It Appears Celtics Rookie Grant Williams Has Picked A New Number
BOSTON (CBS) -- The NBA Summer League is over for the Boston Celtics, so the focus now shifts to training camp and the regular season. For Boston's young players, that includes switching to a "real" NBA number on the back of their jersey.
It would appear that rookie Grant Williams has his new digit picked out, as he alluded to early Monday morning on Instagram. Williams was assigned No. 40 for the Summer League, but that isn't going to cut it when games started to matter.
He wore No. 2 during his career at Tennessee, but that number is in the TD Garden rafters in honor of Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach. With the deuce off the table, it appears Williams has settled on a different number -- No. 12:
With Terry Rozier now in Charlotte, that jersey is available in Boston for the No. 22 overall pick in last month's draft. If that is his choice, Williams will become the 34th member of the Celtics to wear the No. 12 -- more than any other number worn in franchise history. Before Rozier took the number in 2016, three different players wore it during the 2015 season: Dwight Powell, Brandan Wright and Tayshaun Price. Since 1990, 22 different players have wore the No. 12 jersey for the Celtics.
Williams played extremely well for Boston in Summer League action and should be in line for some big minutes off the bench when the regular season rolls around. The first-round pick out of Tennessee averaged 13 points and six rebounds per game and finished a plus-74 overall over Boston's five-game run.
