PORTLAND, Maine — Robert Williams III will return to the Celtics’ lineup on Friday against the Orlando Magic, marking 12 weeks from the date of his cleanup surgery on his left knee. Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania first reported the news of Williams’ long-awaited return.
Williams III traveled with the Celtics across their two-week trip from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, where he practiced in full before Boston played Golden State. Hope for his return on the road waned into this week as his conditioning lagged, but after another session in LA with coaches, Williams III showed the confidence Joe Mazzulla and the coaching staff hoped to see before bringing him back.
“When I was in LA, he was playing some five-on-five with the coaches, he was moving well,” Mfiondu Kabengele said after playing for the Maine Celtics on Thursday. “I don’t know the timetable, but just based on eye test, he was moving really well. He seemed strong, he seemed confident in his movements, which is the main thing. Once you have confidence in that, the game, the feel will come, the touch and stuff like that. So I was impressed with how he looked, especially when I saw him in the beginning of training camp and how he transitioned now.”
The progression across nearly an extra week of work is encouraging for the Celtics, who will still need to see him ramp up his minutes into 2023. Williams III, who started all 61 games he appeared in during 2021-22, is expected to come off the bench to start. Mazzulla liked the idea of returning to double big looks eventually, unsurprising given last year’s starting lineup emerging as the best in the NBA. For now, the team’s historic offense, built on spacing, pace and playmaking across the board isn’t a perfect fit for Williams III as he eases back in.
The Orlando game will become an adjustment for Williams III simply getting his wind back, but also stylistically as the Celtics moved toward more off-ball actions in his absence. Luke Kornet and Blake Griffin filled in admirably as screeners and passers, and while Williams III brings great vision too, his screening ability leaves some to be desired. Boston didn’t always do the best job integrating him into the offense last year, Ime Udoka noted, and a recovery-filled offseason didn’t allow Williams III to add to his skills. The center attempted three shots behind the arc through his first four seasons and only 3.1% of his attempts exceeded 10 feet.
Kabengele learned from Williams III about fitting into an offense as a roll man, with both players filling similar roles and the veteran having played in Maine early in his career. Speaking to reporters in New York, Williams III emphasized the need to be around teammates, make himself heard and call out things he sees in practice. Kabengele is averaging 16.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 3.5 APG and 2.1 BPG for Maine while shooting 53.8% from the field.
“One of the main things (Rob taught me) are rebounding, shot-blocking, those dynamic plays on the help side really get you to be seen, even though you’re not the primary shot-taker,” Kabengele said. “You’ve got to really lock down the defensive boards, offensive boards and protect the paint, especially being at my size and my athleticism. Teams should not feel comfortable driving in the paint when I’m in there. That’s the main thing he taught me to instill in myself when I’m down here (in the G-League).”
Williams III’s recovery began in March when he initially tore his left meniscus and chose the path that brought him back to the court sooner, a removal, rather than a repair surgery that could’ve cost him as much as a year. He returned within four weeks midway through the team’s first round sweep of Brooklyn. A bone bruise cost him more time in round two against Milwaukee, before pain, swelling and limited movement rendered him day-to-day for the rest of the postseason. Williams III dealt with that into the summer, forcing him to get another surgery and focus on getting right. He shared no regrets about returning last spring, since he got to play in the Finals.
His Celtics teammates also assured him to take his time and allowed him to with a 22-7 start. They’ve reached new offensive heights without him, but their historic defensive production leveled off as they fell to eighth in defense after ranking 15th through November. Their 106.2 defensive rating led the league last season, keyed by Williams III’s roving off-ball coverage in the paint where he helped off of the opposing team’s worst scorer. They ranked second in forced turnovers and turned that disruption into the league’s top offensive output late in the season. In many ways, Williams III sets Boston’s ceiling, but they’ll simply look for him to return to himself first.
“Luke’s done a good job filling in some of those minutes, getting some of his rolls, so I think it’ll be a natural progression to (Rob) fitting in, just having a pick-and-roll, vertical spacer like that,” Mazzulla said earlier this week. “How we play without it, I think, is just our spacing, our shooting and our five-out spacing allows for multiple driving angles, it allows the spacing for guys to attack … (we’re) making sure he feels like he’s in great shape, executing defensively when he’s in practice and then running through the plays at game speed. Just doing all those little things that make you feel like you’re ready to go.”
