Danny Ainge reveals awesome nickname for Celtics rookie Grant Williams

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Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams has quickly become a fan favorite with his hustle and positive spirit, but he's gone most of the year without a true nickname.

Celtics guard Jaylen Brown joked in December that his teammates were calling Williams "Ben Simmons" before he finally made a 3-point shot after an 0-for-25 start to the season, but the 2019 first-round pick still needed a nickname.

Well, it appears we've found one.

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge appeared on 98.5 The Sports Hub's "Toucher & Rich" show on Thursday morning, and when asked which player comes into his office the most, he revealed his nickname for Williams.

"This year? Oh for sure, Grant," Ainge said. "Kid's a crack-up. I call Grant the 'Geek Freak.'

"We talk about a lot of things in life, but he's a great kid. I really like Grant, but he really likes to talk. He can talk about anything. I think he had Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter offer to pay him $100 per game to not say anything in the locker room."

The nickname obviously is very similar to "Greek Freak", which belongs to Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, but we like this one for Williams. 

The C's rookie is a pretty smart kid. He played college basketball at the University of Tennessee for three years, and he was also recruited by Harvard and Yale. He majored in supply chain management, according to his profile on the Volunteers website.

Williams' basketball smarts have allowed him to see plenty of the court over the first half of his rookie season. He's not going to light up the stat sheet offensively at this stage of his career. but he defends multiple positions, rebounds well, gives great effort at both ends of the floor and typically makes good decisions with the ball in his hands.

Time will tell if "Geek Freak" sticks, but it's one of the best nicknames for Williams that we've seen so far.

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Don't miss NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Celtics-Magic, which begins Friday at 6 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live, followed by tip-off at 7 p.m. You can also stream the game on the MyTeams App.

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