Boston Celtics second-year center Robert Williams III sees progress in the games of Romeo Langford, Carsen Edwards and Tacko Fall post-hiatus.
Boston Celtics second-year center Robert Williams agrees with the team’s head coach Brad Stevens that the Celtics’ second unit is looking better in practice as the team gears up for its first inter-team scrimmage this Friday.
Speaking at Monday’s post-practice media availability at the Disney-hosted restart, Time Lord shared two players in particular stood out to him in terms of growth in their games since the start of the COVID-19 hiatus in early March.
“As far as different-looking players, I’ll go with Romeo [Langford and Carson [Edwards],” he explained.
“As a second group, you’ve got the chip on your … shoulder when you’re playing against the first group, so you always want to bring it. And I feel like maybe in previous practices before the season ended, the second group had been getting down on themselves, and stopped competing but now [they are] fighting back.”
“A lot of trash talk makes them more competitive,” he added.
Between injuries and cold streaks, a lot of the rookies playing on Boston’s second unit seemed frustrated by their inability to get things going on the offensive end before the break, and perhaps no more so than Langford and Edwards.
Asked what was different, the Louisiana native shared it was mainly an attitude adjustment, which makes sense.
For first-year players, simply adjusting to the exigencies of playing at the NBA level requires a considerable adjustment from life at the NCAA level, where they had long been the best or nearly so on their teams.
Not so anymore — playing time must be earned, especially on a roster with designs on contention.
Williams related the duo have been showing “more aggressiveness, more … realizing what they’re capable of. Just leaning on each other, being able to take criticism on their own game.”
“They’ve grown up a lot as far as being on the court,” observed the Lord of Time.
Boston two way fan favorite Tacko Fall also stood out as a player who has been making strides forward.
The Senegalese center has been putting in work to become a more mobile, more capable player for the modern NBA, and Williams has seen his hard work manifest into better play in practices.
“We love Tock, Tock is taking any challenges thrown at him, sometimes Tacko may play the middle of the zone [defense] the whole practice, guarding everybody,” explained the Texas A&M product.
“He never shies away from anything; he wants to be different. He doesn’t want to be known as a seven-footer who can’t move. You can see the progress he’s made, you can see that he’s grinding, and he wants to be known for different stuff.”
“You can do anything but respect it,” Williams added.
The former Aggie has made big strides himself, reportedly faster than he was in the past, and fully healthy after missing a big chunk of the season due to a severe hip bruise.
The nascent passing game and better overall body control has hinted that the second-year center might be ready for a bigger role on the team.
And with the reported growth of his peers on the second unit, the Celtics might indeed be as deadly of an opponent post-hiatus as teammate Enes Kanter believes them.
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