There aren’t any long-term concerns about the knee injury that forced Celtics center Robert Williams to undergo late-season meniscus surgery, sources close to the team tell Brian Robb of MassLive. Williams experienced soreness and swelling in his left knee throughout the postseason, but was able to take part in 17 of Boston’s 24 playoff games.
No follow-up surgery was needed during the offseason, and Williams is expected to be 100% when training camp opens in about five weeks. Robb adds that Williams has been posting some of his workouts on Instagram, and they include a lot of strength training.
Robb doesn’t expect Williams’ role to change much in the upcoming season, but the coaching staff would like to see him become more aggressive with finishing around the rim on the theory that opposing defenses will be stretched further by the team’s improved outside shooting.
There’s more from Boston:
- The Celtics will likely keep one roster spot open at the start of the season due to luxury tax considerations, which sets up an intense battle heading into camp, Robb adds in the same piece. Robb sees Noah Vonleh and Justin Jackson as the most likely candidates to make the final roster, but he expects Bruno Caboclo, Brodric Thomas and possibly other players to make it a difficult decision.
- Matt Ryan, who ended last season on a two-way contract, won’t be with the Celtics in training camp, Robb writes in a separate story. A source tells Robb that a “roster crunch” doesn’t leave any room for Ryan. The 25-year-old small forward signed the deal at the end of February and appeared in one NBA game.
- Heat guard Duncan Robinson and Bucks guard Pat Connaughton are both critical of the Celtics’ set-up for visiting teams. Appearing on Robinson’s “Long Shots” podcast (hat tip to Thomas Darro of Heavy), Connaughton said the TD Garden is “the worst visiting team locker room in the NBA.”
That Celtics visiting locker room has been source of folklore for decades. Red Auerbach in the ’60s would not provide Heat for the visitor locker room among other things.
Of course the dead spots in the floor that only the home team knew was also part of the home court advantage Boston enjoyed back in the day.
Yeah heard many ancient stories about the advantage of playing at home in Boston
Robert Williams was huge for the Celtics in the playoffs last year including the finals against the warriors. His rim protection even though he had a bum knee was off the charts. Big kudos to Williams for his excellent play. Much respect for gutting it out.
TimeLord is a huge key to both Celtics switch-everything defense & their lob above basket offense. Celts haven’t had anyone to lob to going way back. Neither D or O is anywhere as good without TimeLord. What a draft pick at #27 by Danny & staff! And trader-posters want/ed to trade him! Ha! Go Celtics!
A team expected to win the championship has no business counting luxury tax dollars.
The above summation from Justin actually misrepresents what Brian Robb wrote in his article.
He wrote: “With the team deep in the luxury tax, I bet they keep the 15th roster spot open to begin the year for flexibility with trades and to save some cash down the line.”
So, it’s just a guess on his part and if the Celtics leave a position open to start the season, it has more to do with roster flexibility.
Yea Wyc is just another greedy millionaire. He’s been lucky so far but he will eventually run the franchise into the ground with his greed
Bread Stevens has already gone on record, in a video no less, that he’s got a green light to spend whatever he needs, no restrictions.
Calling an owner “greedy” is just silly. Owners make payroll-related decisions for a lot of reasons, but in the end they own a business.
How is an owner supposed to run their business; like a charity? like a government entity?
We’d all love our favorite team to be run by a billionaire philanthropist who is willing to lose money every year to win a championship. But, there aren’t many of them (except in Saudi Arabia… and they are performing political sportswashing).
Team owners are usually smart business people who are millionaires or billionaires for a reason (except for the hand-me-down owners, of course).
And, if a team is a corporation or has a lot of debt, there are shareholders and/or bond holders that have power too. So, there are many factors that have to be considered to run a team like this.
In the end, saying greedy is just a cop out answer.
If you own a sports franchise, you shouldn’t run it like a normal business. You have more responsibility to your team’s fans. You are in a pact with your fans & promise to do your best to win for them.
We shall see if Wyc will spend more at the trade deadline. I doubt it!
Brad Stevens has already said in a press conference that he has no restrictions on spending. Wyc and his ownership group have always been willing to pay the tax.
I like Vonleh and Thomas for the last two spots. Vonleh fills a position of need, and Thomas has a little bit of Swiss Army Knife in him, he doesn’t do anything great, but he does a lot of things pretty well.
If criticism is warranted of a Boston team, make it the Red Sox not the Celtics. This team right now is positioned as a leader for 5-6 years. No complaints from me!
Surprised me greatly that big Matt Ryan isn’t getting an invite to Boston Celtics training camp. He sure showed he can quickly square up, quickly release and make the 3 in that one Summer League game. Hope you succeed Matt!
Trust in Stevens! Go Celtics!