Grant Williams may be a role player for the Celtics, but he wants to be a star in his role. He reflects on his breakout season with JaredWeissNBA after Boston fell just short of a title. More:
“I remember having to challenge him at that time, going, ‘Do you understand that you got to do it every day?” says Ainge. “Like, that’s who you are, you have to go out every day and prove yourself. You can’t feel comfortable and feel like you’ve made it. You got to work and work and work.’”
Ainge reminded Williams that even though he had surpassed Semi Ojeleye in the playoff rotation the year prior, it didn’t mean he had a guaranteed spot. The then-GM told him, “You’re not even good right now,” saying it was as if he were on cruise control. Williams was an intangibles guy and a worker on the floor, but his in-game persistence and temperament wasn’t carrying over to the work off the court.
What was going to make or break his career was his defensive versatility. His spot-up shooting was becoming just good enough to keep him in the rotation, but new coach Ime Udoka was bringing a switching defense to town and Williams needed to evolve quickly. He wanted to grow from being a big who could handle various defensive tasks to a true switchable defender who could take on any assignment.
He hired a chef, overhauled his offseason workout program and showed up to camp noticeably slimmed down. Though he still weighed around 245 pounds, he had converted a significant amount of body fat into lean muscle. Now he was dunking in transition, beating drives to the rim to force missed layups and avoiding fatigue fouls as he got later into the game.
Williams felt that his capability as a defender had far surpassed his reputation, so he relished every single time a ballhandler would wave him over for a clear-out. He ended up being one of 25 players to defend more than 100 isolations over the entirety of last season and ranked fourth in the fewest points per possession allowed, according to Synergy Sports.
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