Let's talk Robert Williams

[Roddy]

He is just a guy. Nothing special at all.

[Gomes3PC]

He is just a guy. Nothing special at all.

Not sure how you can watch what Williams does and not see he has special abilities. When on the court with 9 other 99.9% tier athletes, Williams still pops. He has tremendous hands, tracks the ball extremely well on the court and generally makes sound decisions with the ball when he gets it.

Now, his inability to put the ball on the floor or shoot a jumper consistently are real, potentially career-inhibiting flaws, but I will take a risk on a dude with soft hands and freak athleticism + court vision any day. If the defensive lapses drop by 10% and he smooths out his jumper by 5%, you're talking a near-ideal dive man big in the modern NBA.

[JHTruth]

He is just a guy. Nothing special at all.

Not sure how you can watch what Williams does and not see he has special abilities. When on the court with 9 other 99.9% tier athletes, Williams still pops. He has tremendous hands, tracks the ball extremely well on the court and generally makes sound decisions with the ball when he gets it.

Now, his inability to put the ball on the floor or shoot a jumper consistently are real, potentially career-inhibiting flaws, but I will take a risk on a dude with soft hands and freak athleticism + court vision any day. If the defensive lapses drop by 10% and he smooths out his jumper by 5%, you're talking a near-ideal dive man big in the modern NBA.

Taking guys off the dribble is not a C skill, even in 2020. Jumper, meh. He's flashed a solid one. Rob has is on his way to a long, long NBA career. Remember Javale McGee has been in the league for 12 years and contributed to three titles. Length and athleticism take you a long ways as a big..

[Gomes3PC]

He is just a guy. Nothing special at all.

Not sure how you can watch what Williams does and not see he has special abilities. When on the court with 9 other 99.9% tier athletes, Williams still pops. He has tremendous hands, tracks the ball extremely well on the court and generally makes sound decisions with the ball when he gets it.

Now, his inability to put the ball on the floor or shoot a jumper consistently are real, potentially career-inhibiting flaws, but I will take a risk on a dude with soft hands and freak athleticism + court vision any day. If the defensive lapses drop by 10% and he smooths out his jumper by 5%, you're talking a near-ideal dive man big in the modern NBA.

Taking guys off the dribble is not a C skill, even in 2020. Jumper, meh. He's flashed a solid one. Rob has is on his way to a long, long NBA career. Remember Javale McGee has been in the league for 12 years and contributed to three titles. Length and athleticism take you a long ways as a big..

Uhh, did you watch the playoffs? Bam put the nails in our coffin by taking Theis off the bounce.

His jumper has a bit of promise, but right now it's no good. Less than 10% of his shots were >10 feet from the rim for a reason, and his FT% shows he's just not consistent/reliable there.

He's a useful player already without those skills; if he makes further progress he'll be a key cog for this team.

[JHTruth]

Not sure how you can watch what Williams does and not see he has special abilities. When on the court with 9 other 99.9% tier athletes, Williams still pops. He has tremendous hands, tracks the ball extremely well on the court and generally makes sound decisions with the ball when he gets it.

Now, his inability to put the ball on the floor or shoot a jumper consistently are real, potentially career-inhibiting flaws, but I will take a risk on a dude with soft hands and freak athleticism + court vision any day. If the defensive lapses drop by 10% and he smooths out his jumper by 5%, you're talking a near-ideal dive man big in the modern NBA.

Taking guys off the dribble is not a C skill, even in 2020. Jumper, meh. He's flashed a solid one. Rob has is on his way to a long, long NBA career. Remember Javale McGee has been in the league for 12 years and contributed to three titles. Length and athleticism take you a long ways as a big..

Uhh, did you watch the playoffs? Bam put the nails in our coffin by taking Theis off the bounce.

His jumper has a bit of promise, but right now it's no good. Less than 10% of his shots were >10 feet from the rim for a reason, and his FT% shows he's just not consistent/reliable there.

He's a useful player already without those skills; if he makes further progress he'll be a key cog for this team.

One really unique PF playing at C can do that. OK I'm not going to dog Rob for not being able to take guys off the dribble I guess. Call me old-fashioned..

[thomas1897]

Robert Williams has some very good athletic skills and he was made progress. There are some very glaring deficiencies he has. In a close games can he provide any type of offensive game to stop defenders from double teaming the other teammates. Can he get better to keep teams honest; a one dimensional game does not cut it with the elite NBA teams. I do not see any type of offensive game. Good teams will shift the defense to adjust to his non offensive game. This was apparent during the Miami series. The Celtics need a front line center now. Daniel Theis is very good and capable. Theis can play forward and keep defenders honest on defense. Robert Williams can play NBA ball but not on a contender at this point in his career.

[ConstableGeneva]

Watch on YouTube

[theman]

I like what I have seen from Williams but at this point is looks like Mitchel Robinson would have been the better pick.

[Parliament10]

I like what I have seen from Williams but at this point is looks like Mitchel Robinson would have been the better pick.

