Boston Celtics: It’s time for Robert Williams to get more minutes

It’s not exactly a secret that the Boston Celtics haven’t been the most impressive team when it comes to their post play this season.

Both Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson have been serviceable and have done their jobs — for the most part — but Boston has lacked a true interior presence for large portions of games.

How does that change?

Well, by playing Robert Williams more of course!

There arguably hasn’t been a more efficient player for the Boston Celtics this season than Time Lord, but he’s only playing about 15 minutes a game.

His Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 25.6 trails only Jaylen Brown (25.7) on the team and Williams has the best true shooting percentage (77.3%) of any Celtic so far this season. Not only this, but Williams’ offensive rebound rate (17.4%) and block rate (8.9%) are some of the best in the entire NBA.

Yet Williams has only played 20 or more minutes twice all season.

Boston Celtics big man Robert Williams deserves more playing time

Recently, I included Williams in my three best performers for the Celtics through the first quarter of the season, and I stand by that. In the 15.5 minutes a game he’s logging, Williams has averaged 6.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks all while shooting an absurd 75% from the floor and 90% from the free-throw line.

If you stretch out Williams’ numbers, they’re even more impressive.

He leads the team in rebounds per 36 minutes (14.3), and he easily leads the team in blocks per 36 minutes (3.6) among qualifying players on the roster.

In fact, it could be argued that Williams is the best big man on Boston’s roster right now.

Both Theis and Thompson haven’t been bad, but it isn’t a stretch to say Thompson has been disappointing in his first season in Beantown, and Theis has been up-and-down so far this year.

Theis has been playing better lately, but he’s yet to string together more than three straight solid games this year.

Theis and Thompson both average around 22-23 minutes a game, and both have been Brad Stevens’ go-to starters in the post. They’re only averaging a combined 15.6 points and 13.5 rebounds in their combined 55 minutes of action per game, however.

At least Theis is capable of stretching the floor, connecting on 38.2% of his threes this season.

Thompson can grab rebounds, but he has been a disappointment on the scoring front, making just 44.7% of his shots, which is on pace for his worst shooting performance since his rookie season back in 2011-12.

There’s only been one post player who hasn’t consistently struggled to make buckets this year for Boston — this, to no one’s surprise, circles back to Time Lord.

Williams has earned a Game Score of 10 or better in five of his 13 games this season (38.5%). Theis, on the other hand, has gotten a Game Score of 10 or better in seven of the 18 games he’s played in (38.9%), while Thompson has only achieved that score twice in 16 games (12.5%).

In short, it’s time for the third-year center to see the floor more.

I’m not the only one who thinks so, either, as our own Andrew Dilorio included Williams as one of three Boston Celtics who deserve more minutes moving forward as well.

Boston needs a better post presence.

The NBA isn’t won with dominating big men like it once was, but having good play in the paint is still necessary for success, and it helps open up the perimeter as well.

Robert Williams has earned the right to log more minutes.

It’s time Brad Stevens gave them to him.