• last year
Robert Williams III has been putting in a lot of effort during this off-season. Chris Forsberg from NBC Sports Boston revealed on Thursday that Williams is aiming to broaden his offensive capabilities and is seeking to be more 'selfish'.

The Garden Report delves into Williams' training sessions with his coach, Aaron Miller, and debates whether we can expect a breakthrough season from Robert Williams?

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Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 I just want one fake Instagram video
00:10 of Rob Williams with a basketball.
00:13 - Oh, you didn't see him, John?
00:15 - Oh, is there one?
00:16 - Oh, last couple of days, they've been flying around.
00:19 He's working with a trainer I know named Aaron.
00:22 I can't think of the last name off the top,
00:24 but yeah, he was putting shots up.
00:25 He was dribbling around.
00:27 He was your classic highlight video.
00:29 - How are you not sending these to me?
00:32 - I thought you would have seen them.
00:33 - I know, I've been in a cave.
00:35 Well, no, I've been roasting under the sun
00:37 for a couple of weeks, but no, I missed that.
00:40 So I want that.
00:42 - Hey, did you fall asleep at a Phish concert?
00:43 Is that what happened?
00:44 Or Grateful Dead?
00:45 That's what it was, Grateful Dead.
00:47 - Yeah, no, I just, this is how I roll.
00:50 - Yeah, we'll get those out to you, John.
00:52 I'll do the Jimmy for now.
00:55 - Ahmet heard it, he sent it to me.
00:57 Oh my God, let me watch.
00:59 Oh my God, Rob!
01:00 Look at this guy.
01:03 - Wait, what?
01:05 Let me see it.
01:06 - No, I'm watching it.
01:07 I'm not gonna get copyrighted
01:09 by putting someone else's content.
01:10 - It's a still.
01:11 - Oh my God, he just hit a lefty,
01:13 one-handed shot in the leg.
01:15 - Okay, okay.
01:16 - Look at that.
01:17 - Look at that.
01:18 - This is better than any Ben Simmons video I've ever seen.
01:21 - I thought you would have been all over this, John.
01:23 Look at that, he's got things flying around at him.
01:26 - Oh my God, this is so good.
01:29 - I did hear, by the way, so he's been in the-
01:31 - So here's the thing.
01:32 - Rob Stonk.
01:33 - I don't care about whether or not,
01:36 like, oh, he hit jumpers in the video,
01:38 he's gonna hit jumpers during the year.
01:39 I'm just glad he's playing basketball now.
01:42 Because like last year, you wondered,
01:43 like, what was going on.
01:44 - We never saw a video of him.
01:46 - Never at any point.
01:47 And in fact, it was very clear that when he showed up,
01:49 finally, he just showed up to work out in Waltham,
01:53 or in Waltham, anyway.
01:54 - Oh, he-
01:55 - And they were like, in Brighton,
01:57 and like a couple days in, he was like,
01:59 "Oh man, my knee hurts."
02:01 And they're like, "What?"
02:02 - Yeah, and so that's what happened.
02:03 I finally-
02:04 - Who cares if it's a-
02:05 Who cares if it's this highly realistic-
02:07 - I just care that he's playing.
02:09 I just care that he's actually working on his game.
02:11 That's the key.
02:13 'Cause I don't think he's done any basketball related
02:15 activity for the last couple off seasons.
02:18 So any, like, any step forward you wanna see him take
02:21 on his game, he hasn't been able to do.
02:24 So yeah, and he-
02:25 - Right, he is not-
02:26 - He stayed in Boston after the season,
02:28 which is something he didn't do last year.
02:30 And was checking all the boxes and just close to the team,
02:33 you know, for that month or so after the season ended.
02:35 I think, you know, he's gone back down south home now,
02:37 but you've seen the videos that he's continuing
02:40 that progress down there.
02:42 And again, like you said, John,
02:44 the way you drew it up almost was exactly how it happened.
02:47 Like, it was like a full summer at home, just hanging out,
02:50 showed up to camp, complained about the knee, boom, surgery.
02:53 So it's a completely different summer this time around
02:55 for Rob, which is very encouraging.
02:57 Question I just have is what kind of role he's gonna have
02:59 on this roster.
03:00 Like, I think the plan probably is for him to start
03:03 next to poor Zingas, but I'm not certain of that.
03:06 I just don't know how that fits gonna go on offense.
03:09 You know, with one guy always needs to be
03:11 in the middle of the floor.
03:12 But they could be devastating defensively
03:14 if they find a way to make it work.
03:15 - But if Rob, again, everyone knows the wild card
03:18 with the health, nobody thinks just 'cause he's playing
03:21 a little basketball in the off season
03:23 that he's gonna be healthy.