Eh. That still remains to be seen.

[Gomes3PC]

I like what I have seen from Williams but at this point is looks like Mitchel Robinson would have been the better pick.

Uhh, why? The only thing Mitchell has is more minutes played for a win-nothing team:

Mitch per-36: 15/11/3/1.3 points/reb/block/steal with 0.9/0.9 A/TO and 5 fouls/36
Timelord: 14/12/3.2/2.0 points/reb/block/steal with 2.5/1.9 A/TO and 4.7 fouls/36

Let Timelord get Mitch's minutes and he'd put up equal or better stats and show off his vastly superior vision.

[Gomes3PC]

To further things - Timelord's ability to see the floor is the difference between him being a 15-20 MPG energy big and potentially being a 25-30 MPG rotation anchor and a guy you can play in crunch time minutes in the playoffs. His passing is unrefined right now, but with maturity and minutes he can be a guy who moves the ball, hits the cutter, and keeps the offense flowing. If Robinson isn't dunking or getting a put-back, he is completely useless in your offense. Williams' vision makes for a subtle but huge differentiator.

[ConstableGeneva]

Watch on YouTube

[Fencer reregistered]

The challenge, as DDB points out in another thread, is the mental part of defense.

But it is claimed that Rob is doing a lot more talking on defense than he used to. If he lives up to that, then either he'll be saying the right things, or he'll be saying wrong things that he can hopefully be easily corrected on.

Between the supposed mental effort on defense and the apparently pretty good mental game on offense, I'm still hopeful that his mental game on defense will come around.

[Gomes3PC]

The challenge, as DDB points out in another thread, is the mental part of defense.

But it is claimed that Rob is doing a lot more talking on defense than he used to. If he lives up to that, then either he'll be saying the right things, or he'll be saying wrong things that he can hopefully be easily corrected on.

Between the supposed mental effort on defense and the apparently pretty good mental game on offense, I'm still hopeful that his mental game on defense will come around.

See, I can live with the occasional mental lapse, because it they are almost totally if not more than totally counterbalanced by his freakish recovery skills as well as the gravity he sucks up offensively as a vertical lob threat. IMO the only way to iron that stuff out as well is to keep giving him minutes. Pulling him any time he makes one wrong rotation is just silly, but Brad does it way too often to go with someone "safe".

Does he blow an assignment more often than Theis? Sure, yes, he does. But he also doesn't get blown by like Theis vs. Bam and on offense he terrifies other interior defenders with his ability to sky above them for easy buckets if another player penetrates the paint.

[shi-woo]

To further things - Timelord's ability to see the floor is the difference between him being a 15-20 MPG energy big and potentially being a 25-30 MPG rotation anchor and a guy you can play in crunch time minutes in the playoffs. His passing is unrefined right now, but with maturity and minutes he can be a guy who moves the ball, hits the cutter, and keeps the offense flowing. If Robinson isn't dunking or getting a put-back, he is completely useless in your offense. Williams' vision makes for a subtle but huge differentiator.

This post nails it, and I think any real Celtic fan will admit to being pleasantly surprised when they saw some of those passes he made his rookie year. We're spoiled in the modern NBA, because Time Lord would have been considered one of the best passing big men in the league 10 years ago.

I see no reason at this point in his development why he can't become a serviceable NBA player. He has the body, the reaction time, the positioning, the hustle, and the court awareness. I think he's the token 2nd contract player because he seems to be getting used to the NBA and how his game translates, but I think he'll figure it out and give us a solid 8-8-3-2 a game. I think he plays like Bogut did with Golden State, obviously not nearly the IQ, but he can run the high post with handoffs and backdoor passes, rim rum, and protect the paint. I think if we get that out of him we're going to be happy

[ConstableGeneva]

A little more patience, Timelord. Theis will get paid by someone next season and Robert will take over along with Thompson (final year of his MLE contract). He'll for sure get even more opportunity this season after showing incremental improvements esp in the bubble. Just gotta stay healthy and available, dude.

[Shak_Celts]

We need a big man coach. We may have one already but I'm not sold.

[Fencer reregistered]

Does anybody have a strong sense for how RobWill is away from the court? Party animal? Quietly lazy? Hard athletic worker?

I don't think I've ever seen him described as either a hard worker or a party animal, but maybe I missed something.

[GoGreen]

Idk. I'm down on Rob but I very much hope to be wrong. Just gives me a feeling of someone with lots of talent that will hold himself back for whatever reason. He's his own worst enemy, type.

[Spin Move]

Idk. I'm down on Rob but I very much hope to be wrong. Just gives me a feeling of someone with lots of talent that will hold himself back for whatever reason. He's his own worst enemy, type.

Agreed, unlike Tatum or Brown or Smart who have worked really hard to improve there game I have not seen alot of improvement from Williams, now maybe that is injury preventing him from getting the experience he needs to improve but while he certainly has the physical tools to be succesful, I don;t know if he has the desire/professionalism to take the steps needed to be more then a 9th man.