Healed and faster, the game’s slowed down for Robert Williams

Boston Celtics center Robert Williams III is finally healthy again — and he thinks he’s even faster than he was before the hiatus.

Boston Celtics second-year center Robert Williams III is ready for the restart — maybe as ready as he’s ever been as a pro.

“I was feeling good,” said Time Lord at Sunday’s media availability session, speaking of the team’s return to practice after the coronavirus hiatus gave them nearly four months off. “I was on a good rampage as I call it.”

“I’m picking up where we left off. Guys like [Marcus] Smart, [Jaylen Brown are] coming and talking to us out there, so they brought the competitive spirit back, but it’s not like the gym [they usually work out in],” he added.

When asked what his mindset was coming into the so-called ‘bubble,’ the Texas A&M product was optimistic. “I’m just going in and giving them my all … there’s going to be curveballs thrown at us,” he said. “You just got to deal with it.”

The exceptionally long layoff has been compared by some to the start of a whole new season, and for Williams — who was out for much of the season while nursing a severe bone bruise in his hip — it was an opportunity to heal, and then build on that foundation.

“I actually feel like I got a little bit quicker, a little bit faster … three and a half months gave my body time to heal. I got some good treatment, good work in,” he explained.

The Louisianian big man never quite found his rhythm with the Celtics during the pre-hiatus regular season, even as he began to flash an extended range and nascent passing game right before he went down with the hip injury.

If Williams can indeed recapture some of that magic while staying healthy, he could be a significant factor in boosting the team’s title aspirations.

The former Aggie’s explosive rim-running play gives Boston another tool to deploy in their frontcourt-by-committee style of play.

That could prove invaluable against opponents with more ground-bound big men on both ends of the court so long as defensive mistakes don’t send the hyper-athletic big man back to the bench.

Teammate Marcus Smart agrees, noting he believes their “defense can go up another level” with Williams’ return. “We’ve got somebody back there that can protect the rim.

“No offense to the other guys on our team, but Rob is a different type of freak of nature when it comes to athleticism, and the ability to go and change shots at the rim. That allows us to pick up our pressure a little bit more as guards. And really, really, really give the opposing team problems.”

The Texan guard gave Williams a big vote of confidence on his development as a player as well.

“The game has definitely slowed down for him,” Smart explained. “You can tell, just seeing him, [that] he looks ready and healthy to me.”

“He’s still catching crazy lobs, protecting the rim and moving his feet very well, so he looks ready to us. Only he can tell us how healthy he is, how ready he is, but all-around he looks good, and his game has definitely slowed down for him.”

“And that’s good for us and him and for his individual progress that he wants to do. But for the team, for him to have the game slow down is critical.”

For a team in the hunt for a banner, indeed.

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