The Boston Celtics will be looking different next season after the departures of Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, and others. But one secondary player is looking ready to pick up the slack.
Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston reported this week that Celtics big man Robert Williams III is working on expanding his offensive game this summer. Forsberg notes that Williams has been working with Houston-based skills trainer Aaron Miller with a particular focus on his on-ball offense. Williams reportedly wants to become more “selfish” offensively, something that Celtics teammates have encouraged him to do in the past.
You can see a recent clip that Miller tweeted of Williams (mainly working on catch-and-shoot jumpers) here.
To this point of his NBA career, Williams, 25, has been a role player for the Celtics, focusing on disruptive defense while only serving as an offensive rebounder and alley-oop toy on the other end. Though he excels in those roles, Williams does have the ability to do more (having been a pretty consistent double-digit scorer in college at Texas A&M).
Boston did already make a big offseason acquistion who should be able to handle a sizable frontcourt scoring load for them. But the Celtics have been at their best over these last couple of seasons when Williams is on the floor. Being able to deploy him as a more potent offensive weapon could really be a difference-maker.
