Robert Williams III hasn’t been able to find a consistent place in the Boston Celtics lineup this season.
In reading that, it would be easy for one to think that the reason could stem from a struggle in fitting with the Celtics’ top stars on the court. That’s not the case with Williams, however. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as Williams has a long history of fitting perfectly alongside Boston starters Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford and Marcus Smart.
The 25-year-old just hasn’t been able to stay healthy, and the emergence of Derrick White has seen him relegated to a bench role as he continues to work back from his latest injury.
There’s just one thing about that bench role, it’s done wonders for Williams in his return from injury. That much was on full display Friday night, as “The Timelord” helped lead the Celtics to a rousing victory over the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden, prompting some praise from his head coach.
“He can play anywhere from 20 to 30 to 32 (minutes),” Joe Mazzulla said postgame, as seen on NBC Sports Boston. “He’s done a great job of taking care of himself. We’ve done a good job, kind of just ramping him up and getting him to a level of — he looked good playing a long stint. That’s kind of what we need him to do.
“These last two games I’ve seen a different Rob on the offensive end. When we play him he has to have an ability to affect both ends of the floor. … It’s the little stuff that he has to bring.”
Williams didn’t go out and drop 26 points in his return to the starting lineup (that was Sam Slam Hauser), but he did put together the wholly impressive stat line of eight points, nine rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists. The ability for him to cause mismatches and find teammates for open looks made quite the difference in the eyes of Mazzulla.
“We need him to be involved,” Mazzulla said. “He has the ability to screen and get guys open and depending on how they’re guarding him, if they’re going to switch we have to be able to punish that with him and our guys feel comfortable throwing it to him vs. smaller guys. He just has to be dynamic on the offensive end and it’s something he works at. He’s shown that the last couple of games.
“I want to see him catch the ball with one foot in the paint and do something and finish with contact and do a couple of those things. What he’s done offensively the last two games is kind of what I think he has the ability to do. … We know he has the ability to pass and so sometimes he has — it’s probably on me as much as anybody — he has the tendency to be a little passive on the offensive end. But when he’s integrating our offense, we’re a different team.”
The Celtics have intentionally been ramping the big man’s minutes up toward the end of the season, looking to fully integrate him prior to the start of the playoffs. As we all saw last season, a healthy Williams could be the difference between a championship contender or pretender.
