So far during the 2021 NBA offseason, five players have signed rookie scale extensions. Of those five, only Robert Williams signed for less than the maximum salary. While it’s uncommon for players to sign non-max extensions so far in advance of the season, Williams said this week that he didn’t want to wait until 2022 to sign his next contract.
“I told my agent before the season even started, when we started discussing contract extensions, I told him I wanted to stay,” Williams said, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “I feel like we have a pretty good group here. A good group of coaches, a couple people I came in the league with here with (Marcus) Smart, (Jayson Tatum), (Jaylen Brown), we got Al (Horford) back. So we kinda know what it takes, we just gotta apply it.”
Even though Williams prioritized getting an extension done with the Celtics, it still took him some time to wrap his around the fact that he was able to complete a deal that locks him up through 2025/26 and guarantees him at least $48MM, Forsberg writes.
“Honestly, it was amazing, I went through three days of shock — feel like I’m still in shock,” Williams said. “Just a sense of — they trust me. When people put their trust in you, you gotta take it seriously.”
Let’s round up a few more Celtics notes…
- Al Horford wouldn’t say this week that he regretted his decision to leave the Celtics for the Sixers during the 2019 offseason, but he did acknowledge that his time away from Boston made him better appreciate his time with the franchise, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Horford was thrilled to be sent back to the C’s in June. “My family and I were all just jumping and screaming,” he said. “It was so exciting, because I know what kind of place this is. I didn’t want to be any other place but here. It’s taken me being away from here and having to go through what I went through to really realize that.”
- Speaking to Jay King of The Athletic, Marcus Smart explained why he wasn’t surprised by Brad Stevens‘ decision to move on from his head coaching position and admitted that he strongly considered passing on the team’s extension offer in favor of reaching free agency. According to Smart, he believed he could potentially get $90MM+ in free agency, but opted for long-term security by accepting Boston’s four-year, $77MM offer. “I was actually willing to go straight into free agency and go to the market. But just talking to my circle, my family, my people and just understanding the pros versus the cons, the good versus the bad and things like that,” Smart said. “What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you willing to gain? So it was a business decision. Especially with the way everything’s going with COVID and everything, nothing’s for sure, nothing’s guaranteed.”
- Ethan Fuller of BasketballNews.com outlines five Celtics roster and rotation battles to watch during training camp.
Great! Three good players with good character!
TimeLord & Smart realizing you start bouncing around in any profession & greatly increase the odds you’ll never be as happy as you were.
And Horford happy to be coming back after realizing what he had here in Boston. Al earned great respect choosing as a free agent to move from Atlanta & lost a bit leaving. Gets it back!
I really dislike the Celtics (Let’s go Nets) and I can say (write) I’m interested in watching them play this season. I would love to see a lineup with Schroder and Jaylen in the back-court with Tatum, Williams, and Horford in the front-court. I argue that should be the Starting-5. I’m sure they’ll start Marcus Smart instead of Schroder and Langford instead of Horford
Langford? If it’s anybody, I’d guess that it would be Nesmith if they were going to start another wing instead of a big.
Wow someone thinks Langford will start. I like Langford too but I don’t think he starts until later in the year.
He’ll probably be hurt by then lol. Besides, I’m pretty sure Nesmith is ahead of him at this point in the rotation. I could be wrong, but Nesmith brought it in the summer league while Romeo kind of fizzled.
Hard to argue against Nesmith. I remember Langford having a nice Game 5 against us, which is why he’s fresh in my memory. Nesmith should be the guy, however, it may be too much firepower at one shot for him to start and his play off the bench may prove a better strategic tactic
Probably depends on how he looks in the preseason and the initial games. If the shooting from the postseason wasn’t a fluke I think he starts. Otherwise, probably not.
Wall and Wood to Celtics …..
Smart, Horford, Nesmith, #1 pick to Rockets.
Send some of the crap your smoking I could use some so this makes any sense to me or anyone
Of course Williams didn’t want to wait and only the the C’s would be stupid enough to give a guy who’s always injured a big contract