Boston Celtics: Robert Williams is proving his worth in rookie year

Robert Williams has completely flipped the narrative of his rookie season with several eye-popping performances as of late for the Boston Celtics.

Robert Williams did not get off to the start Boston Celtics fans were hoping for when he was taken by the team with the 27th overall pick in the NBA Draft.

After sleeping through his introductory conference call, he missed a flight to Boston ahead of the groups first practice. He played in all but a handful of minutes in the Summer League after going out with a knee injury. Everything was pointing towards a disastrous rookie season for the big man out of Texas A&M.

Then the injury bug hit the Celtics. Al Horford has been sidelined with knee complications. Aron Baynes has popped in and out of the lineup for the past several weeks and is now sidelined indefinitely with a broken hand. Brad Stevens had no choice but to turn to the troubled rookie they call Timelord.

Robert Williams has accepted the challenge with open arms and (thus far) entirely altered the storyline of his rookie season.

In 14 appearances, Williams is averaging 11.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, and a whopping 6.4 blocks per 36 minutes. He’s also shooting a staggering 75% from the floor, and is sitting pretty with a 23.1 player efficiency rating.

Granted, this is a very small sample size. But the man did block the legendary Anthony Davis not once but twice in the same game. He is a rim-protecting threat in the paint and always looking for an opportunity to send a shot into the stands.

Boston hasn’t had a big man that protects the paint with such tenacity since Kevin Garnett.

Garnett was special because he possessed a rare combination of size, athleticism, and strength that granted him the ability to not only turn shots away with the best of them, but also stand his ground in the paint against bigger bodies.

Aron Baynes and Al Horford have been very stout defenders in their tenures with the team, but they don’t possess the length and athleticism that WIlliams does. Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller had the athleticism but lacked the strength to battle with the elite bigs of the NBA.

Williams gives the C’s the perfect combination of size, length, athleticism and strength to provide stout interior defense and consistent shot blocking. He is also a fantastic lob threat on offense and does a fair amount of damage with putbacks around the rim. All very KG-like traits that elevate his ceiling to a whole new level.

His teammates are loving what he has provided the group, too. Kyrie Irving spoke with Celtics insider Taylor Snow after Wednesday night’s game against the Suns, and had this to say about his new big man:

"“I’ve played with quite a few bigs,” Irving noted after the game while describing his newfound relationship with Williams. “I had Timofey Mozgov and Tristan (Thompson) in Cleveland. When I was in college (at Duke), I had Mason and Miles Plumlee. So, having a consistent lob threat at the rim where you can throw it around the rim and he can go and get it… you can see how easy it is for me and Rob. When I’m going in and people are stepping up on me, he’s always a threat at the rim for offensive rebounds and lobs. So, I love playing with Rob.”"

Kyrie went on to note that “the sky is the limit” for his potential with the team. The chemistry between the two is already evident, yet has so much room to grow with so much promise. Take this play, for example.

Williams nearly hits his head on the rim in this highlight reel alley-oop. The connection between Robert and his teammates will only continue to blossom as he garners more floor time and builds chemistry and trust.

As talented as he is, Williams does have a ton of room to grow. He does struggle with defensive rebounding because of his desire to block all shots that come his way. Learning to pick and choose block attempts and working on positioning in the paint will go a long way in improving that area of his game.

Robert is an old school big man without an outside shot. For now, he relies on offensive putbacks and alley-oop dunks to rack up points. Practicing footwork and touch around the rim will speak volumes on his offensive development.

Confidence will be a key player, as well. The more playing time he gets, the more trust he builds with Coach Stevens. As the trust builds, the confidence will come. Plus let’s be real, there isn’t a Coach out there better than Brad Stevens in instilling confidence in his players.

Robert Williams’ time to shine is now. He has placed himself on the right track to succeed and be a genuine asset to the franchise moving forward. Now he has to continue to build off the success. His teammates are behind him, and his coach is behind him. All signs are pointing to a fruitful future for Timelord.