03:24 That's not the point.
03:25 The point is entering camp in shape,
03:28 because he hasn't been.
03:29 - I think he will.
03:30 - Either due to surgery or two years ago,
03:32 just showing up overweight and not in basketball shape.
03:36 It was obviously not done stuff.
03:37 And going in the quote unquote lab, as the kids like to say,
03:41 and actually working on some aspects of your game.
03:43 So when you catch the ball, you actually might consider
03:46 looking towards the basket and seeing what you might
03:48 be able to do.
03:49 He's a frigging, he's the one, he and Jalen
03:52 are the two massive athletic edges they have on this team.
03:57 He can't limit himself.
04:01 He has to recognize that he can be a weapon in more ways
04:04 than just a lob threaded on the offensive glass.
04:07 So he can do anything resembling half court basketball
04:12 that helps this team, massive, massive thing.
04:14 But also just showing up in shape.
04:16 So we don't have to say like, wow, it doesn't look like
04:18 Rob can jump for the first three months of the year,
04:20 because he's working his way into shape.
04:22 That would be amazing.
04:23 Just showing up and being able to jump out of the gym
04:26 like he normally does would be great.
04:28 - They need Rob more than ever because they are still
04:33 extremely thin at that position.
04:35 Like, I don't know, they're not addressing it.
04:39 They just traded Grant.
04:40 I mean, you can say Porzingis is a bigger guy,
04:43 but he doesn't play that style of basketball
04:45 on defense men, obviously.
04:47 So they need Rob to really be ready to go
04:51 to start this year.
04:52 They just do.
04:54 How much are you going to get out of Al this year?
04:55 You don't know.
04:56 I mean, it's all like bonus.
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05:12 - Need the Rob leap at some point,
05:16 because ultimately, what did you say?
05:17 When they signed him, this could be a steal of a signing
05:20 because he was at that point,
05:22 you were already your third best player.
05:24 And you're like, if he could be an all-star,
05:28 if he continues on a trajectory just based off
05:30 of his freakishness and his defense
05:32 and the center position not being necessarily like,
05:35 well, you know, obviously it has a bunch
05:37 of great players now, but there's so many things
05:40 that he could do for you.
05:43 If he can even do some of them, it makes a big difference.
05:46 'Cause he's been flat, if not backwards,
05:49 since his breakout two years ago
05:51 when Brad refused to play him.
05:53 - No, and there's gonna be something of a competition
05:55 for that fifth spot in the lineup.
05:56 Like I've advocated for Horford there,
05:58 'cause I just think it makes more sense.
06:00 But if Rob comes in, as you said, John, improved,
06:02 blown everybody away and a little more versatile,
06:05 you could do some special things out there defensively,
06:08 again, with Porzingis and Rob playing together,
06:10 Rob playing that role he did a couple years ago,
06:12 and with White.
06:13 - But also again, and if they start to look to Rob
06:17 as somebody who they can work into their offense,
06:20 as opposed to ignoring him, you know,
06:22 for entire stretches out there,
06:26 there's a guy who shoots 80% from the floor,
06:28 like get him the ball occasionally.
06:30 - Yeah, last season was really bad.
06:32 And again-
06:33 - They don't even look at him.
06:34 - They don't look at him.
06:35 - The amount of lob attempts that Brown and Tatum miss,
06:38 you know, because their head's down,
06:39 like look for the frigging guy, you know, he's a threat.
06:45 - Yeah, I worried about the trade.
06:47 - It's over now.
06:49 - Yep, he did.
06:49 - I know, right?
06:50 He was the one guy and I, you know,
06:52 I'll still go back to that, but it's for another day.
06:54 - Fine.
06:55 - He needs to have a huge year.
06:57 He really does.
06:59 - I like it.
06:59 - 'Cause last year was a step back
07:01 and it wasn't a completely lost season,
07:02 but you go look at the reference page, Jimmy,
07:04 like 35 games.
07:06 I mean, in those games,
07:09 like half of them probably weren't very effective.
07:11 So how many good games did he have last year?
07:13 Like a little over a dozen?
07:14 - Rob?
07:15 - Yeah.
07:16 - Even his games where the eye test told you
07:17 he was ineffective, the metrics said that he was.
07:19 So again, he's an impact player at 40%,
07:24 which last year he was about 50% all year.
07:28 I mean, not even close.
07:29 - You're just still waiting for him
07:30 to become something more than he is.
07:32 And I, you know, part of this trade, John,
07:34 I think is something of an acknowledgement
07:36 that you don't want to just keep waiting forever on that.
07:39 - Sink or swim.
07:39 - Yeah.
07:40 - Yeah.
07:41 Sink or swim with Rob.
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07:52 (upbeat music)
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