Grant Williams Is Giving The Boston Celtics A Much Needed Lift

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisgrenham/2021/10/24/grant-williams-is-giving-the-boston-celtics-a-much-needed-lift/



Grant Williams Is Giving The Boston Celtics A Much Needed Lift



Chris Grenham
Contributor



Boston Celtics' Grant Williams (12) celebrates with Marcus Smart (36) after Smart made a three point ... [+] ASSOCIATED PRESS



The first three games of the 2021-22 regular season haven’t been particularly pretty for the Celtics. Boston’s offense has yet to find its rhythm, with turnovers plaguing Ime Udoka’s team through its first two losses. Despite the ups and downs, Grant Williams has been a major bright spot early on, and that continued Sunday night against the Houston Rockets.

Williams entered training camp down 15 pounds from last season. He put on weight earlier in his career to play the role of a small-ball big man, but this summer he cut down to regain his quickness and versatility. The 22-year-old spoke about his shooting at length during the preseason, and he’s backed it up with his play so far this season. Williams scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 30 minutes in Sunday’s win over the Rockets, going 5-of-7 from 3. He’s now 8-of-12 from deep through three regular season games. The improvement might come as a surprise for some fans, but Udoka and Williams spoke about his shooting shortly after Udoka took the Celtics head coaching job this summer.

“He works on it every day, he works extremely hard,” Udoka said Sunday. “Came back in great shape. He asked me in the summer, months ago when I got hired, what can he do and I said, ‘Get that 3-point percentage up to 40 and defend,’ and he’s doing all of that right now.”

Williams has made a massive impact on both ends of the floor for Boston through its first three games. The Celtics had a dramatic double-overtime loss to begin the season against the Knicks, but if it weren’t for Williams’ 11-point fourth quarter, they wouldn’t have even had a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation. On Sunday, it was his steadying presence as a perimeter threat and capable switcher on defense that helped keep Boston afloat after an ugly start.

Entering the preseason, there was set to be a roster battle for minutes toward the back-end of the Celtics rotation. Williams was in the thick of that fight, alongside players such as Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith and Juancho Hernangomez, to name a few. Just a week into the season, it is clear that Williams separated himself and came out on top, something Udoka credited to his consistency.


“Being consistent,” Udoka said. “The versatility he brings, he can move his feet on the perimeter against guards, bigs inside and the way he shot the ball, honestly. He’s been shooting it great throughout camp, not that the other guys haven’t, but some of the things he does on both ends of the floor are what kind of separated it. He’s just a young guy and we don’t always look at him in the same mode as Payton (Pritchard), Aaron (Nesmith) and Romeo (Langford) and those guys, but he’s a young guy as well and somebody that we want to see that growth from. He came back, like I said, in shape and has really taken advantage of his opportunity with Al (Horford) and some of the guys out.”

All of those characteristics are things that Williams embodies, and it shows on the floor. The Tennessee product isn’t going to let the good start go to his head, however. He’s determined to stick to what helped him in training camp.


“Just consistency,” Williams said Sunday. “Biggest thing for me is just trying to stay consistent throughout the whole year. Not go through ups and downs and be a person that is relied on and reliable. That is probably my most important thing. Everything else will take care of itself.”

The Celtics roster lacks shooting, which makes Williams’ recent improvements that much more important. The offense has looked choppy to say the least, even in Sunday’s win, but having Williams as a reliable constant makes a major difference. If Williams can be a consistent perimeter threat for Boston while bringing his defensive versatility, it will make life a lot easier for Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and, more than anyone, Udoka. Filling whatever role is needed of him with his versatility is something Williams takes pride in.

“It’s a difficult job, but it’s what I signed up for,” Williams said. “Provide value to this team in any way possible. Whatever they need me to do. That’s something I take pride in. Being a versatile guy — a guy that can stay on the floor no matter what the situation is. If I ever get to a point where that’s not important to me, then I’ll be out of this league.”

Tatum knows how important Williams has been for the Celtics of late.

“I’m happy for him. We need it,” Tatum said. “Grant has worked extremely hard on his shot since he first got into the league, and being able to be a threat out there is only going to make us better. ... For us to be a good team we have to space the floor and need guys to knock down shots like that. He knows his role and he plays it very well. Just adding the ability to hit those shots is big for him and big for us.”


