time Lord will fair next year? Is he ready for big minutes? Has he learned a thing or two under Horford's tutelage?

We know he can block shots with the best of them and he's definitely going to be physically stronger. The kid can pass the ball as well. Will he still get totally lost on D? Will he ever be effective outside the paint?

Or, will Danny trade him in a package for someone else...

I personally have a good feeling about the kid and I have a feeling Brad & Danny do as well and are taking the time to develop him.

Rookie Stats:
8.8 Minutes / 70% FG / 2.5 Rebounds / 1.4 Blocks


Your thoughts?

Watch on YouTube

He will play if he can learn team defense and follow scouting report.

Talented player.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sam_I_am]

We're all following the free agency market and trying to forecast Danny's moves but how do you think Time Lord will fair next year? Is he ready for big minutes? Has he learned a thing or two under Horford's tutelage?

We know he can block shots with the best of them and he's definitely going to be physically stronger. The kid can pass the ball as well. Will he still get totally lost on D? Will he ever be effective outside the paint?

Or, will Danny trade him in a package for someone else...

I personally have a good feeling about the kid and I have a feeling Brad & Danny do as well and are taking the time to develop him.

Rookie Stats:
8.8 Minutes / 70% FG / 2.5 Rebounds / 1.4 Blocks


Your thoughts?

Watch on YouTube

He will play if he can learn team defense and follow scouting report.

Talented player.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think RW is the most talented defender I have seen since KG....he just needs his brain to catch up to what his body can do. His shot blocking is nice, but it’s his ability to cover real estate that is mind blowing. If he can be neutral offensively and master the concepts of team defense and learning to anticipate what offense is doing....he can be DPY some day and can anchor a league best defense.

[ddb]

The Williams/Williams duo is very intriguing to me. On one hand you have Robert Williams who has all the physical tools you want in a big man. He's long, athletic, has great natural shot-blocking instincts, he RIM runs and finishes on lobs well. From a pure talent perspective he has all the tools to be really good. BUT....is he ready? Also, can he handle the pressure? Time Lord doesn't have the best track record of maturity. So that is still a concern as he continues to develop as a young player. He also hasn't proven that he can shoot...that doesn't mean he can't develop, but as of right now he's purely an athlete that's raw as a player.
On the other hand you have Grant Williams. Pretty much the polar opposite VS Robert Williams. He's a "undersized" PF that doesn't necessarily feature all of the physical tools, but makes up for it with a High IQ, great motor, and maturity. He can pick n pop, he rebounds, he hits FT's, he can pass, and he understands how to use his strength to his advantage.

Collectively, I feel like these two have the potential to be an awesome front court duo. But then again, we're talking about a 2nd year player and a rookie. So we cannot expect too much out of them just yet.

Back to Robert Williams... Boy do I hope he's working his tail off. Maybe Danny & Brad LOVE what they are seeing from him and felt comfortable opening up an opportunity for him to play and be in the rotation. My hope is that he comes back and absolutely dominates summer league. I hope he's stronger, more confident in himself, has developed a shot, and is more knowledgeable of Brad's system.

If this is the case then perhaps we are all a little too worried about who the next bigs are going to be. I mean, I think it's obvious that he needs to sign a veteran big man that can start and play at a high level. But between Time Lord, Grant, Semi, and Yabu I hope at least a couple of those guys are ready for an expanding role. Ready to rock. Ready to live up to their potential.

[sam_I_am]

The Williams/Williams duo is very intriguing to me. On one hand you have Robert Williams who has all the physical tools you want in a big man. He's long, athletic, has great natural shot-blocking instincts, he RIM runs and finishes on lobs well. From a pure talent perspective he has all the tools to be really good. BUT....is he ready? Also, can he handle the pressure? Time Lord doesn't have the best track record of maturity. So that is still a concern as he continues to develop as a young player. He also hasn't proven that he can shoot...that doesn't mean he can't develop, but as of right now he's purely an athlete that's raw as a player.
On the other hand you have Grant Williams. Pretty much the polar opposite VS Robert Williams. He's a "undersized" PF that doesn't necessarily feature all of the physical tools, but makes up for it with a High IQ, great motor, and maturity. He can pick n pop, he rebounds, he hits FT's, he can pass, and he understands how to use his strength to his advantage.

