Top Celtics pick has already lived down to expectations after awful start to NBA career
Sometimes a guy slips in the draft and becomes the steal of the century, as whatever it was that scared teams from drafting him burns off in the crucible of the NBA to leave behind a polished gem.
Other times a guy slips in the draft and crashes out of the league, as 20/20 hindsight puts his name on some sports site’s listicle about “the biggest wasted talent in NBA history” in the future.
Robert Williams, the Texas A&M star who fell all the way to 27th in this year’s draft, has million-dollar talent and 10-cent effort, which makes it something of an irony that he’s ended up in Boston, a place that gave the world the famous “Puritan work ethic.”
And he has lived down to his reputation so far, as he missed his flight and his first summer league practice with the Celtics.
This isn’t a first offense, either. The day after Williams was drafted, he slept through the introductory conference call.
Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, who is coaching the summer league squad in head coach Brad Stevens’ stead, tried to put a silver lining on Williams’ inattention to schedule.
“We expected him to be here, but obviously he missed his flight,” Larranaga said from the summer league facilities in Las Vegas. “We’re excited for him to get here [Monday] and get started.
“I think everyone’s disappointed. You want to get everything off to a good start in the first day, but we’ll handle that internally and move forward.”
Williams was not in the green room on draft day in Brooklyn, preferring to gather with friends and family at a Buffalo Wild Wings in his native Louisiana.
The last time a Louisiana native was the key piece of a Celtics lineup, his double-zero uniform number got raised to the rafters and the player — Robert Parish — went on to break the NBA career record for games played.
When Williams was drafted, Stevens told him he would have to work hard in order to stick with the team.
And at his introductory news conference on Friday, Williams mentioned hard work no less than seven times in six minutes.
Larranaga reminded everyone in a “why can’t you be more like your brother” way what the Celtics expect from their rookies.
“I think with every rookie that comes into the NBA, it’s really a race to maturity, and some people are further ahead like a Jayson Tatum,” said Larranaga.
Tatum is so far along, having made a strong case for a few Rookie of the Year votes last season, that in a rarity for second-year players he has been exempted from summer league play.
Tatum did, however, join the young guys for practice before the kids headed off to Vegas, doing so at Stevens’ behest in hopes that he could impart some essential lessons about what it means to be part of the most storied franchise in basketball as they set their sights on the franchise’s 18th championship.
Stevens added his own thoughts on Williams and his questionable commitment to punctuality.
“I think he’s got a chance to be a good player. As I told him when we met, there are a lot of guys who have a chance to be a good player. So it’s all about how you work,” Stevens told ESPN.
“It’s all about how you embrace these opportunities, and he can’t have better examples than the guys down in that locker room to follow. So it’s on him to follow. And we’re going to invest a lot of time and energy into him.”
And with his trademark Midwestern wit, Stevens said, “I think timeliness is important and, you know, if that’s the last time then that’s good for all of us.”
Williams, meanwhile, insisted that his actions since the draft do not, in fact, speak louder than words.
“People question my motor a lot, but I work hard and know I can work hard,” the rookie said. “I’m a hard worker. Just being in this organization, knowing the morals of this organization and knowing what it takes to be in this league, definitely has me [excited]. I’m ready to start.”
With LeBron James having left a power vacuum in the Eastern Conference upon his departure to Los Angeles, the Celtics, who fell in seven games to James’ Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals last season and who will be getting Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving back from injury in time for this year’s campaign, will labor under the expectations that anything less than the NBA Finals is failure.
And if Williams doesn’t get his rear end in gear, he’s going to be watching most of it from Maine as a member of the G-League Red Claws on his way to washing out of the league.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
