Robert Williams

Eastern Notes: Buckner, Cavaliers, Williams III, Sixers, Brogdon

June 12th, 2022 at 7:55pm CST by JD Shaw

The Cavaliers are promoting assistant Greg Buckner to an associate head coach position, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter). As Wojnarowski notes, Buckner played a key role in helping Cleveland become a strong defensive team last season.

Buckner spent 11 years in the NBA as a player from 1998-2009. He joined the Rockets as a player development coach in 2011, then became an assistant with the Grizzlies in 2017. The Cavaliers hired him in 2020.

Cleveland finished with a 44-38 record this season, dealing with several injuries throughout the year. The team lost in the play-in tournament and failed to make the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference tonight:

Celtics center Robert Williams III tweaked his knee and asked to come out of Game 4 on Friday, head coach Ime Udoka said, as relayed by Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, Williams is hopeful to play in Game 5. The shot-blocking big man has dealt with knee soreness for several weeks. Williams said he feels better and is relieved to have more of his usual explosion lately, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets.
The Sixers‘ recent handling of a third star hasn’t been good, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. If Philadelphia pursues a trade for another star, Pompey believes the team must make sure he’s the right fit. As it stands, the Sixers are headlined by James Harden and Joel Embiid, but the team also has two quality players in Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris behind them. That quartet alone combined to score 86.3 points per game last season.
James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required) examines whether Malcolm Brogdon has played his last game with Indiana. Brogdon played a career-low 36 games this past season with the Pacers, who could explore his value on the trade market during the offseason. He averaged 19.1 points per contest on 45% shooting last year.

Celtics Notes: Williams, Tatum, Brown, Horford

June 9th, 2022 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics big man Robert Williams is battling a knee injury that has sidelined him for several playoff games and limited his effectiveness in others, but head coach Ime Udoka has maintained a desire to use Williams whenever possible, writes Jay King of The Athletic. As King outlines, the Celtics view Williams as a foundational piece and want him to be “adaptable” to a variety of matchups — the Warriors’ offense presents some unique challenges for him to figure out.

“It’s the NBA Finals and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to win,” Udoka said. “But this is the core group going forward, and to have the confidence to be able to figure it out with him is going to be big going forward.”

In Wednesday’s Game 3, Williams was a difference-maker on defense in the second half, registering three steals and a block during one impressive two-minute stretch and helping the Celtics limit Golden State to just 11 fourth-quarter points. The big man said his knee injury is one that would normally require more time off, but the extra days off after Games 1 and 2 have helped him, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

“I’m just trying to be accountable for my team,” Williams said, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). “We made it this far. I had a discussion with myself about pushing through this, but I’m happy with how it’s going. We’ll worry about the injury at the end of the season. But for now, I’m still fighting.”

Here’s more on the Celtics:

As they did repeatedly during the season’s second half and in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown showed once again on Wednesday why the idea of breaking them up with a trade – a popular topic of speculation in the first half of 2021/22 – is one that shouldn’t come up again, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com.
Tatum said earlier this week that he’s not sure why the debate over whether or not he’s a true superstar has been such a common one over the last couple years, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays. “I’ve seen there’s a huge debate: Is he a superstar or is he not? I want to know where that came from,” Tatum said. “… It’s been a big deal this last year and a half or two years. I see it all the time. There’s always been a question in the back of my head, I wonder who spoke on my behalf or said that or why that was such a big deal.” The Celtics forward added that he’s more concerned about winning a title than determining his individual standing in the NBA: “If you win a championship, they can debate a lot of things. They can’t debate whether or not you’re a champion.”
In a separate story for ESPN, Bontemps takes an in-depth look at Al Horford‘s 15-year journey to his first NBA Finals and what the veteran big man means to the Celtics.

