Robert Williams is primed for a big opportunity in wake of Baynes injury

Before training camp started, there was no player on the Celtics roster with a longer road to consistent playing time than Robert Williams. Brad Stevens likes to play small and Williams had two true centers in front of him in Aron Baynes and Daniel Theis, making the prospect of rotation minutes for the rookie a bit of a pipe dream.

Less than three months later, Williams is set to be a constant presence in the big man rotation as the injuries up front have piled up in a hurry.

Baynes is out for at least a month with a broken left hand suffered during Wednesday’s loss to the Suns. Al Horford is inching closer to a return but is still dealing with a bout of Patellofemoral pain syndrome that has caused him to miss seven straight games. Even when he comes back, his minutes will need to stay down. Guerschon Yabusele is out for at least another few weeks with a sprained ankle and that puts Boston’s list of true healthy bigs down to two: Williams and Theis.

Theis is the more proven commodity at this point but his ability to stay in games for bigger minutes is a major question mark for this team given his propensity to foul. He’s among the league leaders in foul rate (7.4 fouls per 36 minutes) and looks just a bit slower than last season in the aftermath of a torn meniscus and a plantar fascia injury. He also has been subpar on the defensive glass (grabbing 15.2 percent of defensive rebounds) which is a number that resembles a small forward more than a  center.

All of these issues led to Williams getting the call over Theis during crunch time on Wednesday in the midst of posting eight points, eight rebounds and five blocks over 24 minutes. The glimpses of magnificence were there, as they have been over the past couple weeks, with Williams’ rim protection and finishing around the rim (4-of-4 from field) on full display. There are still plenty of warts to be dealt with, as is the case for any 21-year-old rookie, but Williams is clearly giving the C’s enough positives right now to allow him to work through those.

The silver lining of Baynes’ injury right now

is the C’s can get a closer look at how Williams meshes with the starting level talent without disrupting the hierarchy of playing time. It’s something that Kyrie Irving is excited to see.

“With Rob, I think that ... he’s 21 years old,” he said. “So we expect a lot out of Rob but also there’s a learning curve for him. He does a lot of great things already, so I think the sky’s the limit for his potential and what he brings to our team. Obviously getting more repetitions at this point, creating a lot of opportunities for us at the rim as well as getting blocks and protecting the paint.”

The Celtics dealt with a similar situation a couple years ago when they got a glimpse of the future once Avery Bradley went down with an injury just before the All-Star break. Jaylen Brown filled in for him in the starting five and that switch helped to propel the C’s to a seven-game winning streak. It obviously didn’t lead to a permanent shift at the time but it showed what the Celtics' starting five would look like with a different guy of a skillset. Brown was bigger than Bradley, more athletic and could attack more off the dribble. When the Celtics needed to do clear some salary later that summer, moving Bradley got a little bit easier with the knowledge that Brown could fill his role adequately in the starting five.

Williams offers a different kind of skillset obviously in a center position, but it is a unique one for this roster. He’s a shot blocker and a rim runner that can finish with ease around the basket. The Celtics haven’t had a guy like that in quite some time but it’s an exciting possibility for Irving.

“I’ve played with quite a few bigs,” Irving said. “I had Timofey Mozgov. I had Tristan in Cleveland, when I was in college I had Mason and Miles Plumlee. Having a consistent lob threat at the rim where you can throw it around the rim and he can go get it, you can see how easy it is for me and Rob. Going in, people are stepping up on me and he’s always a threat at the rim for offensive rebounds and lobs, so I love playing with Rob.”

The Celtics offense is already far too reliant on the perimeter jumper on most nights so having a regular presence around the rim that other teams have to respect should only help to open up the floor more. Theis and Baynes both can finish lobs but they don’t have the leaping ability that Williams has showcased this year.

The challenge now for the Celtics and Stevens comes on a couple of fronts. First, they need to add to Williams’ skillset a little bit. Opposing defenses know that he isn’t a perimeter threat so they can leave him alone out there without repercussions, something that the Suns did on Wednesday night on a few occasions. Stevens knows that needs to be addressed.

“I thought that he had some opportunities on offense that he’ll make plays with when he gets a little more used to the game and used to playing with those other guys, “Stevens said. “They were not paying a whole lot of attention to him on the perimeter and in the seams and those are plays that he can make on that end of the floor.”

Getting some of those opportunities now will increase the possibility that Williams can be less of a liability on that front if he’s called upon at all in more meaningful games in the postseason. He’ll get a chance to test himself against some tougher opponents in the upcoming weeks (Bucks, Sixers, Rockets) which will be a good measuring stick for his value.

Defensively, there’s no denying Williams’ impact as a shot blocker but the 21-year-old still has the tendency to chase blocks a bit too much at times, which leaves Boston open to offensive rebounds if others aren’t crashing the glass. That was the case on Wednesday night with Morris sidelined as the Suns piled up a season-high 21 offensive rebounds.

“Us as guards, when we’re missing guys, we have to help Rob rebound as well,” Irving said. “He’s contesting, trying to go for every block, and our weak side and crashing and helping him out is just as important as him going for the rebound, so that’s part of being on a team. We all have to cover for each other.”

In the midst of an underwhelming start to the season, Williams has served as a constant bright spot. With the team struggling to get consistent offense from some members of their supporting cast (i.e. Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward), the rookie provides a welcome source of easy offense around the rim and a promising paint protector. What he does in the next month-plus will provide the Celtics front office with some valuable intel for their planning for future seasons and perhaps earn the trust of his head coach as the year progresses.

“I mean, he always protects the rims for us,” Stevens declared. “I think he’s – he’s showed himself well through these first couple months of the season for maybe what I would’ve expected at the very beginning of the year. Certainly in the summer.  So that’s encouraging.”