Robert Williams is back and looking pretty good. The Celtics have the luxury of slowly reintegrating him, but it’s pretty clear in the early going that it’s easier to do on defense than it is on offense.
The Celtics have missed some opportunities to use Williams to his full potential. As luck would have it, two of those examples presented themselves pretty early in Dallas.
Tatum runs the pick and roll with Robert Wiliams late in the first quarter against Dallas. He makes the read to get off the ball early, which is great. He gets it to Grant Wiliams in the corner, which is not a bad decision. However, a lob to Rob is a better decision, and one that Tatum is probably not used to having as an option.
There's a lot to see as a driver in the NBA, and things are moving fast. It’s a lot to ask someone to read three levels of defense (your man, the help, and the secondary help), but that's what makes these guys elite. Understanding that Luka Doncic is on the back line should instantly tell you that Rob can get to the rim without a challenge. Doncic isn’t going to be moving fast enough to make a difference.
The help comes from Dwight Powell, who has sold out to stopping Tatum. His feet are square to Tatum. He’s not getting back at all unless he’s back-pedaling and that's not going to impact the lob at all. Powell is committed.
His hands are also lower than the ball. He’s not going to tip a pass over his head. Tatum should have a target a few feet in front of the rim to get the ball to a spot Williams can fly in, catch, and glide to the rim.
And hey, if Doncic surprises him, then he can land and kick it out to the corner at that point. Grant isn’t going anywhere and at that point the corner is even more open.
Again, the kick to Grant is fine. But the lob to Rob is there, and as these guys get used to the fact that they have a guy who can catch just about anything (Marcus Smart proved later in the game that there are limits to the alley oops even Rob can go get), plays like that will be made a little more often.
Building habits starts early, in training camp, with tons of repetition. Repetition builds muscle memory, and the muscle memory builds reaction time that allows plays to be made at lightning speed. Robert Williams infuses a completely unique option into the offense that requires some time to integrate because it takes some time to build the new muscle memory. It’s like using super glue -- you have to wait a while for it to really take hold.
Williams has to get himself up to speed as well. He has to be able to give his teammates an additional option.
Tatum has been working on these floaters and these are shots he’ll have to make in order to keep defenses honest.
Williams, meanwhile, missed an opportunity to give Tatum a passing option and maybe score an easy bucket for himself by relocating on the baseline.
In fact, this has been one of the weaker parts of Williams’ game (and one that Al Horford does extraordinarily well).
The ball handler isn’t the only guy who has to make reads. Rob has to make the read that Powell is, again, committed to stopping Tatum. Doncic, again, is a key here because he’s spying where Rob is going but Grant is in the corner again.
Robert Williams needs to see the sellout by Powell and relocate to the left block. That accomplishes one of two things:
1: He’ll be all alone there because Doncic isn’t going to leave his position (he’s better on defense, but he’s not that much better) or…
2: Doncic will overreact and Grant will have time to post an Instagram story of himself taking the corner 3 (WITH a caption AND tagging Doncic in it).
Robert Wiliams needs to be able to read these plays and put himself in a position to receive a pass. It doesn’t feel like a big ask because he sees the floor so well for his own passing that he should be able to see it the same way to get the passes.
These are just a couple of examples to show there's a learning curve to get Rob back up to speed. This offense has been so used to playing a certain way that adding a hard roller and lob threat is something new that takes time. Because there isn’t as much practice time, it’s going to take just a little longer to throw him back out there and be 100% effective.
Even though these guys have played with him before, his return is still something that needs some time to take hold.