Robert Williams makes a successful return to practice: 'He was making ridiculous plays'

The Celtics have not been at full strength from a health standpoint in nearly three months, but that streak could be coming to an end shortly after Robert Williams returned to the practice floor on Wednesday night at the Auerbach Center. It was the first full workout for the second-year center since early December when he was sidelined due to a bone edema in his left hip.

"Rob did a pretty good job today,” Brad Stevens said. “He looked like he felt good. He looked like he felt anxious.”

The praise was even higher from one of his teammates.

“He had a lot of high energy and was making ridiculous plays,” Jaylen Brown added. “The important thing is to keep him healthy and keep him consistent these last 20-something games and add him to the rotation. We definitely miss him back out there.”

The Celtics have mapped out a detailed plan for Williams' recovery for the past few weeks and he’s had no setbacks so far in his recovery. Despite the progress, the team will take it slow with him as he returns to the floor.

“The situation on Rob will be that he'll practice and work out through the rest of the next week or so and then go back for a final scan to make sure that he hasn't had any negative response to all this extra load,” Stevens said. “And then from that point on, he'll either be cleared or he won't. So it'll be all dependent on how his body reacts to the last six weeks and then really ramping it up this week."

Williams will travel with the team as they head out for a four-game West Coast swing that starts in Minnesota, but he’s been ruled out for all those games.

"He will not play on the trip. He won't play in front of all of you on the trip. He'll do all the practice and two-on-two and all that stuff,” Stevens said.

The wait has been long for Williams over the past few months, but he’s trying to stay focused as he inches closer to a return.

“I’m getting anxious,” Williams said. “Knowing I'm just a couple days away, but the first game back I think is a home game so that's pretty special for me. So I'm just staying locked in on this road trip, and we'll all wait for my comeback…There's no limitations on anything I'm doing. I want to windmill every time I dunk, but I've still got to be cautious a little bit, you know what I'm saying?”

In the meantime, Williams has been hard at work trying to improve his defensive instincts while watching from the sidelines.

“Gambles,” Williams said when asked what he’s been working on. “Gambles, steals, knowing when to stay down, when to play my man, when to go for blocks, that's a big part of my game that I've been working on.”

Williams won’t necessarily be coming back into a huge role when he does return, but having him as an athletic option for Stevens holds plenty of appeal. There are still a few hoops to jump through to get back to full strength, but a healthy roster appears to be in sight for the first time in 2020.