Brad Stevens: Time Lord’s growth ‘matter of experience and hard work’

Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens thinks Robert Williams III’s growth in his second year are a result of his own hard work.

Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens doesn’t sound too surprised by the visible progress center Robert Williams III has demonstrated on the court.

“He’s just an end-of-second-year player,” offered Stevens at Saturday’s practice media session.

“He’s way more comfortable and what’s expected of him on both ends of the court. [Time Lord] is getting better at a bunch of the little things and has always been a guy that is a real vertical threat. He’s playing very hard and he’s doing a pretty good job [with] our coverages. So, I think it’s just a matter of experience and hard work; he’s done a lot of hard work and his attitude’s also been really good.”

“He didn’t play any of the first three games or not very much if at all, so I think that’s a huge part of it — you just ready for when his number’s called,” added Stevens.

And indeed, it’s been little things — not missing defensive rotations, being in the right place, making the right cut — that have bought him floor time as much as his nascent passing game and fade-away jumpers have.

While the latter might be sexier additions to his game, the expanded ability to work with good fundamentals have kept those ‘hand, meet forehead’ mistakes from happening as often.

“When Rob’s at his best, he’s screening and rolling to the rim, providing us a threat [to] throw a lob at the rim. He’s just so bouncy and quick off the floor, as well as being as tall and long,” offered forward Gordon Hayward of his exceptionally bouncy teammate.

“He’s also another big that can pass, and we can use that whether it’s backdoors on the wing or just reading different things. He’s got a really good feel for the game, and then defensively to protecting the rim, coming over from the weak side giving us another protector.”

When all is said and done, if Williams can maintain or build on this level of play, he could see some real burn in the postseason where the Celtics need bench offense as much as they do rim protection as a final line of defense.

The additional verticality of what Time Lord brings the team is a real ceiling-raiser for the Celtics — assuming he’s ready to pull it off in just his second season in the league.

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