The Boston Celtics are trying to adjust to life without Robert Williams, though ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on the latest Woj Pod that Williams could be back sooner than the original 4-6 week timeline.
I mean, of course the TimeLord would shave his recovery time in half, right?
This would be a best-case scenario for Boston that could get Williams back in time to at least join a first round series already in progress.
(As a side note, let me dispel a misconception: Coming back whenever he comes back will not constitute rushing back if he’s at full strength, has full range of motion, and has no symptoms. This isn’t a hamstring or a muscle that we’re talking about. It’s cartilage, and once it’s been removed and re-shaped, that's that. So sitting an extra week or two literally does nothing to change the shape of his knee like it did with Jaylen Brown and his hammy.)
In the meantime, though, the Celtics will need to find a way to replace his production to some degree. We saw them start Grant Williams against Miami, and that didn’t go well. It could very well be matchup-based because we’ve seen Williams fill in nicely as a starter before, but I’m looking at something less disruptive to the overall rotation.
This is why I’ve advocated for Daniel Theis to start in Rob’s place. He’s as plug-and-play as it gets on this roster in this situation, understanding that he doesn’t do everything Williams does, but does enough to get by. He’s a spare tire.
“In general nobody does what Rob does,” Theis said at shootaround this morning. “His rim protection, playing way off the rim helps the whole team, just in case there’s a mistake, having him as a rim protector right behind you is different. I don’t think there’s anybody in the league who can do the things he does. … we just have to step up, everybody, and try to be the same. Being protective back there, being vocal, keep the defense together.”
The Celtics defense is where the Celtics will be challenged the most. After one game, Theis as a defensive replacement for Williams is going to be a tough sell. He did alright on some possessions, and not alright in others, though Boston was employing a lot more drop pick-and-roll coverage (where the big man drops into the lane when the pick is set to prevent dribble penetration) than usual.
“Defensively we didn’t switch as much,” Al Horford said after the loss to Miami. “So that’s one thing that we’ll work on.”
Theis got burned a few times by Dewayne Dedmon by dropping too low in his coverage and not reacting well. He left passing lanes to Dedmon, who burned them a few times.
Generally, a guard should be pulling in to “tag” the roll man, which basically impedes his progress to the rim, but Marcus Smart had Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson in the corner, and leaving them is asking for trouble. Still, there has to be some sort of jab or token move to prevent the layup.
Meanwhile, Theis isn’t getting to those shots while Williams would present more of a challenge. In fact, the Celtics would just switch with Williams and dare Kyle Lowry to beat him. Lowry is crafty, but he’s no longer quick enough for that to be an automatic mismatch. With Theis, though, the switch might be more problematic.
Does Boston just decide to switch anyway and adjust behind Theis, or do they try to clean up his drop coverage by adjusting how high he picks up and getting more help behind him?
“The whole system is a team defense,” Theis said. “We’re going to step up and be versatile and play the same defense. We can switch, we can be a rim protector, pick-and-roll coverage in different ways. For us as a team, everybody has to step up a notch now.”
No matter what they do, they will just have to deal with other teams being less afraid to get to certain spots on the floor. While Williams is out, Boston will just have to live with certain shots going up, and in, that wouldn’t normally be tried.
Let’s face it, Jimmy Butler is probably passing that if Rob had switched onto him. This is life now. This is why losing Williams hurts. The types of shots the other team will not only get, but feel comfortable getting, changes.
This puts pressure on them on the offensive end. What we saw down the stretch of the loss to Miami was very November/December Boston. They were taking shots after one pass instead of giving up good shots to hunt great ones. They were isolating and playing in a crowd rather than driving and dishing.
We can excuse a one-game adjustment without a key, talented member of the starting five. They have to regain the trust in each other even without Rob there, and Theis can certainly help in that regard.
“Daniel is capable. He's not jumping like Rob but he's a lob threat,” Ime Udoka said. “However, we got to deliver, we got to deliver it. We missed some opportunities, had some turnovers trying to force some passes tonight but Daniel had a great game overall. You can see his growth, what he's doing the past few games. It's going to be important going forward.”
Being on the floor with Derrick White might be Theis’ biggest offensive adjustment. Against Toronto, White dropped a pass at Theis’ feet when the play was to throw it up top and let Theis get it.
In a similar situation against Miami, White threw the right pass.
“Derrick is a very smart player,” Theis said. “He’s a threat when he plays pick and roll to finish at the rim or he's looking for the big … I told him last game, he can throw the lob to me too. I’m not Rob going way above the rim, but I can still catch a lob here and there.”
For White, it’s not just a matter of getting used to Theis, it’s a matter of getting used to having that option at all.
“In San Antonio we didn’t really have lob guys,” White said. “But understanding where he likes the ball and enable for him to go up there and make the play. So just building game by game and learning each person’s strengths and weaknesses.”
The Celtics can still run a lot of their normal offense through Theis, and he does add the element of shooting from 15 feet out to the 3-point line. And he’s capable of making plays like this:
Theis’ impact on the offensive end might be bigger than his defensive impact, but either way, he can make a case for being the most capable of filling Williams’ production. Slotting him into Williams’ spot in the starting lineup and letting him get some good reps alongside the starters could be extremely valuable for the team and not only fill in the gaps for the next few weeks, but also give the Celtics options moving forward when fully healthy.
“(We’ll) take a look at Daniel and Al, we’ll go kinda double big there,” Udoka said at practice yesterday. “Taking a look at Daniel and Al together, how that works. And then Derrick as well with certain combinations. So we want to be more crisper than we were offensively, and then, defensively, get back to our standard.”
