The era of Timelord is getting started
Trade opens the door for increased role
The era of the Timelord was at hand Friday night in Milwaukee.
With Daniel Theis traded to Chicago for Moe Wagner and Luke Kornet, Robert Williams ascended to a role the Celtics coaching staff has been weaning him for all season.
“Rob has been our best defensive center so far this year. And I think everybody knows that. He’s improved a great deal,” Danny Ainge said of how the young center has progressed this season. “He’s come a long way defending the pick and rolls. And he still has a long way to go. We think he still has even a bigger upside ahead of him. But yeah, it’s going to be a bigger role for Rob at this moment.”
The question is whether Williams is ready for the increased minutes load. Brad Stevens believes the athletic rim protector still needs to find is comfort zone as a starter.
“I think it puts a lot on him. I think that he’s made a lot of strides, he does a lot of good things, and he can fill up a stat sheet,” Stevens said of the upcoming challenge for Williams. “I think that there’s things that he will just continue to improve upon and his best days are still far ahead, as much as the glimpses that he shows. But those glimpses have become a lot more consistent, and his effort has been terrific. He’s a competitive guy.
“So he’ll get, obviously, a lot of opportunity here. He’s always been more comfortable coming off the bench, so he will have to adjust that here, at least in this near term. And then once we have everybody back and Tristan’s back and everything else, then we’ll figure that out later. But I know that Rob is a critical part of our team now and a critical part of our team for the future. And so yeah, it’s an opportunity for him.”
Williams will have to improve on his ability to communicate defensively — an area where Theis excelled.
“I think obviously losing Daniel was really tough,” said Stevens. “I think Daniel’s been one of our best defenders the last couple of years on a team that has really struggled to defend. We’re going to have to have other people step up. It’s time for everybody to be their best on that end, and I think that that is the number one thing for this team; when you lose a communicator like that, a guy that can direct your defense from the back line, and a guy that is going to play hard on each and every possession, that’s going to be something that we’re going to have to make up for. So that is not insignificant.”
Putting all the new pieces together
Evan Fournier was in Boston taking physicals on Friday, with the possibility he could meet the team in Oklahoma City for tonight’s game against the Thunder. Wagner and Kornet were both in Milwaukee for the game — Kornet simply had to drive up from Chicago — and according to Stevens would only play “if the game got out of hand somehow.”
“Yesterday was a tough day in losing those three guys, as exciting as it was to add a guy of Evan’s caliber, and certainly Moe and Luke as well,” Stevens said of parting ways with Theis, Jeff Teague and Javonte Green. “But we lost three good guys and guys that people really like.”
Though Wagner and Kornet were expected to pick things up on the fly, even more will be asked of Fournier, whose immediate impact is needed.
“We’ll treat it a little bit differently with Evan,” said Stevens. “He’s just going to get thrown in there and we’re going to ask him to try to learn on the fly. He’s (28), he’s played in the league a long time. He’ll be able to watch our playbook. Just like Moe and Luke. They’ll be able to pick up a lot pretty quickly. We’ll try to keep a basic set of actions that we go to when those guys are in, and we build up as time goes on. Every midseason acquisition or trade acquisition, whatever the case may be, everybody’s a little bit different and it changes how your team plays. I don’t see how, I don’t see there really being a change in how we play, per se, or how we want to play, especially the way we’ve been playing offensively in the last 12 games. We just need that much more commitment on the defensive end if we’re going to be a team that play for anything significant.”
Come back soon
Ainge said the hope is for Tristan Thompson and Romeo Langford to rejoin the team from health and safety protocols by next week. Langford, who had also recovered from wrist surgery, has yet to play this season.