Celtics Notes: Tatum, R. Williams, Smart, White

June 8th, 2022 at 6:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jayson Tatum hasn’t forgotten the feeling of being passed over by the Lakers in the 2017 draft — or that the Celtics almost didn’t take him either, according to Ramona Shelburne and Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN. Tatum, who has become the biggest star among that year’s draft class, grew up as a Lakers fan and still offers subtle tributes to Kobe Bryant. L.A. owned the No. 2 pick, but was focused on Lonzo Ball, ending Tatum’s hopes of wearing purple and gold.

“The Lakers were my favorite team, and Kobe was my favorite player,” Tatum said. “So it was crazy that the Lakers had the second pick and I was so close to a dream come true. But it was just like they didn’t want anything to do with me at the time.”

Tatum had a strong pre-draft workout for Boston, which owned the top pick. Danny Ainge, who ran the Celtics at the time, had planned to take Markelle Fultz, but Fultz shot poorly at his workout and didn’t seem fully healthy, so Ainge traded down and grabbed Tatum at No. 3.

“After my workout, I remember one of the [Boston] scouts came up to me and said, ‘That was a great workout. I’m excited for you. But we got the No. 1 pick, so we’re not going to pick you,'” Tatum recalled. “He still works for the Celtics now, so I f— with him all the time.”

There’s more from Boston:

Robert Williams has earned a new level of respect by playing in pain throughout the postseason, per Jay King of The Athletic. Williams has come a long way since college, when there were questions surrounding his work ethic and maturity level. “Rob has made huge jumps,” teammate Jaylen Brown said. “Not just in his game, but just the mental game. Just being able to be consistent, being able to be solid, being able to be available. And a lot of that comes from confidence. A lot of that comes from self belief, inner belief.” Williams was listed as questionable for tonight’s Game 3, but he’ll be in the starting lineup, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
Marcus Smart tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy that the Celtics are stronger because of the trials they experienced during their 18-21 start. “We definitely made it hard on ourselves,” Smart said. “But, you know, we always hear the saying: if you want something great, it’s never gonna be easy to achieve it. So, you know, we take that full head-on as a team, we accept it and we ride with it.”
After being traded to Boston by the Spurs, Derrick White found a lot of similarities in the system run by Ime Udoka, who was a former assistant in San Antonio, but he said the Celtics place more emphasis on physicality, Grant Afseth writes for Sports Illustrated. “In San Antonio, we had a lot of emphasis on not fouling,” White said. “To keep them [opponents] off the line. Obviously, they don’t want dumb fouls here, but I’m just trying to be more physical. Just little things like that.”

Atlantic Notes: Brown, Williams, Raptors, Heck

June 7th, 2022 at 2:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors were noticeably more physical in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and the Celtics have to be ready to respond to that over the rest of the series, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Golden State unleashed a more aggressive defense, forcing 19 turnovers that led to 33 points. Coach Steve Kerr also unveiled a few defensive adjustments that knocked Boston off its game.

One of those changes involved matching Draymond Green up more frequently with Jaylen Brown. After a hot start, Brown missed 10 of his last 11 shots from the field, but he said he knows what to expect moving forward.

“They switched the lineup,” Brown said. “They tried to put (Green) on me, be physical, muck the game up, pull me, grab me and overall raise the intensity. I feel like they got away with a lot of stuff tonight, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of the next game. All that stuff, the gimmicks, the tricks, we’ve just got to be the smarter team, be the more physical team. Look forward to just coming out and playing Celtic basketball.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Robert Williams remained on the ground for a while Sunday after Marcus Smart landed on his leg, but Celtics coach Ime Udoka told reporters today that Williams is fine, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Williams was listed as questionable heading into Game 2 because of left knee soreness and only played 14 minutes.
Eric Koreen of The Athletic looks at four areas where the Raptors need to improve and suggests potential pick-ups to help with each one. One of the team’s primary concerns is finding more play-makers to go along with Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes, and Koreen points to Malik Monk, Tyus Jones, Victor Oladipo, Delon Wright and Kyle Anderson as possible free agent targets. Koreen also believes Toronto has to upgrade its shooting, rim protection and perimeter defense.
Julian Champagnie of St. John’s will work out for the Raptors on Wednesday, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.
Chris Heck is stepping down from his role as president of business operations with the Sixers, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Heck has been with the team for nine years and has been in his current post since 2017. “It’s time,” said Heck, who adds that he reached the decision in February. “I’ve kind of done everything I set out to do except for maybe organize an [NBA championship] parade. I’m really happy with what we accomplished during the time period, but it’s on to the next chapter.”

