Sitting, healing, learning
Williams continues to work on his game
LAS VEGAS — The Celtics play Miami tonight for a chance to advance to the quarterfinals of the NBA Summer League playoffs, and Robert Williams is still counting time from the sideline.
The rookie center’s days are packed with treatment to ease the pain from a left knee contusion, and he still doesn’t know if an appearance is possible today. He hasn’t played since the first quarter of the tournament opener on July 6, since going through limited drills on ballhandling and shooting with Alex Barlow, the Celtics assistant charged with the basketball part of Williams’ routine.
Williams began running down the rough outline of his first days as a Celtic.
“Treatment at 8:30, then weights and conditioning, then I work out on the court for 45 minutes,” he said.
But caution will continue to determine Williams’ path, even if that means he never reaches the floor again this summer.
“Obviously, our objective is to get him as strong and healthy as we can for the regular season,” said Danny Ainge, the Celts president of basketball operations. “As nice as it would be to get some experience for the summer league, I think our priority is to get him healthy. It just depends on how feels. I’m not planning on it or putting any pressure on him to play. We’ll see how it goes.”
So Williams continues to mark off time.
“Definitely, every day I’m getting closer,” he said. “It’s a process. I’m not going to be out there until I’m 100 percent. Obviously I hate not being able to be out there and produce on the court. Not being on the court, I have to get my knee ready.”
As such, he has become Barlow’s project. The 26-year-old Ohioan was a Maine Red Claws assistant last season, and shortly after moving up to the parent team, was placed in charge of a rookie off to a rough start. They go onto an adjacent floor during practices, and Williams begins working on stationary dribbling, with Barlow feeding him the ball.
And then there’s an ice pack somewhere waiting for him.
“He puts his all into me every day, knowing I have a lot of work to do,” Williams said of Barlow. “Also a big shout out to our trainers. They’re with me every morning. We focus on touches around the rim, because everything’s not going to be a dunk, to working on my shot — stationary shooting, free throws, all the way to ballhandling.”
Ballhandling is actually a skill Williams developed at a young age, despite the fact he was never a guard. And it’s a skill that has drawn praise from Celts coach Brad Stevens.
“In little league games I played all (the) positions going into high school,” said Williams. “I always tried to show my versatility. I’m glad we went back into that.”
Williams is also on the spot as a result of his inauspicious start as a Celtic. Stevens wryly made reference to his biggest gaffe when a missed flight from Texas led to missing his first practice.
“Obviously, it’s well-documented the first practice wasn’t so hot,” Stevens said with a smile. “But everything since then has been great.”
The countdown goes on. “Just a lot of repetition, even for the most simple things,” said Williams. “Defense every day, plays every day, knowing scouting — a lot of repetition. It’s all in my head, because of all this repetition since the first day of practice. Stuff I caught onto. Lot of plays you have to learn.”
Indeed, there’s a lot Williams is about to learn, period.