Robert Williams’ time with the Boston Celtics hasn’t been all that easy, but his head coach had high praise for his improvements.
Williams hasn’t seen consistent minutes since being drafted by Boston in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft. But that’s mainly been due to injuries and being inconsistent on defense. He’s learning, though, and continuing to work hard — something Brad Stevens lauded Tuesday.
“He worked really hard and last year he worked out great. Went through 40 or 50 games where he wasn’t available due to injury, then he played well in the playoffs,” Stevens said, via CBS Boston. “Especially in the Toronto series. He’s backed that up with his first couple of days of practice.”
But one story really stuck out to Stevens:
“I always tell this story about Rob … he had great people to learn from — Aron Baynes, (Al) Horford,” he said, via NBC Sports Boston. “And the next year when we were getting ready for Summer League, Kara Lawson came up to me and said, ‘Man, I wish everybody talked like Rob.’ And that was a reminder that people can improve and drastically pick up stuff and be ready to take the next step without ever playing a minute because the way he can communicate a defense and the way he can know what we’re trying to do just one year in. Obviously now he’s more experienced than that and it’s translated to the biggest stage, so hopefully he can build off that.”
Watch the clip below:
Williams believes he’ll be able to make a “great jump” this season, and we’ll see if that’s true when the C’s open their season Dec. 23.