Celtics Notes: Tatum, R. Williams, Smart, Theis

June 4th, 2022 at 8:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

It takes more than one bad shooting night to shake Jayson Tatum‘s confidence, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Meeting with the media following today’s practice, the Celtics star said he won’t change anything about his approach after shooting just 3-of-17 in Game 1.

“Once you’ve done something before, you know how to respond,” Tatum said. “I’ve had some bad shooting nights in the NBA. So it’s like, ‘I’ve been here before.’ I know what to do next game. I think a lot of it is mental. You don’t let it creep into your mind. I can’t do nothing about what happened last game. I missed those shots and it is what it is. It’s all about how to prepare and get ready for the next one.”

Even though Tatum was misfiring, Boston still put 120 points on the board and he was able to contribute 13 assists. That may have worked on Thursday night, but Tatum understands that the Celtics will need consistent scoring from him to win the series.

“Obviously, I know I’ve got to play better,” he said. “I can’t shoot like that every game and hopefully we win. I expect to play better shooting-wise, but just impacting the game in different ways to do my part and let’s get a win. I will continue to do that. Just read the game, read each play. That’s how I kind of approach next game.”

There’s more 0n the Celtics:

Robert Williams is being listed as questionable for Sunday night’s Game 2 with soreness in his left knee, tweets Substack contributor Marc Stein. Williams, who has been hampered by injuries throughout the playoffs, started at center and played more than 24 minutes in Game 1 after being deemed questionable.
The Celtics’ relentlessness helped them overcome a 12-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter of the series opener, observes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Marcus Smart describes himself as a “lion out on the prowl hunting” in his approach to matching up with the Warriors. “Playing against a team that’s been here and knows what it takes, and they’re the hunted,” Smart said. “We’re the hunters right now. We’re trying to get to their level and get to where they’re at. So for me, I’m just out, I’m stealth, I’m waiting for my time to strike and my opportunity.”
Daniel Theis credits the Celtics’ midseason turnaround to having so many players who are comfortable with their contract situations, per Brian Robb of MassLive. After Theis and Derrick White were acquired at the trade deadline, Boston’s top 10 rotation players all had multiyear deals. “Everybody now, almost everybody on his team got a long-term contract and like is secured in a way that they can just focus on winning,” Theis said, “like, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m in my contract year, I got to put the numbers up.'”

Porter, Iguodala, Payton, Williams Will Suit Up For Game 1

June 2nd, 2022 at 6:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Otto Porter Jr., Andre Iguodala and Gary Payton II will all suit up for Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight, Warriors coach Steve Kerr told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link) and other media members.

Reports had indicated that Payton was on track to return for the Finals but that statuses of Porter and Iguodala were more uncertain.

Payton has been sidelined since May 3 after suffering a fractured left elbow in Game 2 of the Warriors’ second-round series against Memphis.

Iguodala hasn’t played since Game 4 of Golden State’s first-round matchup with Denver on April 24 due to a left cervical disc injury in his neck. Porter has been nursing a sore left foot since Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. All three players were listed as questionable after going through contact at practice on Wednesday.

The Celtics will have starting center Robert Williams in the lineup, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets. Also listed as questionable, Williams played only 15 minutes in Boston’s Game 7 win over Miami. He missed Game 3 of the series due to soreness in his surgically-repaired knee.

