Getty Images Jayson Tatum and Grant Williams of the Boston Celtics
Grant Williams’ rookie season with the Boston Celtics was unlike any other rookie experience in Boston.
Not every player selected by one of the league’s most-storied franchise can say they did the things Grant went through. From the typical adaptation phase of going from playing all NCAA basketball season’s worth of games and still be nowhere near the NBA’s halfway mark of a regular season is pretty much where things took a unique turn for Grant.
April 2020: Grant Williams Moves In With Kemba Walker
The league’s indefinite season suspension due to COVID-19, in March, meant unexpected downtime – which turned into moving in with an All-Star teammate in Kemba Walker, then the league restart in an isolated bubble in Orlando, followed by playing meaningful minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals to falling two wins shy from reaching the NBA Finals.
Still, through the growing pains, Williams’ personality meshed well with his teammates and soon everyone knew just how difficult it can be to quiet Grant down. If you ask his teammates they’ll tell you he’s the loudest player on the team.
And every rookie has to be corrected by his teammates in one form or another. Williams shared a couple of instances when this happened to him last season on the latest episode of the Bob Ryan & Jeff Goodman Podcast.
Grant Williams On Getting In Between Teammates During ECF Locker Room Spat: ‘I tried To Speak Up In That Whatever Meeting We Had After Game 2’
One of the more interesting stories Grant told Ryan and Goodman came moments after the team’s locker room fight following Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat.
“I’ll say one of the two,” Grant said. “I definitely tried to speak up in that whatever meeting we had after Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. (They) definitely told me to shut the (expletive) up then but before then I got told to be quiet because I kept trying to explain how it worked; how this team played and stuff like that. They were like “you just got here, how do you know how this team is going to play or how this player does this?” And I was just trying to help, sorry so I definitely got a couple of “shut ups.”
(Daniel) Theis has told me to “shut up” a couple of times – just because I be on the court trying to call someone else’s play and he’s like “just let the play happen, we kind of know what’s coming but you don’t have to call it out.”
Grant gave another example of how this happened between him and Theis against the Miami Heat.
“There’s a clip of me in the Eastern Conference Finals screaming out ‘Duncan Robinson!’ on a play,” Williams said. “‘Duncan Robinson! Duncan Robinson!’ for a play and it’s like yeah, ‘OK, Grant’ sometimes you talk a lot.”
This offseason, Williams is taking on a new role as a young mentor to the new class of rookies on the team, including Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard. Grant has already helped Nesmith move into his new apartment near Boston, both have already spent time with Williams playing board games.
Click here to watch Williams’ interview in its entirety, via CLNS Media.
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Celtics Forward Shares Moments Teammates Told Him To ‘Shut Up’