20 Under 25: Will Grant Williams surpass expectations with Celtics?

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All Grant Williams did in college was produce, produce... and then produce more. The 20-year-old was named SEC Player of the Year in both of his final two years at Tennessee, and was a consensus First Team All-American this past season, when he averaged 18.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.1 spg and 1.5 bpg. 

Despite his young age, many experts think he’ll be able to impact winning for the Celtics, in some way, as early as this season. A lot of that is due to his grown man strength and his thick/jacked frame.

Williams weighs in at an efficient 240 lbs — he has only 5.4% body fat — and has outlier strength. His 20 bench press reps at the NBA combine were the most in over five years. His bone-crunching screens alone should be enough to earn him minutes as a rookie.

But Williams is more than a massive meat sandwich. The kid can hoop, and he loves to win. Not only did he improve his own stats every year in college, his team’s winning percentage improved every year as well.

He’s also smart. He passed up Harvard to go to Tennessee; plus, his mom works at NASA, so don’t expect any flat-Earth nonsense from him. 

So why did he fall to the Celtics at pick No. 22 in this summer’s NBA Draft? His height probably had something to do with it, as he’s only 6’7” with shoes (ironically, he measured almost exactly the same as Draymond Green at the combine … just sayin’). He also didn’t hit threes at a high clip in college, but he’s not a coward; he’ll shoot them when open. His free throw percentage went up every year in school, so there’s a chance he hones his jumper enough to be a threat from the perimeter. I wouldn’t bet against him. 

His range of outcomes seems to be somewhere between a ‘Jared Sullinger who cares’ and an ‘in-shape Draymond Green’. His silly personality means his floor is at least Guerschon Yabusele with actual basketball talent.

Either way, there’s no reason to think Grant Williams won’t continue to produce, produce and produce some more for years to come.

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