Celtics Notes: Brown, Horford, Smart, Williams

May 31st, 2022 at 7:32pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After starting off the 2021/22 NBA season with a middling 25-25 record, the Celtics were hardly looking like candidates for a deep postseason run. Now, after consecutive Game 7 wins over Milwaukee and Miami, Boston will face Golden State in the NBA Finals, which begin on Thursday at the Chase Center.

Celtics star swingman Jaylen Brown acknowledged this week that he heard plenty of trade speculation earlier in the year when Boston’s season was looking less promising, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. During the first half of the season, there was outside chatter about whether the Celtics needed to break up Brown and Jayson Tatum.

“That trade talk was loud, and most of it came from Boston fans,” Brown told Haynes. “It’s a city that doesn’t tolerate excuses. But in reality, early in the season we had a new coach, we had a new front office, I missed about 15 games early in the season and that caused us to not be clicking on all cylinders like we wanted to be. People were impatient, so I understand. But fast forward, we got healthy, we got everybody back and now the sky’s the limit.”

There’s more out of Boston:

Veteran Celtics big man Al Horford is expected to have his salary for the 2022/23 NBA season fully guaranteed, regardless of the NBA Finals outcome, sources tell Brian Robb of MassLive. Boston’s Eastern Finals win increased Horford’s partial guarantee from $14.5MM to $19.5MM, while a championship would officially increase it to a full guarantee of $26.5MM. However, given the way he has performed this season – and in the playoffs – it sounds like Horford won’t have to worry about being waived in the offseason, no matter how the forthcoming series plays out.
Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has indicated that there is “no concern” about the health of starting point guard and Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart heading into the team’s NBA Finals matchup against the Warriors this week, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Smart sat out Games 1 and 4 of Boston’s seven-game Eastern Conference Finals series win against the Heat with a right ankle sprain.
The Celtics are savoring their four-day breather in between the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals on Thursday, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Starting center Robert Williams, who was unavailable for three contests against the Heat due to a left knee bone bruise and played limited minutes in Game 7, looks to be a big beneficiary of break. “Rob’s all right,” Udoka said. “Getting looked at today and will continue to get his treatment and rehab and in order to get swelling down and some of the pain and mobility back. And so it’s going to be an ongoing thing, like I mentioned. He’s day-to-day pretty much throughout the playoffs… [He] should feel better with time in between, especially with these two days off in between games, as opposed to playing every other day.”

Western Notes: Warriors, Finals, Wood, Grizzlies, Lakers

May 29th, 2022 at 9:19pm CST by JD Shaw

The Warriors are thankful to have plenty of rest ahead of the NBA Finals, Kendra Andrews of ESPN.com writes. By defeating Dallas in five games, the Warriors put themselves at a competitive advantage over the Celtics and Heat — who needed a Game 7 to decide their series on Sunday night.

“We gave our guys two straight days off, which is almost unheard of, in playoffs or even just regular season,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “So it was a great chance to decompress the last couple of days.

“We won’t have a formal practice until tomorrow. It’ll be the first day we’ll build on our opponent. So I’ve said it many times: You go to the Finals, it’s almost a two-month journey filled with stress and fatigue, so if you can build a little break, it’s very meaningful.”

Golden State is dealing with injuries to Gary Payton II, Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr., but Payton and Iguodala will likely return in the Finals and Porter’s injury isn’t considered serious.

On the flip side, Miami is dealing with injuries to Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, Jimmy Butler, P.J. Tucker, Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent, while a pair of Boston starters – Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III – have missed time in the Finals due to various ailments.

There’s more from the West this evening:

The Rockets are continuing to receive trade interest for big man Christian Wood, Kelly Iko reports for The Athletic. Wood, 26, complements the Rockets well offensively, but the team may consider moving his contract and focusing on its younger core. He averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game this season.
Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal examines 14 players to watch for the Grizzlies’ three draft picks next month. Memphis owns the 22nd, 29th and 47th selections in the event, which takes place on June 23.
New Lakers coach Darvin Ham is expected to have control over choosing his coaching staff, Marc Stein confirms in his latest article at Substack. Stein also reports that senior advisor Kurt Rambis will not be a regular presence in coaching meetings as he was under Frank Vogel‘s leadership.

