Boston Celtics: 3 Cs under the most pressure in 2021-22
By Mark Nilon
The Boston Celtics are coming into the 2021-22 season looking for redemption.
After following up their let-down of a 2020-21 regular season with a first-round exit via gentleman’s sweep against the Brooklyn Nets, the C’s front office went about and made some much-needed renovations to the organization.
From the decision to replace long-tenured President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge, with Brad Stevens to the revamping of the rotation that has seen a plethora of new faces come aboard (Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder, etc.), Boston looks to have done just the right amount of tweaking to position themselves for a more successful year than the one prior.
That said, with these expectations come significant pressure for players to deliver, and we at the Houdini believe 3 players, in specific, find themselves under the most pressure to perform this season:
Boston Celtics player No. 1) Robert Williams III
After having himself a semi-breakout season in 2020-21, expectations were already rather high for Robert Williams III.
That said, upon putting pen to paper for his lucrative 4-year, $54 million contract extension this summer, said expectations for the 23-year-old has risen rather high.
Putting up career highs all across the board last year, per 75 possessions the big man posted averages of 15.5 points, 13.3 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.4 blocks on an impressive 72 percent shooting from the floor.
Possessing true potential as a rim running, paint protecting athletic long-term option at the starting pivot for this team (started 13 games last year and posted 9.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.7 blocks per outing on 70.5 percent shooting while also registering a record of 10-3 during this timespan), Time Lord comes into this season with the opportunity to show he can be this team’s center for the future.
That said, while hope is rather high for Williams to succeed, we find two major factors at play when it comes to the proper development of the big: how much more room does he have to grow, and can he stay healthy long enough to definitely show he’s the solution for this team down low?
Heading into this season, many are excited to see just how well Robert Williams can play now that he’s gotten an added amount of pressure on him.
The only question that remains is can he deliver?