Robert Williams has done plenty of growing since first entering the NBA two seasons ago.
The now-23-year-old spent both seasons with the Celtics after Boston drafted him 27th overall in 2018. And despite missing time from a hip edema early in the 2019-20 campaign, he still showed plenty of promise his second time around.
But it’s what he learned his first year with the team that sticks with him to this day. In fact, he credits two particular players for helping him grow into a professional: Al Horford and Aron Baynes.
“In all honesty, they just really taught me how to be a pro. Not even just having conversations with them, it was just the every-day life,” Williams said, via MassLive’s John Karalis. “Like Baynes, he’s going to come in and get his work in, do his job. Al, he’s going to come in and show you what a pro’s supposed to do. So I watched those guys a lot without them knowing. A lot, a lot, a lot. They didn’t even know.”
Well if they didn’t know before, they certainly know now.
Entering his third year, Williams hopes to use what he’s picked up along the way to make a big jump in his game and become a vocal leader.
Maybe in doing that, younger players will be able to learn from him in a similar way.