Bob
MY NOTE:  12 total 3pt fgas isn't much of a sample size but it beats the everlovin' snot out of 0-25.  Going 8-12, 67%, will almost certainly retreat to the mean, which Ime is hoping will be around 40%, but what it does show is that Grant Williams really can shoot the 3.  You're not going 67%, even on only 12 shots, on sheer good luck. You have to shoot well enough for the ball to have a chance of going in.

I like the pride Grant takes in his profession.  He works hard, on and off the court, and that will eventually work in his favor just as working hard eventually pays off for us.  I like that he was proactive and contacted Ime and asked him what he wanted from him.

My prediction is that over the course of this season we'll be seeing Grant playing more bully ball down low on switches that get a smaller player on him.  He's lost 15# but he's still stronger than 2s and most 3s.  If they double him he has the court vision and BBIQ to pass out of it and, unless a double comes quickly, Grant will be able to get a good shot off from the low blocks against a player not strong enough to stop him.

I was generally very supportive of Brad when he was the coach.  He had to play the roster Danny gave him: the good, the bad, the ugly.  It is now looking like Brad, whether he had a choice or not, mis-used Grant Williams.  "Small-ball 5" is a real thing in the NBA but Grant Williams wasn't and isn't that no matter how many times Brad threw his ass into the fire.  Ime's decision to tell Grant to lose weight so he can be more mobile, as opposed to telling him to beef up so he can defend against taller, heavier, stronger players he really had no shot of doing well against, is looking like a great strategic decision by Ime so far.

Finally, let's remember that Grant Williams was a #22 pick who is just starting his 3rd NBA season, and is finally playing the position he played at Tennessee.  We shouldn't judge young players so quickly.  The game is very fast to them and the coaches might not know what they should want from them because they have no history with them.  If Grant Williams is a solid, dependable, productive rotation player this year he will be exactly where a #22 pick would be expected to be. If he's an occasional productive starter, due to injuries or illness, then he's overachieving.


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Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
about 5 minutes ago
Since the start of last season, Grant Williams is shooting 40 percent from 3-point range


Bob
MY NOTE:  To be precise (and you know how much I like precision when it comes to numbers), Grant Williams is 57-for-142, 40.1%, from the start of last season through the first 3 games of this season.  To put this into a little bit of perspective, Juancho Hernangomez has taken 169 3pt fgas in the last two seasons (168 last year and 1 this year, which he made).  He has hit 56 of them for a fg% of 33%.  19% more 3pt fgas, which is more but not crazy more, but a significantly lower %. If Grant's defense is better than Juancho's, and my preseason eyeballs told me it is because Juancho has slow lateral movement, then the decision to play Grant over Hernangomez is a no-brainer in my opinion.


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Grant called Udoka this summer and asked , “What do you need from me”?

By Jay King
Shortly after the Celtics hired Ime Udoka this summer, Grant Williams reached out to the head coach.

Williams asked Udoka what the Celtics would want from him during the coming season. Knowing tasks could shift after the end of Brad Stevens’ coaching tenure, Williams wanted to know Udoka’s vision for him.

“He asked me in the summer, months ago when I got hired, what he can do,” Udoka said Sunday night after Boston’s 107-97 victory in Houston. “And I said, ‘Get that 3-point percentage up to 40 and defend.’ He’s doing all of that right now.”

Based on how Udoka handled the preseason, Williams still entered training camp without a definitive role. The Celtics wanted to see how each of their power forwards would complement the regulars. Juancho Hernangomez got the first chance, starting the preseason opener. Jabari Parker could have also factored into the conversation. Udoka said he knew what Al Horford would give the team as a power forward but hoped to explore what the other guys could provide.

Williams won the competition. Based on the first three games of the season, he has seized a significant place in the rotation. When Horford missed the regular-season opener, Williams started in his place. Even after Horford’s return, Udoka has stayed with Williams in a steady role as the backup power forward and also as an occasional center. Udoka said Williams earned his minutes throughout a solid preseason.

“Being consistent, the versatility he brings, he can move his feet on the perimeter, guards bigs inside, and the way he shot the ball, honestly, he’s been shooting it great throughout camp,” Udoka said. “Not that the other guys haven’t, but things he does at both ends of the floor are what separated it. He’s just a young guy — we don’t look at him in the same mold as Romeo (Langford), Payton (Pritchard) and Aaron (Nesmith), but he’s a young guy as well and someone we wanted to see that growth from. He came back in shape as well and is really taking advantage of his opportunity, especially with Al and some of the other guys out.”

