Boston Celtics fans should already be worried about Robert Williams
Recent events may have Celtics fan thinking twice about their perceived steal of a draft pick Robert Williams.
When the Boston Celtics drafted power forward Robert Williams of Texas A&M with the 27th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, fans around the league immediately viewed it as a huge steal. Williams was a projected top-15 pick in many pre-draft mocks after averaging over 10 points and 8 rebounds per game in his two seasons as an Aggie.
There seemed to be a lot of attention on him as a lottery pick for his ability to protect the rim and run the floor. The 6’10” Williams flat-out physically dominated players at the college level, averaging at least 2.5 blocks per game in both seasons.
His fall to pick No. 27 went unnoticed for a good part of the draft, probably because of Michael Porter Jr’s steep slide, which meant people didn’t really ask many questions about why it happened. We may just now be seeing what some of those reasons were.
Williams has only been a member of the Celtics for 10 days now but is already showing signs that he might not be ready for the grueling schedule of an NBA player. He initially missed an introductory conference call with the organization because he overslept. And now he’s also missed the team’s first summer league practice because he missed his flight to Boston.
Can’t make this stuff up: Celtics say rookie first-round pick Robert Williams, who was introduced here Friday, missed his flight back to Boston and was not present for the start of summer league practice today. Williams already overslept an introductory conference call.
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) July 1, 2018
Williams is a very talented basketball player and there’s no reason to doubt he can turn it around and be better about his timing. I mean, he’s living a whole new life that is drastically different from what he’s accustomed to, but if he doesn’t fix the problem, Celtics fans might have something to worry about.
For Celtics fans, this could be just some maturity issues that need to be rectified but if he doesn’t show he’s a professional by showing up for the games, this could be a pick Danny Ainge comes to regret.