Boston Celtics: 3 regular season goals for Robert Williams in 2018-19

Boston Celtics rookie Robert Williams could make a significant impact this season.

Robert Williams was taken by the Boston Celtics with the 27th pick of the NBA draft. The twenty-year-old big man out of Texas A&M was once projected to go in the lottery – snagging him at the end of the first round earned GM Danny Ainge well-deserved praise.

There’s a lot to like about Williams. He held averages of 10.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks across 25.6 minutes per game in his sophomore campaign at Texas A&M. That’s more blocks per game than 1st overall pick Deandre Ayton and 2nd overall pick Marvin Bagley III had, by the way.

Williams’s physical tools are incredibly impressive. He’s only 6’10 in shoes, but his massive 7’5.5 wingspan (comparable to Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant) allows him to be a disruptive presence on defense. On offense, he uses his massive 240-pound frame and explosive athleticism to simply overwhelm people. He also has a nice feel for the pick and roll game, and a scoring arsenal that shows promise.

More from Chowder and Champions

• 3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
• 10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster Deadline
• MLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return
• 3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 Season
• Red Sox Continue Rollercoaster Season With Massive Win

There are also things to be worried about. Williams has phenomenal athleticism, but we’ve regularly seen prospects – particularly, perhaps, big men – who struggle to make the leap to the NBA when their physical gifts no longer give them a significant advantage. His jump shot shows potential, but he has a long way to go before he could even be considered a passable mid-range shooter. He has had off-court incidents that raise questions about his mental readiness for the NBA, and his on-court IQ leaves a lot to be desired.

Al Horford fills such a crucial role for the Celtics on both sides of the floor. He glues their offensive system together, and he finished fifth in defensive player of the year voting for a reason. With him turning 32 this past offseason and with Boston’s payroll slated to fill up quickly in the next few years, there’s reason to worry about who could fill Horford’s shoes.

Is Robert Williams the big man of the future for the Boston Celtics?

There’s a lot to unpack. Let’s kick things off by diving into what Williams has to do to help Boston on offense this season.

How Robert Williams can help the Boston Celtics on offense

Have you noticed that a lot of articles like this talk about how a player needs to shoot 3s to bring their game to the next level?

Spacing is a big deal in the NBA. There’s a reason shooting is almost a necessity for guards and wings; there’s a reason seemingly every big man is at least making an effort to become a passable floor spacer.

But that’s not what this preview will be about. There’s more to offense than shooting; for Williams’s sake, there better be. In college, 20 percent of his shots were “from the perimeter” (only six percent of his shots were 3s, so I’m assuming “from the perimeter” means jump shots), per the NBA’s draft profile. He scored only 0.43 points per jump shot (4th percentile). If he shot with that efficiency on spot-ups in the NBA, he’d be all the way down in the 2nd percentile with the likes of Jordan Mickey and Jon Leuer.

His frequency never should have been that high, but Texas A&M leading scorer Tyler Davis operated almost exclusively out of the post and, well, Williams had to stand somewhere. He is not anything close to a natural shooter, and while a solid jump shot would be a great asset for him, it’d be shocking to see him displaying it this season

Look at his shot chart, for goodness sake.

What he needs to do to help Boston this year has nothing to do with shooting. Williams’s best chance to be an impact maker on this end is not to shoot, but to do, well, this.

The Celtics have one of the most versatile lineups in the NBA. They’re all young guys with length and shooting and toughness; it’s an almost embarrassing treasure trove.

One thing they don’t have is a rim-running big. Think of the role Clint Capela fills with the Houston Rockets. He doesn’t shoot, and doesn’t need to. What he does is roll to the rim off picks and finish with incredible efficiency. That’s something Williams has shown the ability to do; his 1.505 points per shot around the rim in college placed him in the 97th percentile.

Being good at shots around the rim in college does not necessarily translate to NBA success. He’s going to be up against defenses that are much smarter and guys who are much more athletic; you can’t ignore that. But he has all the tools.

Scouts commend his ballerina-like feet, his excellent leaping ability, and his great instincts receiving lobs off the roll. That’s all already in place. The question for Williams at the next level is going to be whether he has the finesse to finish when high-level defenders are involved and, maybe more than that, whether he has the ability to consistently get to the right spot when he rolls.

You have to like the potential.

It’ll also be helpful if Williams could inject some post scoring into the second unit. Nobody would call him a monster; he’s not that kind of post scorer. But he has steadily improved his touch and footwork, and his 0.976 points per post-up possession in college placed him in the 82nd percentile. He carves out space effectively (though he has a bad habit of lazily settling for subpar position on occasion) and has the strength to overwhelm a lot of defenders.

Greg Monroe’s ability to create individual offense was a big help to a 2nd unit that lacked scoring punch last year. Williams won’t be asked to fill that role, and playing alongside Davis at Texas A&M meant he was rarely guarded by a team’s best post defender – who knows what he’ll look like against NBA players. But it’d certainly be helpful if he could convert in post situations in the sparing occasions that he’s called upon to generate offense.

