Robert Williams III’s tenure with the Boston Celtics started on shaky floor. Drafted by then-Celtics GM Danny Ainge with the twenty seventh general decide, the younger middle infamously missed his introductory press convention with the group, and shortly thereafter, missed a flight to Boston for his first follow with the group. Taken alongside along with his shock slide down the primary spherical of the NBA Draft — many noticed him as a possible top-ten expertise after his freshman season at Texas A&M — this rapidly grew to become some extent of concern within the Boston media sphere.

First impressions proved to be incorrect when it got here to the athletic younger middle, and went on to spawn the playful nickname that grew to become the favored touchstone of his tenure in Boston. Sometimes misconstrued, the “Timelord” identify was by no means meant as a mockery of Williams’ preliminary tardiness, however quite, extra of a kayfabe rationalization for it — laughing with him, not at him. A Timelord isn’t late, younger Celtics fan. He arrives exactly when he means to.

The nickname took on new that means when Williams hit the courtroom. It utilized nicely to his quick-twitch athleticism and penchant for blocking leap pictures, as if he had been bending time itself to get his hand on the ball. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than it discovered a complete new life from there. What began as a working gag between a small group of Twitter customers was finally being repeated by Doris Burke on nationwide TV. Discuss constructing a status.

Now, the Timelord has modified time zones. Shipped off to Portland within the three-team commerce that introduced Jrue Vacation to Boston, Williams has joined a younger, retooling Path Blazers group and his profession as a Celtic has, at the very least for now, come to a detailed. His 5 years in Boston had been spent as a growing participant oozing with potential, however the realization of that potential will occur elsewhere, because the contract extension he signed with the Celtics in 2021 will preserve him in Portland via his age-28 season.

With just a few weeks of separation from the commerce, we will now ask: wanting again, what can we make of a participant like Williams?

On the courtroom, the image is fairly clear. Williams is a one-of-one athlete on the middle place, a strolling pogo follow jaw-dropping vertical skill who thrilled Boston crowds along with his prodigious skills on the rim. There’s nothing fairly like watching a wholesome Williams go to work within the pick-and-roll. No matter how unhealthy the lob cross could be – and the Celtics have actually thrown some stinkers lately – nothing ever appeared fairly out of attain for his 7-foot-6 wingspan and 40-inch vertical leap. He could very nicely be essentially the most exceptional athletic expertise to ever don a Boston uniform.

These instruments manifested on the opposite finish of the courtroom, as nicely. Hardly inconvenienced by the constraints of gravity, Williams was one of many NBA’s most prolific and thrilling shot-blockers from the second he arrived on the scene. No shot is ever fully secure from him, not even from behind the three-point arc, the place he developed a penchant for startling would-be sharpshooters on close-outs. Early in his profession, Williams went via the standard trials and tribulations confronted by younger bigs within the NBA, battling positioning and foul bother. By the group’s run to the NBA Finals, although, he had totally blossomed right into a reputable All-Protection caliber weapon.

Williams’ expertise has all the time been plain, however preserving that expertise on the courtroom proved problematic. The opposite aspect of his draft day fall was a critical concern concerning his long-term well being and sturdiness. Williams was recognized with popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, an artery illness, in each legs, the primary in a prolonged chain of bodily considerations which have restricted his skill to keep up a presence on the basketball courtroom. He performed greater than half of an NBA common season simply twice in his Celtics profession.

The 2021-22 season stung essentially the most. Within the midst of a breakout yr and climbing the ranks of Defensive Participant of the Yr hopefuls for his half within the Celtics’ beautiful midseason turnaround, Williams tore his meniscus in March of 2022. The damage value him the rest of the common season, and although he returned for the group’s run to the NBA Finals, he solely fleetingly performed as much as his customary stage. The implications of the damage and its remedy lingered into the next season, as a clean-up process on the knee led to additional restoration, and contributed to a 2022-23 marketing campaign that noticed him seem in simply 35 common season video games.

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Desires of a homegrown Boston championship lastly met their finish this offseason, as Brad Stevens and the entrance workplace recognized the necessity for structural modifications to the roster. The opposite Williams, Grant, was the primary to go, joined shortly thereafter by Marcus Sensible, the longest tenured Celtic and beating coronary heart of the group for the previous near-decade. Williams’ commerce completes the restructuring, strengthening the Celtics of in the present day with an infusion of star-level expertise, however at the price of the Celtics of the previous.

Williams didn’t turn into an All-NBA expertise like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, nor was he as integral to the group’s tradition and identification as Marcus Sensible. He didn’t make an All-Star group in Boston, and the quantity 44 gained’t be hanging within the rafters along with his identify on it. Whenever you write all of it out, his fingerprint on Celtics historical past is quite small.

That’s removed from all there may be, although. In a sports activities market with such historical past — and, subsequently, such lofty expectations — it’s straightforward to get misplaced within the need for accolades. Robert Williams III could finally have had an incomplete profession in Boston, however his time right here was nonetheless memorable from the outset. He made his stamp on this period of Celtics basketball one alley-oop slam, one blocked jumper at a time, dwelling as much as a exceptional nickname in a mode that solely he may. Lengthy dwell the Timelord.