As the Boston Celtics made their run to the 2022 NBA Finals, the sporting world got their best look yet at Robert Williams III — the man they call Timelord.
If you didn’t know, Williams received his nickname as a joke. The Celtics drafted him with pick No. 27 in the 2018 NBA Draft. As is customary, the team set up an introductory press conference for its new rookie. There was just one problem, he overslept. Naturally, Weird Celtics Twitter got a hold of the news, and the “Timelord” nickname was born.
Little did Celtics fans know, it would be the perfect choice for their new shot-blocking center. Williams has averaged 1.7 blocks per game throughout his four-year career, finally being recognized for his stellar defensive work in 2022 with a second-team NBA All-Defense selection. It’s fair to say the nickname worked out, but especially now that we have a metric to officially declare him the NBA’s king of time.
According to Basketball Index, Williams was the NBA’s quickest decision maker in 2021. As an off-ball player he does have an advantage in the metric, but he outpaced the rest of the league in quick touch percentage by 25%.
Moving forward it’s expected Williams will take on an even larger role within the Celtics’ highly rated starting unit.
