Where is Grant Williams' Game At?

[Vermont Green]

I think the whole contract extension issue got in his head this season and has affected his game.

Inclined to agree with you, but also worth considering that he's still improving - while he's taken a slight step back from last year overall his floor is still higher than what we saw in his rookie & sophomore seasons.

I agree, he is better than he was as a second year player.  Does that necessarily mean that he's still improving, though?  He wouldn't be the first player who reached his ceiling as a third year.

Also true - he may just be a guy who can give you a per 36 statline of 11-6-3. He is rebounding and passing more this year, which is good, even if his shooting has taken a hit and he's overall less effective on offense this season.

I think it depends on how much stock we put into his cold spells & hot streaks, and whether we think they're aberrations or indicative of his overall play. I'm not in love with his game, but I don't see much either way to be sure if he's peaked just yet.

Yeah, I'm basically in that boat.  There's room for improvement, but it's not a given that he has significant upside.

The new CBA gives Grant a little leverage, because we need the contracts now.  There will be few ways to improve in the future, so we're going to have to keep chunk salaries.

Grant is only 24.  He seems like the kind of player that works on his game, takes that seriously.  He will continue to improve some but I agree that there is not a whole lot of headroom left in his ceiling.

[tenn_smoothie]

What was the report exactly about how hard he worked on his 3-point shooting ?
Something about he wouldn't leave the gym until he had hit 50 or 100 three's ?
How many remember that Grant missed the first 25 three-point attempts of his career as a rookie ?

When he was here at Tennessee, he did shoot some from the perimeter but scored most of his points inside, just bullied his way to the rim. That works much better in college than the NBA where guys are bigger and just as strong as Grant. I'm pulling for the guy.

[Chief]

What was the report exactly about how hard he worked on his 3-point shooting ?
Something about he wouldn't leave the gym until he had hit 50 or 100 three's ?
How many remember that Grant missed the first 25 three-point attempts of his career as a rookie ?

When he was here at Tennessee, he did shoot some from the perimeter but scored most of his points inside, just bullied his way to the rim. That works much better in college than the NBA where guys are bigger and just as strong as Grant. I'm pulling for the guy.

He's a huge asset when he keeps it simple and knows his role.

[Goldstar88]

What was the report exactly about how hard he worked on his 3-point shooting ?
Something about he wouldn't leave the gym until he had hit 50 or 100 three's ?
How many remember that Grant missed the first 25 three-point attempts of his career as a rookie ?

When he was here at Tennessee, he did shoot some from the perimeter but scored most of his points inside, just bullied his way to the rim. That works much better in college than the NBA where guys are bigger and just as strong as Grant. I'm pulling for the guy.

He's a huge asset when he keeps it simple and knows his role.

and when he doesn’t, he’s just a huge ass. 

[Vermont Green]

I think Grant Williams is an important part of the team.  Everything matters in a close playoff series.  Grant was a weapon at the start of the season, shooting nearly 40% from 3 for about half a season.  Then he tailed off and the impact wasn't just shooting, but his whole game seemed to tail off.  Defenses adjusted, things were not as easy for him.

Our weakness is our big depth.  Horford is old, RWill has tenuous durability, if Grant is not playing 100%, that leaves us Muscala and Griffin.  I think Grant matters.  He can be a big help if he can provide a solid 20 min off the bench.  I am not sure where else we are going to get that.

The good news is that Grant shot 39.7% from 3 in March.  In March though, he was only 57% from the free throw line.  Grant rebounded fine and was +51 overall in 14 games in March.  The Celtics overall were +154 in 16 games in March.  That means the team was +103 without Grant and +51 with Grant.  That is fine.  The team NRTG in March was +9.8, Grant was +10.4.  The team kept it going when Grant was on the floor.

If he can continue to do what he did in March through the playoffs, it will be a big help.

[Celtics4ever]

He has always had limitations and when he plays to his strengths and not his limitations it is good for him.   I think he will show up one of the playoff games and help us.    He does an ok job on Bam and Giannis.    But man did he hurt his prospects this off season, with his play this year.

Our weakness is our big depth.  Horford is old, RWill has tenuous durability, if Grant is not playing 100%, that leaves us Muscala and Griffin.  I think Grant matters.  He can be a big help if he can provide a solid 20 min off the bench.  I am not sure where else we are going to get that.

To consider Grant a big is dubious at best.    He is the shortest 6"6" guy I have ever seen.    His reach, wingspan and athletic ability are not elite.   He can't rebound that well for a supposedly strong guy.   He is nifty at blocking shots with his high IQ.  His post moves are dicey at best

He can shoot the three well.    He has the size and game of a wing but is not as athletic as most wings.   He is the classic Tweener

Usually, he plays within his limitations and his IQ can compensate for these faults, somewhat, but with the contract year, at times it felt as he was trying to secure a contract rather than be the Grant we know.  His shooting is down a few points, 2 % in FG and 1% in 3P, his rebounding is up to 4.6 a game in 25 min and his points are up 1 ppg.  So this is not a precipitous fall, he shot more this year some 44 more FGS and 33 more threes.