Celtics Notes: Game 7, G. Williams, Smart, R. Williams

May 28th, 2022 at 6:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics missed a chance to close out the Eastern Conference Finals at home, but they remain confident that they can win the series in Miami, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Road teams historically don’t fare well in Game 7, but after beating the Bucks in seven games in the last round, Boston players like their chances Sunday night.

“Scale of 1 to 10?” Jayson Tatum asked. “Ten. I mean, it shouldn’t be any less than that, right? You know, it’s the last game. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a 10 out of 10 in my confidence level and the group.”

Familiar mistakes prevented the Celtics from ending the series on Friday, Bontemps adds, as they turned the ball over frequently in the early part of the game. They also struggled to get production from their main scorers in the second half as Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for just 18 points after halftime.

“We won the close-out game, obviously, [against Milwaukee], and for us we’ve won two in Miami, so that’s the positive of it,” coach Ime Udoka said. “We know we can go there and win. But just have to make it harder than it is, and at times it feels like we’re doing that, not taking advantage of what’s in front of us, and just overall sloppy basketball on both ends. We can’t have that on the road.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

Rick Barnes, who coached Grant Williams and P.J. Tucker in college, tells Jay King of the Athletic that there are a lot of similarities between them. “Incredible basketball IQ,” Barnes said. “If you mic’d them both up during the game, they’re never going to stop talking. Never. Because they know their job. They know everybody else’s job. Both of those guys would be terrific coaches if they wanted to be, because they really see the game from every spot on the floor, they know how everything is supposed to work. And both of them want to win. That’s all they did.”
This is the fourth conference finals in six years for Boston, but the current core hasn’t been able to reach the next level, notes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. One of those losses was to Miami two years ago, and the players want to make sure they don’t come up short again. “You don’t want any feelings of regret,” Brown said. “We’ve got an opportunity to do something with this group that’s special. So let’s not take that for granted.”
Marcus Smart and Robert Williams, who have both seen their availability in the series affected by injuries, are listed as questionable for Game 7, according to Souichi Terada of MassLive. Terada notes that both players were active for Games 5 and 6 after being game-time decisions.

Herro To Miss Game 6; Smart, R. Williams Active

May 27th, 2022 at 6:36pm CST by Rory Maher

6:36pm: Smart and Williams will both be active for Boston, reports Tim Bontemps of ESPN (via Twitter).

6:06pm: Heat guard Tyler Herro is expected to be sidelined for Friday’s Game 6 against Boston, league sources told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Herro suffered a left groin strain in Game 3 and will now miss Games 4, 5 and 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals with the injury. He was a limited participant in the team’s shootaround this morning, but “experienced discomfort while sliding defensively,” Haynes reports.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed that Herro will be out, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

“He’s definitely made progress, but he’s not quite ready to step into this kind of intensity of a game,” Spoelstra said.

It makes sense to be cautious with a muscle strain, as they can be notoriously tricky to deal with and easily re-injured, like what happened with teammate Kyle Lowry‘s hamstring strain in the previous series. Lowry hasn’t looked like himself since he originally sustained the injury more than a month ago.

After averaging 20.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists on .447/.399/.868 shooting in 66 regular season games (32.6 minutes), Herro saw his numbers drop off in the postseason, averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists on .413/.232/.926 shooting in 14 games. Still, his absence will certainly be felt by the Heat, as they’ve struggled mightily to score without the Sixth Man of the Year winner, posting just 82 points in Game 4 and 80 in Game 5, both losses.

On Boston’s side, Celtics head coach Ime Udoka told reporters, including Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link), that both Marcus Smart and Robert Williams are game-time decisions for the potential close-out contest. Boston currently leads Miami 3-2.

Smart and Williams had previously been listed as questionable, and it seems we won’t know their status until later this evening. Game 6 tips off at 7:30pm CT on ESPN.

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