Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

by **bobheckler** Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:50 am

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/07/boston-celtics-rookie-grant-williams-takes-opponents-strategy-personally-you-better-ask-somebody-im-not-weak.html

Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Updated 9:04 AM;
Today 12:39 AM

By John Karalis | JKaralis@masslive.com

LAS VEGAS -- Chinanu Onuaku just wanted to switch back onto his man.

Grant Williams would not stand for it.

The 6′7″ Celtics rookie had just picked up 6′ 11″ Marques Bolden in transition. Onuaku saw the apparent mismatch. So did Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Naz Mitrou-Long.

“Naz on the other team, he said (to Bolden)‘look who you have on you, post up,'" Williams recalled. It was then that he shot Onuaku a snarl, dismissing his teammate. "I said ‘what? Alright man, get out of the way.’

What ensued was a mismatch alright, just not the one people thought.

Bolden couldn’t take advantage. Williams bodied him, slid his feet, cut him off, and forced the pass.

https://giphy.com/gifs/W4oL6AZC9ymMI7tcTG?utm_source=iframe&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=Embeds&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.masslive.com%2Fceltics%2F2019%2F07%2Fcarsen-edwards-tremont-waters-grant-williams-tacko-fall-stand-out-for-boston-celtics-five-takeaways-from-a-second-win-in-las-vegas.html

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“He turned the ball over and didn’t even get a shot up,” Williams boasted. “I was like, ‘man, you better ask somebody. I’m not weak. I’m not a little small guy.’ I was like, you gotta give me that credit.”

Not only did he stop a guy four inches taller, he switch onto the attacking guard after the pass.

“That’s what’s needed," Williams said. “That’s what our team is asking me to do. I have to be able to play multiple positions on the defensive end and guard guys that are smaller and larger than me, so, it’s something I take as a challenge for sure.”

A minute later, Williams was challenged again.

“On the other end they put (Anthony) Lawrence on me and I was like ‘that’s disrespectful,’” he said with a furrowed brow. “I told coach, I said ‘run it and I’ll get us a basket.'”

And he did.

pic.twitter.com/W9Sn9Q36uV

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) July 9, 2019

He calls himself a goofball every chance he gets, but Williams isn’t going to take perceived slights laying down.

“That’s the competitive side of me,” he said, flashing his usual smile. "It comes out every now and again.”

Williams was a +20, again, for the Summer Celtics. He didn’t shoot it quite as well, but he again made the plays that turned him into the best player on the floor for a stretch where Boston needed someone to control the game.

"I didn’t really score the ball tonight and that’s something I had to do at Tennessee. But now it’s like I don’t necessarily have to score, I can impact the game in every other way,” he said. “For me it’s all about just making an impact and the value of winning.”

bob

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by **cowens/oldschool** Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:46 am

He scored on a post up spin move for a dunk in a flash that was pure Barkley/K Malone, a move in a flash that Marcus Morris has never done....don’t mean to be picking on Morris, but this kid will be much better.

by **swish** Tue Jul 09, 2019 10:17 am

Ah the Summer league - reminds me of baseball's spring training when I was a kid. Every year a few hitters surprised and were the talk of the town as they set the league on fire - and then as the regular season neared the veteran pitchers started bearing down serving up a full repertoire of pitches. What a difference the breaking ball made as the rookies faded and headed off to their minor league assignments.

swish

by **bobheckler** Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:07 am

Summer League is just an All-star NCAA League that has a brief"regular season and playoffs and just like the NCAA most of them will not move up to the next level, and of the ones that do move up most of them will be lucky to be rotation players in the regular season. In essence, it's nibbling around the edges of the team and the league.
What is upsetting me is that, unless I miss my guess on Edwards, at least 3 on our summer league roster will move up. That's not "nibbling around the edges". That's too many for us to be a good team this year. Three rookies is too many and four, if you include Tacko, is WAY too many. That's more than 25% of the active roster. Add sophomore Williams and we're up to 1/3. That's a kindergarten.

How many rookies has GSW been carrying during their dynasty run? How many rookies does the Lakers have? The Clippers? Milwaukee? Youth is overrated if you're trying to win Championships.

bob

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by **swish** Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:20 am

bobheckler wrote:Summer League is just an All-star NCAA League that has a brief"regular season and playoffs and just like the NCAA most of them will not move up to the next level, and of the ones that do move up most of them will be lucky to be rotation players in the regular season. In essence, it's nibbling around the edges of the team and the league.
What is upsetting me is that, unless I miss my guess on Edwards, at least 3 on our summer league roster will move up. That's not "nibbling around the edges". That's too many for us to be a good team this year. Three rookies is too many and four, if you include Tacko, is WAY too many. That's more than 25% of the active roster. Add sophomore Williams and we're up to 1/3. That's a kindergarten.

How many rookies has GSW been carrying during their dynasty run? How many rookies does the Lakers have? The Clippers? Milwaukee? Youth is overrated if you're trying to win Championships.

bob

.