Collectively, I feel like these two have the potential to be an awesome front court duo. But then again, we're talking about a 2nd year player and a rookie. So we cannot expect too much out of them just yet.

Back to Robert Williams... Boy do I hope he's working his tail off. Maybe Danny & Brad LOVE what they are seeing from him and felt comfortable opening up an opportunity for him to play and be in the rotation. My hope is that he comes back and absolutely dominates summer league. I hope he's stronger, more confident in himself, has developed a shot, and is more knowledgeable of Brad's system.

If this is the case then perhaps we are all a little too worried about who the next bigs are going to be. I mean, I think it's obvious that he needs to sign a veteran big man that can start and play at a high level. But between Time Lord, Grant, Semi, and Yabu I hope at least a couple of those guys are ready for an expanding role. Ready to rock. Ready to live up to their potential.

I love that RW and Hayward have worked out together. Hayward has said he thinks RW can be special and he’s really working hard this summer.

[ddb]

The Williams/Williams duo is very intriguing to me. On one hand you have Robert Williams who has all the physical tools you want in a big man. He's long, athletic, has great natural shot-blocking instincts, he RIM runs and finishes on lobs well. From a pure talent perspective he has all the tools to be really good. BUT....is he ready? Also, can he handle the pressure? Time Lord doesn't have the best track record of maturity. So that is still a concern as he continues to develop as a young player. He also hasn't proven that he can shoot...that doesn't mean he can't develop, but as of right now he's purely an athlete that's raw as a player.
On the other hand you have Grant Williams. Pretty much the polar opposite VS Robert Williams. He's a "undersized" PF that doesn't necessarily feature all of the physical tools, but makes up for it with a High IQ, great motor, and maturity. He can pick n pop, he rebounds, he hits FT's, he can pass, and he understands how to use his strength to his advantage.

Collectively, I feel like these two have the potential to be an awesome front court duo. But then again, we're talking about a 2nd year player and a rookie. So we cannot expect too much out of them just yet.

Back to Robert Williams... Boy do I hope he's working his tail off. Maybe Danny & Brad LOVE what they are seeing from him and felt comfortable opening up an opportunity for him to play and be in the rotation. My hope is that he comes back and absolutely dominates summer league. I hope he's stronger, more confident in himself, has developed a shot, and is more knowledgeable of Brad's system.

If this is the case then perhaps we are all a little too worried about who the next bigs are going to be. I mean, I think it's obvious that he needs to sign a veteran big man that can start and play at a high level. But between Time Lord, Grant, Semi, and Yabu I hope at least a couple of those guys are ready for an expanding role. Ready to rock. Ready to live up to their potential.

I love that RW and Hayward have worked out together. Hayward has said he thinks RW can be special and he’s really working hard this summer.

I sure hope Hayward is right. Good for them to workout together as Hayward will be the 1 facilitating pretty often. Williams should be a nice lob threat

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

[LewisnotMiller]

If he can play minutes every game...whether that's 8, 12 or more...I'll be happy.
Assumption here is we have some competition at the big man spots and he has to earn minutes.

[cloverleaf]

Yes! I'm loving it! Stories in both the Globe and Herald this morning talk about the C's confidence in giving Rob more minutes this year. Sounds like they don't plan to trade JB for an upper-tier center and will look instead just to the room exception, plus maybe a vet minimum for their frontcourt.

It has sometimes been Danny's way to clear plenty of room on the roster for a young guy he particularly believes in, to make sure his coach doesn't just go ahead with the easy vet choices over and over again.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/celtics/2019/06/29/kemba-walker-expected-sign-four-year-max-contract-with-celtics/qVTq31j4NFkxGNF9MFW41M/story.html?p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/06/29/with-the-kemba-walker-era-at-hand-celtics-ponder-big-man-help/

[brackdan70]

he's almost a carbon copy of Jordan Mickey. He has a sleight height, reach and athletic advantage, but again, really slight, Mickey had 7.3.5" wingspan and his vertical is just slightly less than Williams, but they're pretty much the same level of prospect when you factor in BBIQ and personality. Both were centers in college and Mickey actually performed better in the same conference. Neither can be centers in the NBA today because they can't shoot and just aren't tall enough. It's one thing to be decent centers in college but to then face bigger, stronger, guys who can spread you out and body you down low, it's just too much. I have zero expectations for Williams and have been pissed that Danny passed on Mitchell Robinson and a half dozen other guys I wanted, for Williams. I don't even consider him one of our young promising talents. He's the same tier as Grant Williams, Edwards and Yabusele to me. I think if you could transplant Smart's personality into him he could be special especially on defense. Maybe DPOY even. But he doesn't.

