'He looked exceptional:' Amari Williams shows quick growth through pushing, patience from Celtics staff

BOSTON — Amari Williams has a lot to learn, and over the past few games, he’s been getting a crash course in playing NBA basketball.

“It takes some time based on who we're playing against, what we're running, and what the reads are,” Joe Mazzulla said after his team beat the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night. “You rely on the player’s work ethic, you rely on the staff, you rely on the alignment in the G-League to when I know, even when he's in Maine, [head coach] Phil [Pressey] and the guys are running the same system with the same language, and so they're just constantly getting reps.”

Celtics center have been hit with some kind of bug that has limited Neemias Queta, and caused Luka Garza to be a late scratch against Portland. Whatever flu is going around, it has resulted in Williams getting break-glass-in-case-of-emergency minutes against Brooklyn, and his first ever start against Chicago. Against Portland, he played 25:53, 10 minutes more than his previous high against the Pistons two months ago.

AMARI WILLIAMS! His shot blocking this early on in his career has even surprised me. Takes the bump from Grant but still is able to get an impressive block. Celtics reward him with a paint touch and he gets the and one pic.twitter.com/JcEzijqsjX
— NikNBA🏀 (@NIKNBAYT) January 27, 2026

The improvement just between the Bulls and Blazers game was noticeable. He spent much of his time on the United Center floor looking slow and confused, and his play suffered for a while. At TD Garden, Williams dove in with confidence, making an immediate impact with his screening, rebounding, and defense.

“I thought Amari did a great job. I thought he looked exceptional,” Jaylen Brown said. “He came out, he protected the rim. He was where he was supposed to be for the most part. Amari made it easy for us tonight. Any given night, depending on how the team is playing us, that communication has to be great."

The learning on the fly is part of the deal with this year’s Celtics. They are 29-17 and second in the East, but those 29 wins have come in so many different ways. If there are infinite universes with infinite possibilities, we might be seeing all of those possibilities this season.

For Mazzulla, it requires him to downshift while the game is going full speed.

“I think it's keeping the patience on the stuff that you have to teach and losing your patience on the stuff that has to be a non-negotiable,” he explained. “I think it's just understanding what the differences are in that.”

Things like hustle, high hands, and boxing out are the non-negotiable. Every basketball player at every level should be able to work hard, have active hands, and get a body on someone when a shot goes up no matter where or when they play.

The other stuff, like spacing on certain plays, or what reads to make in certain situations, are the teachable things that take time. The Celtics have describe their film sessions this year as more of a classroom setting than ever, rather than an opportunity for a coach to yell at his players behind closed doors. Brown has described it as “Celtics University,” and class is always in session.

“We do have to win the game, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to play the guys who give it everything they got every single day,” Mazzulla said. “It just validates the work, because if you don't give them chances to validate it, then they're not going to work hard. And I think it validates the staff.”

The hard work is a little bit harder when it involves a center. Defensively, centers patrol the back line and see everything the offense is doing. They have to understand everything, call out coverages, and make audibles on the fly. They are the quarterbacks of the defense, which is why the best of the best stay on the floor, even if they have offensive limitations.

Then offensively, centers are usually setting picks, rolling, and in today’s NBA, making plays for others in the middle of the floor.

A wing can go stand in the corner and shoot, switch defensively when someone yells “switch,” and just hustle back when the possession is over. A center has a lot more responsibility.

“It’s tough in the NBA setting because you just don’t practice as much [because] you’re playing so many games,” Payton Pritchard said. “So we have to learn on the fly and when he gets in but it should be quick. He reads the game really well so it will be fun playing with him.”

Another Amari Williams dunk! pic.twitter.com/kMJQdZBkGL
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) January 27, 2026

When the bug making Celtics center sick finally leaves the locker room, there's a chance Williams will go back to Maine to work on all the lessons he’s learned in this sting. The goal is for him to refine his skills there, get better, and come back to Boston a better player. For a team with question marks at his position, his ability to learn quickly could not only change the current team’s trajectory, it might impact what the team does at the trade deadline.

Getting there means patience, and pushing, from Mazzulla and the coaches.

“It's part of the relationship building,” he said. “I think at the same time, one of the greatest gifts you can give young players is coaching them really hard, because you get into a situation where they may not get that all the time. I think holding them to the higher standard is something that they should want. So I don't know if it's impatience as much as, like, ‘hey, regardless of who you think you are, I still think there's a standard that we can get to, and we got to do it.’ That's just how it goes.”