B/R views Robert Williams as the ‘biggest surprise’ for the Boston Celtics

Over these past few months, the Boston Celtics have done an incredible job of erasing the hardships that were seen in 2020-21 and even during the first 41 games played this year.

Since the mid-way point, the shamrocks have been on an absolute surge, winning 29 of their 38 games played over this stretch and, as a result, they find themselves in a prime position to snag a top-3 spot in the Eastern Conference standings come the climax of the regular season.

Frankly, when discussing their tremendous second-half stretch, there are many reasons that people can point to for why Ime Udoka‘s squad has been able to flip a switch, with the Jays’ expertise, Marcus Smart‘s defensive tenacity/ leadership, and role players stepping up all being major contributing factors towards their recent successes.

However, equally as imperative to the C’s in-season turnaround is Robert Williams‘s stellar progressions all year long, as he’s gone about and transformed himself into being a raw but promising talent into a legitimate franchise big man.

Throughout his four-year tenure with the ball club, fans and media pundits alike saw the potential that Time Lord possessed in his game, as he often found himself showcasing his abilities to be a lethal shot-swatting and rim-running center if put in the right situation.

That said, the massive strides forward in which he has taken this season exceeded virtually everyone’s expectations, which is why the folks at Bleacher Report have gone about and deemed him as being the ‘biggest surprise’ player on this year’s Boston Celtics team:

"The Celtics’ surge this year coincided with the team gaining comfort with an unusual scheme that kept Williams, the team’s center, off the ball and generally uninvolved in pick-and-roll coverage. Pre-switching, timely rotations and Williams’ uncommon quickness combined to shut down opposing attacks.Few bigs have the ability to cover ground like Williams, and almost none of them are as terrifyingly quick off the floor. It’s made Williams the league’s most destructive help defender and propelled Boston to contender status. A torn meniscus will have a major impact on Williams and the Celtics’ playoff chances, but there was no denying his impact during a breakout regular season."

Prior to going down with a meniscus tear in his left knee early last week, Robert Williams was putting up career averages virtually all across the board, boasting a per-game stat-line of 10 points, 9.6 rebounds, two assists, and 2.2 blocks on an incredible 73.6 percent shooting from the floor.

While the news of his injury has a ton of people down in regard to the team’s chances of seeing a long and successful postseason run, some of us here at HH are rather confident that things aren’t as bad as they seem, and that the Boston Celtics can survive the duration of his expected four to six week absence which, in turn, could have him back in the lineup once again this season and have him contributing in a major way as the C’s look to attain banner No. 18.