Williams played 30 minutes or more in a game three times over his first two NBA seasons. He has done so during two of Boston’s three games so far. On Sunday night, he set career highs in 3-pointers made (five) and attempted (seven) while matching his career high in scoring (18 points). Though any shooting stats should come with an asterisk this early in the season (*tiny sample), Williams has opened the regular season by making nine of his first 13 3-point attempts. Is that level of accuracy sustainable? Absolutely not. Not even Stephen Curry shoots that well. But if Williams has actually made significant progress on his outside shot, the development will matter for a team that needs floor spacing around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

“I’m happy for him,” Tatum said. “We need it.”

Williams actually shot a respectable 37.2 percent from the 3-point arc last season, but opponents never adjusted to treat him as a threat. He thinks they will this season if he keeps pumping in outside shots. Even the discussion of the possibility shows how far he has come early in his career. During Williams’ rookie season two years ago, teammates started calling him “Ben Simmons” because he started the campaign with 25 straight 3-point misses. Williams laughed at the mention of the old nickname Sunday night. He said other players haven’t called him that recently.

“Even just looking back to that it’s just impressive for me just to see how far I’ve come,” Williams said. “Just trying to stay grounded, stay humble and understand that the hard work is paying off, but it still has a lot more to go. That’s just a step-by-step process, and they’ve encouraged me ever since the beginning. They’ve been telling me, ‘Keep shooting, we know how good of a shooter you are.’ And hopefully that just continues to show.”

The Celtics could use it. It’s far too early to panic about their offense, which ranked 25th as of late Sunday night, but they aren’t stocked with proven knockdown shooters around Tatum and Brown. The two All-Stars will see extreme defensive attention if opponents don’t respect Boston’s supporting cast.

“We know the attention that Jayson draws and guys like Dennis (Schröder) when he’s getting downhill, and when Jaylen comes back,” Udoka said. “And all our guys in general, we say, ‘These are the shots you’re going to get.’ We show them pregame how heavy they shift on certain guys and go after them. So just a matter of being confident, taking the right shot.”

Williams has done that so far. Though he has put together hot streaks before, he has typically been known more for his defense and physicality during his time with the Celtics. In some ways, he’s still working on how to harness that. Williams said he has leaned on Horford for advice since the veteran big man rejoined the Celtics this summer. Williams said Horford will pull him aside to suggest different ways to handle certain situations. During the second half Sunday, after essentially tackling Kevin Porter Jr. to prevent an open layup, Williams said he heard from Horford. The 35-year-old told Williams he should have challenged Porter Jr. at the rim rather than taking the obvious — and hard — foul.

“You did the right thing not letting him get a shot off,” Horford told Williams, “but I think you could have done a better job just staying vertical.”

It’s all part of the process for Williams, who served as the centerpiece of Tennessee’s offense during college but has needed to adapt to a more supportive role at the NBA level. He knows he still needs to make an impact with the dirty work, as he did with this late fourth-quarter hustle play against Houston.

Williams wants to build on his defensive skill set while continuing to knock down outside shots. He knows the importance of proving himself as a reliable threat from downtown.

“Just being able to knock down that open shot gives us a lot more versatility to our offense,” Williams said. “They can’t shrink in as much as they’d like to, especially on our superstar players. So that makes the job easier for Jayson and Jaylen and (Marcus) Smart and Dennis and everyone else being able to get downhill to the rim. That’s kind of my role. I’m embracing it fully and trying to be the best at it.”

And he’s doing his job so far.

One of the main things I appreciate about Grant Williams is the pride he takes of being a Celtic. He has embraced the role (s) given him, at times not being happy about it but keeping his mouth shut and doing his job. His first reaction after the big changes in management was to go to his coach and ask him what he expected of him and what he felt he needed to work on.

Grant is a mentor to several students in the Boston area. The Mentorship program is near and dear to the Celtics and Bill Russell's heart. He is in and out of schools, involving himself in programs to enrich the lives of young people in Boston. I admire this about him. His involvement in the Players Association tells everyone "I am here to stay and I care about you"

Yes, he is a keeper in my eyes, a true Celtic

A very pleasant surprise.

I have been critical of Williams play in the past, perhaps overly so, but his improved shooting and sleeker physique, along with his other attributes, tenacity, BB IQ etc. have made him a good, even possibly a necessary component in thr rotation. As the article pointed out , he's still a young player. His learning curve is bound to be slower than that of guys like the Js, who are super talented to begin with.