June 21, 2018. That was the day the Boston Celtics selected Center Robert Williams out of Texas A&M with their 27th pick in the draft.
Whether the pick winds up living in infamy or becoming the steal of the draft is still to be determined, but Williams has yet to impress his new team thus far.
Shortly after the Celtics drafted the 6-foot-10 big man, he overslept his introductory conference call scheduled for 11 a.m. What could have simply been passed off as a miscommunication due to time zones or static in the phone call quickly developed into a concerning, recurring issue.
Over the span of the next week, Williams had a snowball effect of things that would draw some well-deserved criticism. First, he officially signed with the Celtics and the picture released revealed his outfit choice. The Louisiana native had decided on wearing a plain white T-shirt smothered with wrinkles.
While this wasn’t a huge deal to anybody, missing his flight to the first Summer League practice definitely was. Williams managed to make the second practice and was seemingly prepared to start on the Summer League team, where Celtics’ fans would finally get a glimpse of what their newest addition would add to the table from an on-court perspective.
Throughout this entire fiasco, Williams lost his wallet two times in as many days, which showed the 20-year-old still has a lot of growing up to do.
Six minutes into his debut, Williams exited the game with what he called irritation of existing tendonitis. Shortly after, fans were reminded that Williams suffers from Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome. Luckily, his case isn’t very severe, as the Texas A&M Aggie shined throughout college despite his condition. However, that is not to say that this could develop into a serious problem for Williams should it evolve as his time in the NBA progresses.
The Celtics were recently eliminated from the Las Vegas Summer League tournament in the quarterfinals by the undefeated Portland Trail Blazers. This means that everyone will have to wait even longer to see if Williams’ abilities as a basketball player outweigh his antics off the court.
