Getty Grant Williams, Boston Celtics
Every season has a feel-good story simmering under the surface, and for the Boston Celtics, that story is clearly the growth of Grant Williams.
Here we have a player who mightily struggled throughout his sophomore season, and oftentimes looked like he had regressed as a player. Fast forward to February 2022, and Williams is now among the league’s best three-point shooters, one of the Celtics’ most reliable defenders, and by all reports, is growing into a leader in the Boston locker room.
With such a stark change of fortunes, many believe that Williams is positioning himself for Most Improved Player contention, and considering the leap in both production and skill, that would be a fair assumption.
“He has such a high basketball IQ and that’s what he needed to work on: the defensive end of the floor and knocking down corner threes to get on the court. And now that he’s there with regularity, he’s able to open that bag and show more of his offensive game. He’s stayed positive throughout,” Abby Chin noted during a recent episode of the Celtics Talk podcast.
Chin’s comments make sense, as we’ve recently seen Grant go deeper into his bag when attacking a defense. Since the All-Star break, Grant has shown great footwork when spinning in the lane or attacking close-outs by putting the ball onto the floor and attacking the rim while getting downhill.
Williams Dropped Weight in the Summer
During his rookie season, Williams had stacked on weight to enable him to bang with centers in the paint but ultimately found himself playing as a power forward. It was when operating at the four that Williams consistently got exposed on defense, as he was too slow to stay in front of guys, and consistently found himself being mooted as the weak link in Boston’s second unit rotation.
“My rookie year, I had to gain weight to play the 5. Then I never lost that weight. Now, I’ve lost 12-15 pounds. I’ve got another 8-10 to lose to be able to play the 4 more,” Williams told the press at the Celtics Media Day to begin the season.
Grant Williams getting a 50/40/90 is now my main concern for the rest of the season. He’s at 49/44/91 right now
That weight loss coupled with his rapid improvement shooting the three has seen Williams become a vital member of Udoka’s rotation, and is the primary reason why the Tennessee alumn should expect to be in the conversation for a coveted end-of-season award.
Chin believes that we should have noticed the signs earlier, specifically when Williams wasn’t present on the Celtics summer league roster before the season began. “I go back to summer league and he didn’t play on the summer league team, and it was clear then that Brad Stevens and Ime Udoka had a vision for Grant and wanted him to focus on what that was. And he absolutely took that and is now excelling, not only at his role, but has also been able to open up other parts of his game.”
Williams Open to Coaching
You don’t make a developmental jump like this without being receptive to coaching. By taking feedback on board, working with the team’s trainers, and doubling down on watching film – that’s how you make such large strides in under a year. Williams has always been mooted as a high-IQ guy, not just with basketball, but off the court as well, so it makes sense that he’s willing to embrace constructive criticism as he looks to forge a memorable career for himself.
“He can also take criticism, I’ve seen Ime get mad at Grant for not being in position or messing something up, and Grant’s just like ‘gotcha coach, I know.’ And I think that’s huge for other players to see, even if he’s not a star of the team,” Chin said.
Grant Williams has just become a phenomenal bench player.
This season, Williams is averaging 7.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game on 43.9% shooting from deep and 49.3% shooting from the field. While the scoring averages are modest, it’s the elite three-point shooting percentage that’s catching everybody’s eye. Furthermore, we’ve seen the growth of Williams shot throughout the season, as he’s no longer confined to the corner, in fact, the third-year big is shooting 38% on his non-corner three-point attempts per Cleaning The Glass.
Whether Williams wins Most Improved Player or not, he should be proud of his development, and the impact he’s had on the Celtics roster this season. But now the front office has a big question to answer in the coming months: what is Grant Williams worth in a contract extension – let’s hope they figure that out sooner rather than later, otherwise we could very well see Williams strutting his stuff for a rival team such as the Philadelphia 76ers.