The Boston Celtics are continuing to impress day in and day out with their tremendous production on the hardwood and now, through the early stages of March, they find themselves boasting an undefeated record of 4-0.
Of course, this winning stretch has proven to be very much the norm for the ball club since the start of 2022 for, during this span, they’ve seen numerous streaks of similar magnitude and are a stellar 23-8 since the calendar page flipped to January.
Now, while a ton of attention for the C’s mid-season turnaround has gone to the likes of franchise cornerstones Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown–and rightly so, may we add–, ultimately their ascension up the Eastern Conference totem pole has been a result of a collective effort.
Unfortunately, with this rather unfair balance of praise and spotlight being solely shifted towards the direction of the Jays, it has left some players’ impacts semi-unnoticed by the media and, shockingly, even some fans (casuals, anyway).
In order to give credit where credit is due, today we at HH would like to pinpoint 3 players, in specific, that we believe have been somewhat underrated during the team’s second-half hot-stretch:
Underrated Boston Celtics player No. 1) Grant Williams
Though the tides seem to be changing as of late, for the longest time Grant Williams‘s excellence throughout this year’s campaign was going wildly under-the-radar.
Right from the jump, it was evident that the third-year pro was going to be someone rookie head coach, Ime Udoka, would lean heavily on, even getting the starting nod against the New York Knicks on opening day where the forward would drop 15 points, five boards, four assists, one steal, and one block on an incredible 60 percent shooting from deep to aid in Boston’s hard-fought win.
Now, as we all know, from that contest through late December we went on to see the Celtics struggle mightily to muster up wins, constantly dipping below .500 and seeing themselves towards the bottom of the conference standings.
And while there are many reasons for why this team endured such a lackluster first couple of months to the season, Williams was unequivocally never one of them.
In fact, throughout, he has been one of the club’s most trusty contributors on both sides of the ball.
Though he may not be a star by any sense of the word, the 23-year-old has proven himself to be one of, if not the best young prospect within Boston’s rotation as he has shown that he’s willing to do just about anything in order to benefit the team.
From his long-range shooting to his defensive versatility, Williams is a low-key all-around contributor for this C’s squad despite lacking size for an NBA power forward (measure in at 6-6).
Through 62 games played, Williams finds himself boasting career numbers seemingly all across the board, with per-game averages of 7.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, one assist, and just shy of a block on nearly 49 percent shooting from the floor and a team-high 43.5 percent shooting from deep.
Thanks to his grit, grind, hustle, solid defensive chops, and sound floor-spacing abilities, this season Grant Williams has gone on to receive comparisons to the likes of veteran forward P.J. Tucker which, frankly, should be viewed as a major compliment for the former first-round pick.