[Vermont Green]

He has always had limitations and when he plays to his strengths and not his limitations it is good for him.   I think he will show up one of the playoff games and help us.    He does an ok job on Bam and Giannis.    But man did he hurt his prospects this off season, with his play this year.

Our weakness is our big depth.  Horford is old, RWill has tenuous durability, if Grant is not playing 100%, that leaves us Muscala and Griffin.  I think Grant matters.  He can be a big help if he can provide a solid 20 min off the bench.  I am not sure where else we are going to get that.

To consider Grant a big is dubious at best.    He is the shortest 6"6" guy I have ever seen.    His reach, wingspan and athletic ability are not elite.   He can't rebound that well for a supposedly strong guy.   He is nifty at blocking shots with his high IQ.  His post moves are dicey at best

He can shoot the three well.    He has the size and game of a wing but is not as athletic as most wings.   He is the classic Tweener

Usually, he plays within his limitations and his IQ can compensate for these faults, somewhat, but with the contract year, at times it felt as he was trying to secure a contract rather than be the Grant we know.  His shooting is down a few points, 2 % in FG and 1% in 3P, his rebounding is up to 4.6 a game in 25 min and his points are up 1 ppg.  So this is not a precipitous fall, he shot more this year some 44 more FGS and 33 more threes.

Grant plays PF.  He is undersized for the position, but that is his position.  He makes up for it with strength and a good wingspan.  You are right that his shooting is down relative to last season but up through mid-January, he was actually shooting better, and playing better in general.  The sharp drop off that I am referring to is from that point.  He only shot 32% in Feb for example.  He was back up to near 40% in March.

Grant is an effective bench PF.  He can defend the position just fine.  He rebounds adequately.  But to be a factor as the playoffs grind on, he needs to be able to hit his 3s.  He doesn't have much else to offer on offense.  I agree with the playing within himself observation.  He needs to stick to the corner 3s, when open.  But we are going to need that 20 min or so of at least serviceable back up PF play from him.  It is an important role as you get deeper into the playoffs, where the margins between winning and losing shrink.  We were not getting that from him for a stretch from mid-Jan through Feb.  He has come back in March but by my eye, not quite back to the December level of play.

[Big333223]

Despite everything that went on with him this season, he wound up shooting .395 from 3 on the year. Someone who can do that and play pretty good, versatile defense, has to be worth something.

I'm betting it's around $15 mil a year and if it's not that, I'm guessing it's more like to be higher than lower.

[flybono]

Bye bye Grant

[Goldstar88]

Where indeed. Hauser jumped him on the depth chart. 

[radiohead]

Where indeed. Hauser jumped him on the depth chart. 

On a blowout game at that.

[Phantom255x]

People online seem to think it's a matchup thing and that G-Will won't play that much this series

That said, with a 30-point lead and basically a blowout happening, it seems odd that G-Will saw zero minutes. Although Hauser also only played 11 minutes, felt like a tight 8-man rotation (mostly a 7-man)

[Celtics2021]

People online seem to think it's a matchup thing and that G-Will won't play that much this series

That said, with a 30-point lead and basically a blowout happening, it seems odd that G-Will saw zero minutes. Although Hauser also only played 11 minutes, felt like a tight 8-man rotation (mostly a 7-man)

Did Hauser even play in the second half in the blowout?  If he did it wasn’t more than 2-3 minutes.  I was there and I remember him in the first half but not the second.

Grant is definitely more important for Philly and Milwaukee, and I think we’ll see him there a lot.

[Goldstar88]

People online seem to think it's a matchup thing and that G-Will won't play that much this series

That said, with a 30-point lead and basically a blowout happening, it seems odd that G-Will saw zero minutes. Although Hauser also only played 11 minutes, felt like a tight 8-man rotation (mostly a 7-man)

Did Hauser even play in the second half in the blowout?  If he did it wasn’t more than 2-3 minutes.  I was there and I remember him in the first half but not the second.

Grant is definitely more important for Philly and Milwaukee, and I think we’ll see him there a lot.

Im not so sure about that. At this point, Hauser is clearly ahead of Grant at the SF position. Then you have Tatum, Horford, Rob as the bigs.

[GreenEnvy]

People online seem to think it's a matchup thing and that G-Will won't play that much this series

That said, with a 30-point lead and basically a blowout happening, it seems odd that G-Will saw zero minutes. Although Hauser also only played 11 minutes, felt like a tight 8-man rotation (mostly a 7-man)

Did Hauser even play in the second half in the blowout?  If he did it wasn’t more than 2-3 minutes.  I was there and I remember him in the first half but not the second.

Grant is definitely more important for Philly and Milwaukee, and I think we’ll see him there a lot.

Im not so sure about that. At this point, Hauser is clearly ahead of Grant at the SF position. Then you have Tatum, Horford, Rob as the bigs.

He’s more important as far as fouls to give against Embiid (or just enough poundage to make him work for his buckets) and to help build the wall for Giannis.

Against the Hawks and pretty much any team from the West he’s useless.