How Robert Williams can help the Boston Celtics on defense

There’s a lot to be excited about on offense; if Williams reaches his ceiling on that end, he could be a very functional starting center in the NBA.

On defense, a fully realized Robert Williams would be flat out special. The potential is huge and underrated.

The two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year has just about every physical tool he needs. He has quick feet that are more than capable of keeping up with smaller players. His aforementioned length helps with containing off switches, and enables him to tally up blocks.

More from Boston Celtics

• 3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 Season
• Blake Griffin Angling Hard to Re-Sign With Celtics
• Game-by-Game Predictions for the Celtics’ 2023-24 In-Season Tournament Schedule
• Kristaps Porzingis’ Foot Injury is a Problem Despite Celtics’ Optimism
• Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and Ime Udoka all Returning to Boston on 2023-24 Schedule

His 40″ vertical allows him to get to a lot of blocks and rebounds that his contemporaries couldn’t. There’s a skill component to defense, of course, but if you’re big and fast and explode off the ground, you’re a big chunk of the way there already. Fully realized, he would be a high-caliber weakside rim protector with elite switchability.

There are questions. While he took over games for stretches at Texas A&M, he also went through long stretches where he didn’t impact the game. Analysts at NbaDraft.net pointed out his inconsistent motor on the defensive end. He has habits of forgetting to box out and getting caught out of position, things he has often gotten away with so far thanks to his athleticism. Karl-Anthony Towns has very similar bad habits, and as a result has not come close to his defensive potential.

For Williams to make a defensive impact for the Boston Celtics this year, he’ll have to be a dialed-in defender who makes the most of his elite physical tools in his limited minutes. If he could do that, he might fill an important role on this team.

As great as Horford is, you wonder how he’ll handle physical centers like Joel Embiid as he ages. Horford gets by with intellect and effort, not physical gifts. Williams, on the other hand, has the physical tools to deal with anybody; the Celtics have not had a defender like that in a long while. Fans have to be excited about the potential.

This all ties hand in hand with the third goal for Williams, which may be the most important: being mentally ready to handle his responsibilities on and off the court.

Robert Williams needs to stay focused on and off the court

Williams has already had more than his fair share of off-court gaffes. Back at Texas A&M, he was suspended to start his sophomore season for a violation of university policy. As a Celtic, he was late for a conference call, missed a flight, and has lost his wallet multiple times already.

Your instinct is to say, “oh come on, he’s a kid and he’s made some gaffes, this is an overreaction.” And you’re right; these are less harmful off-court behavior than they are meme fodder. But he does have a bit of a pattern that should be concerning for a fanbase that values hard work and dedication as much as Celtics Nation. Multiple reports suggest he’s been hard-working and focused since those gaffes, which is encouraging.

We’ve already talked about the on-court focus, but it’s worth diving deeper into. Scouting reports suggest that Williams has long periods of tentativeness on both sides of the ball. He forgets to box out, loses focus when defending off the ball, and coasts for stretches on offense. One minute he’s yelling (he’s a very vocal player), coming out of nowhere for blocks, and dominating the glass; the next, he’s just not making an impact. He’s been described as fearless and ruthlessly competitive on some nights, and passive on others.

He also has to clean up some parts of his game. He is a surprisingly adept passer on short rolls to the basket, something he’s already displayed a couple of times for the Celtics. If he’s rolling to the hoop and you cut, Williams has the ability to find you, even to lob it to you for an alley-oop. That’s a nice skill for your big man to have, but he also had a penchant for lazy passes and unforced turnovers in college. That will have to change.

On the defensive end, it’ll be all about staying focused when his guy doesn’t have the ball. He’s a late bloomer, and his defensive instincts are still a work in progress. His athleticism erased a lot of sins in college; the challenge at the next level will be bringing his fundamentals up to the level his body is at. Having Al Horford and Aron Baynes to teach him how to play NBA defense is a nice luxury.

Brad Stevens runs a system that figures to keep him more involved. Robert Williams was so often just used to space the floor at Texas A&M, something that should never happen in Boston. So far, he’s looked very comfortable in his Capela-esque role. He’s a frequent and energetic screen setter, and he seems to like initiating dribble handoffs. The Warriors don’t have great chemistry because everyone’s shooting a lot; it’s all about participation. Everyone is involved on every play.

Meanwhile, he’s already received praise for his defensive impact. It’s not just the 4 blocks in 40 minutes, as great as that is. He’s also just done a great job contesting his man, being disruptive, and being in the right place as a rim protector. He gets around the floor with speed and grace.

So, long story short: to be effective this year, Robert Williams has to embrace the pick and roll game, make the most of his athletic gifts on the defensive end, and stay focused on and off the court. If he can do those things, he’ll be an asset for the Boston Celtics.