LAS VEGAS -- Robert Williams missed his second-straight summer league game on Monday night as he continues to battle a case of knee tendinitis that has been bothering him for his last two collegiate seasons.
"It’s very frustrating, because everyone’s out here, everyone’s watching NBA Summer League but you just got to put that into the hours of work, you can’t really show frustration," Williams said after watching the Celtics beat the Hornets in their pool play finale. "Gotta support my teammates, talk to them, tell them what I see on the court when I’m watching them, and just help them win any way possible."
Williams is reportedly dealing with an artery condition in both of his legs, according to MassLive, but the condition is not considered to be serious.
A team source told BostonSportsJournal.com that the possibility remains Williams will return to action during summer league play this week, but the team will play it cautious with him as needed.
"I mean it’s rest, it all ties in together, Williams explained of the treatment. 'Rest, massages, treatment, icing, it all plays into one big portion of it."
Brad Stevens remained complimentary about the progress the big man has made prior to the tendinitis flare-up over the past week after missing the team's first summer league practice.
"Obviously, it’s well-documented the first practice wasn’t so hot. But everything since then has been great," Stevens said. "We’re encouraged by it, and he’s working. Even though he’s not playing, he’s cleared to do stationary shooting and ball-handling, and they’ve been spending 30 minutes everyday working on the form of his shot, building that up, building some depth to it, helping with his free-throw accuracy — which is gonna be really important — and then working his handle, because we’ll ask him to handle the ball a lot, whether he’s shooting from deep or not. So I’m really encouraged by his work, his attitude. He picks things up really quickly. I’ve been really encouraged."
Kyrie Irving shooting for August return
The All-Star point guard is now over three months removed from season-ending knee surgery, which is putting a return to the court back on the radar within a matter of weeks.
"I think the whole time, he's been shooting toward an early-August return to real live-action," Stevens told reporters at Las Vegas Summer League. "So, he should be well ahead by the time we start practice."
Stevens also pointed to August as a return possibility for Gordon Hayward, which should give both All-Stars plenty of time to shake off rust before training camp kicks off in September at the team's new practice facility in Allston.
Stevens pleased with the return of Baynes
Stevens also had a chance to react to Boston bringing back Aron Baynes on a two-year deal over the weekend for the first time. To say he was pleased would be an understatement.
"I’ve said this before: his grit, his toughness, his physicality, you need those things, and those things are contagious," Stevens explained. "We’ve talked about that with him since he got here. I always laugh. I tell the story of, we do warmups that everybody does. By the end of stretching, we’re running up and down the court, and there’s not a player in the world that likes it, right? It’s just part of getting ready for practice. And Baynes makes every day a race. Baynes makes everyday fun. And people look forward to it because of him. And I think that kind of thing, that is an important thing as you move through an eight-month season."
With Baynes, Al Horford, Daniel Theis and Marcus Morris, the Celtics' frontcourt will have terrific depth and versatility at both power forward and center heading into next season.