Boston Celtics: 3 surprise players that could land starting gigs in 2020-21

Surprise player who could land starting gig No. 3) Grant Williams

All across the Twitterverse, it appears that Boston Celtics fans are craving for the franchise to add on a traditional power forward to their rotation and, with this, many talents across the league have been linked as potential suitors.

With all this said, however, recently Danny Ainge has stated that he wishes to see what the Celtics already have on their roster before they go out and make any moves. Because of this, there is a potential route the team could go where they can test out players in which they already have while also inserting a more “traditional” power forward — at least, in style of play — into the starting lineup.

That route: giving Grant Williams a starting gig.

More of a prototypical four than Tatum — who served at the position last season –, Williams is the type of player who hustles for rebounds, has an affinity to play in the post, and plays sound defense against meatier opponents — despite the fact that he’s only 6-6.

Looking back at his performance from last season, especially during the NBA Bubble, the 22-year-old proved to be the team’s best rookie from the 2019 class. Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports, Boston, recently shared his thoughts on Williams coming into the year, insinuating that the idea of him earning a starting role is not as far fetched as some may believe:

"Some of Boston’s best minutes inside the bubble came with Williams on the floor and there were a lot of positives for him to build off — not the least of which was shooting 58.8 percent beyond the 3-point arc (10 of 17 overall). Might Williams elevate to a starting role, playing more power forward in traditional two-big lineups? Williams has the versatility to switch onto perimeter players and having a more traditional center alongside would limit the amount of times he’s giving up size against big 5s. Still, his offensive game must develop or teams will simply challenge him to hit shots and put more attention on Tatum and Brown. An encouraging stat: The Celtics were 21-5 in the 26 regular-season games in which Williams played at least 17 minutes."

Should Grant Williams develop more of a consistent long-range jumper, he could prove to be quite a valuable asset to have, either off the pine or in the team’s starting five moving forward.