He’s got an inch and a half in height and 2 in wingspan over Mickey and a better handle Nothing like Mickey. Williams measured 6’10 in shoes with 7’ 5.5 wingspan. 240 pounds at the combine. Dude got NBA center measurable so do t compare him to Jordon **** Mickey for Christ sake.

That said I can understand not having high expectations for him. He could go either way IMO, I hope we can give him enough PT this year to have a real idea. I believe he will at least stick on the league and get a second contract and his ceiling is much higher than that.

[cloverleaf]

The Williams/Williams duo is very intriguing to me. On one hand you have Robert Williams who has all the physical tools you want in a big man. He's long, athletic, has great natural shot-blocking instincts, he RIM runs and finishes on lobs well. From a pure talent perspective he has all the tools to be really good. BUT....is he ready? Also, can he handle the pressure? Time Lord doesn't have the best track record of maturity. So that is still a concern as he continues to develop as a young player. He also hasn't proven that he can shoot...that doesn't mean he can't develop, but as of right now he's purely an athlete that's raw as a player.
On the other hand you have Grant Williams. Pretty much the polar opposite VS Robert Williams. He's a "undersized" PF that doesn't necessarily feature all of the physical tools, but makes up for it with a High IQ, great motor, and maturity. He can pick n pop, he rebounds, he hits FT's, he can pass, and he understands how to use his strength to his advantage.

Collectively, I feel like these two have the potential to be an awesome front court duo. But then again, we're talking about a 2nd year player and a rookie. So we cannot expect too much out of them just yet.

Back to Robert Williams... Boy do I hope he's working his tail off. Maybe Danny & Brad LOVE what they are seeing from him and felt comfortable opening up an opportunity for him to play and be in the rotation. My hope is that he comes back and absolutely dominates summer league. I hope he's stronger, more confident in himself, has developed a shot, and is more knowledgeable of Brad's system.

If this is the case then perhaps we are all a little too worried about who the next bigs are going to be. I mean, I think it's obvious that he needs to sign a veteran big man that can start and play at a high level. But between Time Lord, Grant, Semi, and Yabu I hope at least a couple of those guys are ready for an expanding role. Ready to rock. Ready to live up to their potential.

I think they are complementary with some different strengths, but also some key commonalities. Rob has always been described as a quick on-court learner, he has surprising vision and a knack for passing beyond what you would expect. He reportedly is always a popular teammate and by all accounts, including back to his home town, he is a solidly good guy. And he is very much team-oriented in his willingness to focus on D and do whatever it takes, despite it not being a glamorous role. I think these young guys could form a great team from the start.

[TheMartian]

The only way young players like Timelord make a significant improvement is if they get the minutes on a regular basis. And no, I'm not talking about minutes with the Red Claws. He needs to get some serious burn with the main team. I hope he gets it.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

We're all following the free agency market and trying to forecast Danny's moves but how do you think Time Lord will fair next year? Is he ready for big minutes? Has he learned a thing or two under Horford's tutelage?

We know he can block shots with the best of them and he's definitely going to be physically stronger. The kid can pass the ball as well. Will he still get totally lost on D? Will he ever be effective outside the paint?

Or, will Danny trade him in a package for someone else...

I personally have a good feeling about the kid and I have a feeling Brad & Danny do as well and are taking the time to develop him.

Rookie Stats:
8.8 Minutes / 70% FG / 2.5 Rebounds / 1.4 Blocks


Your thoughts?

Watch on YouTube

This clip makes me miss Aron Baynes even more. He is the first guy off the bench cheering for every dunk by the Timelord