Grant Williams has been asked to do a lot in three seasons with the Celtics. He was basically a small-ball big as a rookie, and it seemed like was in line to do more of that in year two. But the Tristan Thompson signing pushed Grant out onto the perimeter, which put him in a tough spot.
He was unprepared for that role, and came into the season too heavy to be fully effective. Still, his 3-point shooting started to show flashes. Challenged by Ime Udoka to improve that and be ready to guard perimeter players, Williams blossomed a bit last year.
Still, there was always some question about what he’d look like this season. Was his ceiling going to be a 3-and-D type of player? Was he going to get back to being the center in small lineups?
He might still be both of those for the Celtics in spurts, but what we’ve seen from him so far this preseason is a rounding of his game to add elements that capitalize on his shooting. After establishing himself as a player who needs to be respected on the perimeter, Williams set off this past summer to use that threat to open up other aspects of his game.
“I want to just be able to add more diverse shots to my mix, being able to knock down shots on the move and being able to knock down shots without necessarily having the preparation or time,” Williams told BostonSportsJournal.com. “Stuff like that because on offense I'm gonna get run out this year. You want to be able to still shoot threes but also make the right play after that.”
Williams shot 41.1% from 3 last season and 39.8% over his past two. That's a large enough sample size to prove leaving him open is problematic. Helping off Williams and daring him to shoot cost the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs, and it will cost any other team that decides to employ that strategy.
There are a few plays over the three preseason games that highlight just how much Williams is using the threat of his 3-point shot to keep defenders off balance and get to open areas.
In the opener against Charlotte, Williams catches the ball in rhythm from Malcolm Brogdon. Everything about this catch screams “I’m going to take this shot.” It seems so obvious that the defender is already airborne as Williams gathers.
Williams recognizes this and is quickly off. The natural 1-2/left-right step establishes the left foot as his pivot, allowing him to plant and push without losing momentum. After two dribbles, the defender is behind him and the help is too far away to contest the running lefty floater, which Williams kisses off the backboard for the bucket.
Side note: Lefty floater? That's a big-time addition to the game. It’s also not the last time he’ll go to the left and for a nice finish. In fact, let’s just look at that now.
This move is filthy. Once again, Grant is using the threat of the 3-point shot to get him the opening he needs. This is a move that comes with a lot of experience. This a very smart play.
He gets the ball on the right sideline and is going full speed. The brilliance here is twofold: He slows down to shooting speed, which means he’s trying to get his momentum under control so it looks like he’s going to take that 1-2 step to rise straight up into an under-control shot against a repeating defender.
At the same time, he crosses the ball into his left hand, which is the signal that a right-handed player is about to shoot. He’s telegraphing the thing righties like to do before pull up jumpers, which is go to their off hand and bring it back to their shooting hand for the shot. It’s almost like they're passing to themselves to shoot.
As soon as he brings it to his left hand, the defender bites, which is when Williams crosses him over and gets to the rim. Then he plays keepaway by finishing with his off hand.
“It’s been impressive, he’s been working. He’s been working this summer and that move just kind of got us all in awe,” Al Horford said. “Especially the finish, too, because he went in inside hand with the left so the defender wouldn’t get there to block it, so he’s thinking the game. Grant’s a very smart player. He continues to just grow and learn. But it’s pretty cool to see him; you can tell he’s been working, and he wants to show it. He wants to show different things and it’s good to see that.”
He sort of does the same thing here with the threat of a midrange pull up:
This is threatening to become a signature move for Williams, and the thing that makes this move especially dangerous is that Williams can read the defender in the middle of making it and decide to shoot if a defender doesn’t bite on the fakes. That crossover can easily turn into a jumper. And if Grant can add a little fadeaway to the jumper, then the move will be impossible to stop.
And if he decides to pull for a jumper and the defender recovers, he can then bust this one out:
One of the keys to an effective NBA move is to (a) have the move, (b) have a counter, and (c) have a counter to the counter. Williams has all three there.
And as a little cherry on top, if the move continues to be this effective, he’ll start drawing help. When that happens, his teammates get open.
Williams has worked hard to become a 3-point threat. Now he’s using that to add dangerous elements to his game that not only make teams pay for overreacting to other players, he’s starting to make teams pay for overreacting to him.
If he can continue this, then he gives Boston another big threat, and a weapon they can use to score either alongside the regulars, or as a big punch off the bench with Brogdon and Derrick White.
“He’s doing a great job, doing a great job screening, doing a good job offensive rebounding, doing a good job making the right play,” Joe Mazzulla said. “He looks comfortable out there and he's going to help us.”
CELTICS PRACTICE NOTES:
LUKE KORNET IS BACK
Kornet was back on the floor and a full go at practice.
“Yeah, he looks good. Happy for him,” Mazzulla said, though not committing Kornet to any particular role in the team’s preseason finale on Friday. “I thought today was a good day, And depending on how tomorrow goes, we'll kind of decide what we want to do there.”
Kornet says while the ankle feels better, he now has to get closer to game shape.
“I'm building back up conditioning and all that kind of stuff with it,” he said. “I'm building into being game ready and stuff like that. So we're just getting back on the court, getting into drills. It feels like my first time doing live playing and contact and stuff, so kind of just trying to build that up now.”
BLAKE GRIFFIN FITTING IN
Griffin’s fit seems to be pretty seamless so far. He’s been laughing and joking with teammates and he seems to be having fun.
In a 3-point shooting drill, he was second in line behind Horford, who drilled the opening shot. Griffin yelled out “can we make it five in a row?” and then took his shot, which missed.
“No we cannot” he said with a laugh.
“He’s a great guy to have around, has a lot of perspective about the game. It’s just been nice to have him around,” Horford said. “He’s a vet that gets it. He wants to be part of winning, he wants to do big things. He’s fit right in quickly. He’s one of us already. He kind of fits in and we’re just, all of us looking to take this journey together.”