Boston Celtics: 3 C’s that will make-or-break team’s championship potential
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics player No. 2) Robert Williams III
Some could make the claim that Robert Williams III may be the most vital piece to the Boston Celtics winning a championship this season and, honestly, they’d be able to make a pretty strong argument for why.
After three years of being viewed as a promising yet raw big man prospect who possessed impressive athleticism and elite rim-protecting abilities, the 24-year-old went on to transition all this potential into actual practice and, as a result, the C’s found their franchise five.
A career year that saw career-highs seemingly all across the board, through 61 games played Time Lord managed to put up stellar per game averages of 10 points, 9.6 rebounds, two assists, and 2.2 blocks on an incredible 73.6 percent shooting from the floor.
Due to his unbelievably stout defensive instincts, unrivaled shot-blocking abilities, and underrated quickness, with Williams manning the middle the Boston Celtics managed to become the best defensive unit in the entire association, seeing an astounding rating of 106 on this side of the floor.
On top of this, though he may have a limited offensive game when it comes to today’s standards, having the big on the floor actually seems to make the team’s scheme flow a lot smoother as he’s quite an underrated distributor who can drop dimes, dish out hockey assists, and, simply, help swing the ball while also possessing the ability to catch sky-high lobs off of pick-and-rolls/ fast breaks for highlight-reel finishes at the rack.
Sadly, a meniscus tear in his left knee currently has him sidelined for a bare minimum of the first round of the postseason which, obviously, is a massive bummer for the Celtics in the short term.
That said, should he be able to recover fully come, say, round two and present minimal rust in his game, the virtually unbeatable team that we saw during the second half of this year’s campaign could very well come back right in the nick of time.