I did some exstensive research years ago on the effect on age-experience on championship teams - and your right - for the most part it's the vets that lead the way. Youthful teams are all about wait to next year.

swish

by **jrleftfoot** Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:55 am

We'll be waiting until next year anyway. We've been waitng since 2008. Might as well enjoy the moment, and the rookies.

by **KyleCleric** Tue Jul 09, 2019 12:25 pm

Only Rob Williams projects as a likely rotational player and even then he has vet competition. Grant Williams, Carson Edwards, and Romeo Langford would have to earn the minutes. There are plenty of vets with the inside track ahead of them. I don’t expect Tacko Fall, Tremont Waters or Max Strus to have significant roles this year. The way that Yabusele has played certainly hurts the likelihood of him making the final 15.

by **jrleftfoot** Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:59 pm

Yabusele is gone, I think. Feel bad for him , but he just hasn't cut it. I think Fall may get the other 2-way contract. Wouldn't be surprised to see Grant Williams and Edwards get some minutes. They both have some skills and played against good competition in college and the NCAAs. Edwards' top skill, shooting, is highly valued in the Association.

by **cowens/oldschool** Tue Jul 09, 2019 5:32 pm

I see a few of our rooks earning minutes....

by **bobheckler** Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:33 pm

cowens/oldschool wrote:I see a few of our rooks earning minutes....

I hope not.

bob

.

by **cowens/oldschool** Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:12 pm

bobheckler wrote:
cowens/oldschool wrote:I see a few of our rooks earning minutes....

I hope not.

bob

.

If they are the best versions of themselves that is a good thing.

by **NYCelt** Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:45 pm

cowens/oldschool wrote:I see a few of our rooks earning minutes....

I would bet Edwards almost for certain. Grant Williams, possibly. Langford, possibly (but in my opinion, I'm extremely concerned about the thumb and the overall talent level).

Waters might spend some time in the G-League (AKA The Career Kiss-of-Death), unless he can quickly get ahead of Wanamaker.

Strus, G-League at best. Fall, probably gone.

I think that's all the Rookies. Did I miss anyone? Perrier (I know)... the magical mystery tour.

2nd year players; Rob Williams, gets a shot at the rotation. Yabusele, gets a ticket to the European city of his choice.

Also, regarding Edwards;

Adam Himmelsbach: Hearing that the Celtics have been having contract discussions with second-round pick Carsen Edwards, looking at a few different concepts related to guarantees etc. 19 hours ago – via Twitter AdamHimmelsbach
Carsen Edwards, Boston Celtics

by **worcester** Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:57 pm

I can see Fall getting a few minutes in select match ups and during coming out of time out inbound plays, where he inbounds the ball or some one inbounds to him a few feet from the hoop for a dunk.

by **bobheckler** Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:06 pm

cowens/oldschool wrote:
bobheckler wrote:
cowens/oldschool wrote:I see a few of our rooks earning minutes....

I hope not.

bob

.
If they are the best versions of themselves that is a good thing.

If our rookies are getting a lot of minutes, we suck. The more minutes, ESPECIALLY if we are talking multiple rookies, the more we suck. You don't play rookies heavy minutes unless you don't have veterans (e.g. injuries) or the veterans you have aren't getting the job done. This is not a novel concept. It is generally assumed "the better the SL ream, the worse the real team,and vice versa". How good were our SL trams when KG was here? Awful. Why? Because we had our elite starting unit and our bench was filled with hungry ring-chasing veterans, NOT rookies. We carried 1-2 rookies at most, and they didn't get a lot of minutes.

bob

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by **jrleftfoot** Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:04 am

I don't know about the rest, but I believe Edward's can , and probably will play. Our bench is no great shakes and Jame Posey , Eddie House and P.J. Brown are not walking through that door. I'm fine with the rookies taking minutes from guys like Theis, Ojele and Wanamaker. If they do , it will be because they are better than the guys they are replacing. That'' s a good thing. I may be wrong and hope I am, but I am thoroughly convinced that this is not a championship team, so why not give guys who may be the future of the franchise an opportunity?

by **kdp59** Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:11 am

bobheckler wrote:Summer League is just an All-star NCAA League that has a brief"regular season and playoffs and just like the NCAA most of them will not move up to the next level, and of the ones that do move up most of them will be lucky to be rotation players in the regular season. In essence, it's nibbling around the edges of the team and the league.
What is upsetting me is that, unless I miss my guess on Edwards, at least 3 on our summer league roster will move up. That's not "nibbling around the edges". That's too many for us to be a good team this year. Three rookies is too many and four, if you include Tacko, is WAY too many. That's more than 25% of the active roster. Add sophomore Williams and we're up to 1/3. That's a kindergarten.

How many rookies has GSW been carrying during their dynasty run? How many rookies does the Lakers have? The Clippers? Milwaukee? Youth is overrated if you're trying to win Championships.

bob

.

