NBA training camps open in the final week of September, and between now and then, we’ll be pondering 20 questions about the Boston Celtics as we head into the new season. Today we look at Robert Williams and how much more he might be able to grow.
Two years ago, Robert Williams walked into summer league and flashed an element to his game that we hadn’t really seen before.
He was passing, and doing it really well.
“I love working out of the high post," he told me at the time. "I love passing the ball so anytime I get to be a passer, I like it.”
He proved that this past season, giving Boston something the team may not have anticipated earlier in Williams’ career. We all saw the explosive rim-runner and freakish shot blocker, but deep inside Williams was a play-maker who could catch the ball 18 feet away from the basket and actually make something happen.
This surprising evolution is part of why Brad Stevens felt the need to lock Williams into a four-year deal. The question now for Williams is whether he can evolve even further to make that contract look like a steal.
Let’s leave the injury questions aside for a moment. “Can Robert Williams stay healthy” is a valid question, but there’s not much analysis to that. He either will or he won’t, and the general health of players is always a key factor in whether a team does well. Williams’ injury history is well known, and it’s definitely something to monitor.
However, beyond that is a question of what he might add to his game next. It’s a bit like the Jaylen Brown question in that we’ve seen a bunch from him and we’d be happy if this is his skill level for the rest of his career. But since he’s so young, we can’t help but be tantalized by his potential.
Williams turns 24 in a month, and so he, too, has not hit his full athletic peak (let that sink in for a second). That means there is, potentially, even more for him to unlock as he moves forward.
He’s done a fine job with dribble handoffs, so the next obvious evolutionary step for him this season would be to add a fake to that and drive on his own. That would require some added awareness of the opposing defense’s tendencies, as well as the ability to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim.
If Williams can simply add that element to his game, he can help unlock even more from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown because defenders wouldn’t be able to overreact to one of them getting the ball. If the threat of him faking the handoff exists, a defense would have to be conscious of it, leaving whichever teammate some extra room to create.
If Williams’ defender can’t help because of this, that means help will have to come from somewhere else, leaving another teammate defended a little less closely. That could lead to an open shot or a drive against a rotation defense. In a lot of those situations, Williams could end up being the beneficiary of multiple attacks that have sucked in the defense, allowing cuts to the basket.
Maybe Williams can add a jumper to the mix, which would have a similar effect. Anything that forces a defender to stick closer to him away from the basket is generally a good thing for everyone.
The Celtics probably don’t want Williams to rely on too many face-up jumpers, though. His offense should generally come from its usual sources, but it doesn’t hurt to have an added weapon in the arsenal.
It probably wouldn’t hurt him to toss a post move into his repertoire, either. Back-to-the-basket play is no longer de rigueur in the NBA, but there’s always a place for a big man who can whip off one or two of them in a pinch.
It doesn’t matter what the moves are. All he needs is one go-to and one counter and he’d be all set. Then whenever things get dicey on the floor, he’d be able to get a shot off. It’s not the highest priority for him, but it might be something nice to pick up somewhere along the way.
For the longest time, the Robert Williams comparison has been Clint Capela, but if Williams can at least add the fake handoff to his game this year, the talk will be about him looking more like a poor man’s Bam Adebayo.
Of course, he could stay who he is and Boston will probably find that acceptable. He can be the rim-running, shot blocking, nice-passing big man who fits nicely with Tatum and Brown. No one would complain about that so long as he stays healthy.
However, adding something reliable to his bag could change the calculus for Boston. Anything that makes the other team take their focus off Tatum or Brown for an instant could be enough to make all the players on the floor better.
The 20 questions series:
