Boston Celtics: Grant Williams deserves a spot in the rotation

Williams’ defensive drop-off wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be

Defensive field goal percentage measures how well players shoot when defended by a certain player. While it is not the end-all-be-all of measuring defensive prowess, it’s a solid indicator of defensive success.

For example, Rudy Gobert had a DFG% of 41.9% this year, meaning opponents shot 41.9% when guarded by him. Meanwhile, Enes Kanter, a notoriously bad defender, finished the year with a DFG% of 53.8%.

The Boston Celtics had a defensive field goal percentage of 46.5% last season. In the 2019-20 season that number was at 44.1% (top five in the NBA).

Grant Williams finished his rookie season with a DFG% of 41.1%, first on the Celtics amongst players who played at least 40 games. While that number certainly jumped up this past year, it was still solid.

In the 2020-21 season, Williams ended the season with a DFG% of 44.6%. That ranked third on the team amongst players who played in at least 40 games.

Now obviously there are other factors that go into being a good defender. Stats never tell the whole story when it comes to basketball.

The eye test showed that Williams was getting blown by during games. He also often missed switches out on the perimeter, allowing the opposing team to get easy buckets.

All the stats show is that Williams was not that much worse on defense than last season. If anything, it was a byproduct of the team being worse as a whole on that end of the floor.