I'm glad others around here see that Ainge is rebuilding thus year, Call it re-tooling if it makes one feel better.

teams that typically don't compete for a NBA title:

young teams- Check
teams under the tax line- check
teams that lose an all-NBA player- check

now maybe in the long term, this is for the best, but Ainge rolled the dice with Hayward and Irving two years ago and he crapped out.

no other way to see it, IMO.

by **KyleCleric** Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:34 am

Cs don’t need things to go absurdly right to be competitive. They have a decent mix of talented vets and younger players and there’s depth. Walker wouldn’t have been targeted or signed with the Cs if Ainge/Walker didn’t think they’d have a chance. They should be a 50+ win team and top 4 spot in the East.

by **mrkleen09** Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:41 am

kdp59 wrote:
bobheckler wrote:Summer League is just an All-star NCAA League that has a brief"regular season and playoffs and just like the NCAA most of them will not move up to the next level, and of the ones that do move up most of them will be lucky to be rotation players in the regular season. In essence, it's nibbling around the edges of the team and the league.
What is upsetting me is that, unless I miss my guess on Edwards, at least 3 on our summer league roster will move up. That's not "nibbling around the edges". That's too many for us to be a good team this year. Three rookies is too many and four, if you include Tacko, is WAY too many. That's more than 25% of the active roster. Add sophomore Williams and we're up to 1/3. That's a kindergarten.

How many rookies has GSW been carrying during their dynasty run? How many rookies does the Lakers have? The Clippers? Milwaukee? Youth is overrated if you're trying to win Championships.

bob

.

I'm glad others around here see that Ainge is rebuilding thus year, Call it re-tooling if it makes one feel better.

teams that typically don't compete for a NBA title:

young teams- Check
teams under the tax line- check
teams that lose an all-NBA player- check

now maybe in the long term, this is for the best, but Ainge rolled the dice with Hayward and Irving two years ago and he crapped out.

no other way to see it, IMO.

Given the state of the NBA in any given year, there are only a few legit title contenders. This year, with all the movement - there are more than usual. But to suggest you are either a title contender or rebuilding, shows a very simplistic view of the field. Any team that is competing for home court in the playoffs in their conference is not rebuilding.

The Celtics were forced to reshuffle the deck a bit, but all of the positives that had them ranked as a team on the rise, remain. They have two of the best young players in the league, Hayward will be much much better - and Kemba is so much better than many of you are giving him credit for. He is an All star and has improved every year - last year at 26/6 and a high shooting % - he is a legit star in the NBA and a great FA signing.

Call it what you want, but given the turmoil of last year and the change of heart of Kyrie and Al - I think Danny has done a great job drafting and keeping the team headed in the right direction.

by **worcester** Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:08 am

100% agree Mr. Kleen.

by **cowens/oldschool** Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:18 am

Agreed kleen and his signing of Kantor is a very good move IMHO.

Knicks were tanking last year, Kantor could have been used much better. I’m excited to have some rebounding bigs with Kantor and Poirier, and RW should be getting some play. Will be exciting to see 2 J’s unleashed and getting minutes and touches, I don’t see Kemba being as ball dominate and demanding to be that as Kyrie....

This rookie class intrigues me as well, GW has a lot of all around skills and can bullyball. I didn’t want another undersized 4, but this kid has perimeter skills too. Carsen Edwards looks like a steal, and looking forward to seeing Romeo Langford. I didn’t even mention Gordon Hayward, he will make a jump, Kemba will love playing here, he won’t have to carry a team every night. I am expecting big years from him and Smart, Jaylen, Tatum and GH. We should finally be a good rebounding team this year, which will lead to more running and we are really deep, no team in the East scares me....they all have flaws.

by **bobheckler** Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:26 am

One thing I've read more than once about Grant Williams is that he has a very high basketball IQ. That should help to flatten out his learning curve a bit and make his rookie year look less like a young deer on a frozen lake.

Another thing is that he loves to learn. Anything. He plays 7 instruments and speaks 3 languages. I'll bet he is going to become fast friends with Jaylen, who has an equally inquisitive mind. If Brad's smart he'll room them together on road trips.

bob

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by **cowens/oldschool** Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:42 am

bobheckler wrote:One thing I've read more than once about Grant Williams is that he has a very high basketball IQ. That should help to flatten out his learning curve a bit and make his rookie year look less like a young deer on a frozen lake.

Another thing is that he loves to learn. Anything. He plays 7 instruments and speaks 3 languages. I'll bet he is going to become fast friends with Jaylen, who has an equally inquisitive mind. If Brad's smart he'll room them together on road trips.

bob

.

That’s nice, but what’s better is the way he was getting offensive boards and dunking in traffic, he will dunk on you or you have to foul him. It’s only SL, but have noticed that he seems to always make the right play, knows exactly where to go, has no problem handing the ball on perimeter. This kid might earn starting PF, natural banger in the Barkley/Silas mold.

by **worcester** Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:01 am

Yes, GW has been impressive, as has Carsen E., who, by the way, will not get starter minutes and thus can be a freaking microwave burst of energy when he gets on the floor. This year we have shooters - Edwards, Jayson, Kemba, Gordon, and maybe Jaylen. Perhaps Langford, though tbd.

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Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’

Re: Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams takes opponent’s strategy personally: ’You better ask somebody. I’m not weak’