LAS VEGAS — Jordan Walsh let loose a yell in the best nook after lacking one other shot earlier than the buzzer. Again-to-back makes an attempt by Walsh fell flat getting into halftime, teammates assembly him the place he stood on the far finish of the courtroom with gentle faucets hoping to push him towards a stronger half. However Walsh wouldn’t rating once more as he shot 0-for-4 over 13 minutes.
“I’ll give him credit score,” assistant coach D.J. MacLeay mentioned. “I assumed he did compete. Pictures aren’t gonna go in typically. He typically had the best mindset and strategy to the sport. I assumed the pictures he took have been first rate, possibly apart from one or two, then it’s as much as me to assist him get slightly higher appears and get him going.”
Walsh targeted on capturing higher he defined his targets for his second 12 months within the Vegas showcase. He additionally appeared additional forward to 2024-25, saying he needed to indicate Joe Mazzulla and Brad Stevens that he can match into Boston’s plans because the staff tries to repeat as champions. Walsh earned that distinction, celebrating within the locker room, using within the parade and dealing all through the playoffs, although solely watching when the video games tipped-off. He spent practically the whole thing of his rookie season within the G-League with Maine.
It doesn’t sound like one thing he hopes to do once more. It is likely to be mandatory for a 20-year-old with a lot of the professional roster returning.
“I can play a job that they want me to play subsequent 12 months,” Walsh mentioned earlier than the primary recreation. “That hopefully helps to win a championship. It undoubtedly was a spotlight in Maine. I took that again seat to be extra of a 3-and-D man. I really feel like that’s what Boston needed from me … that’s what my teammates wanted. In order that’s what I needed to do. Clearly, Summer season League, I used to be attempting to show myself, so I had a wholesome little bit of each.”
Walsh started final summer season with comparable enthusiasm and excessive hopes. When Boston drafted him No. 38 total, he signed a four-year normal contract and imagined how he’d play off Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. He spent coaching camp with the professional Celtics, scrimmaging towards soon-to-be champions and taking part in one-on-one lengthy after observe ended. The wake-up calls started there, Payton Pritchard taking delight in educating the rookie a lesson of their matchups.
Then — the project to Maine got here. Walsh struggled with it at first, the unfamiliar metropolis 90 minutes north, the chilly that shortly set over it and adapting to a brand new function. Like many first time G-Leaguers, Walsh needed to steadiness displaying his abilities with taking part in a job. When he discovered how specializing in threes and protection might present him the quickest observe to Boston, he embraced it and completed with a strong season, capturing 35.4% from three on 240 makes an attempt whereas taking part in a major function in Maine reaching the G-League Finals.
“I believe there’s alternative there,” MacLeay mentioned. “However you may’t skip steps to get to that stage. We speak lots about mindset, getting higher every day, approaching every day as a possibility to enhance and I believe that’s been the fixed message. You possibly can’t get there with out enhancing every day proper now. In order that’s what, as a employees, we’re attempting to do and what we’re attempting to instill in every participant.”
That actuality stems from Boston probably needing inner wing depth if free brokers Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk don’t return, and the staff anticipating a protracted studying curve for Walsh given how shortly he leaped to the league. Even perhaps longer than one 12 months. Walsh shortly noticed how nothing’s assured into 12 months two. A brand new class of draft picks arrive to the staff and league annually. On day one, fellow wing Baylor Scheierman, who performed 4 extra school seasons than Walsh, outplayed him within the Celtics’ loss to the Warmth. Scheierman carved out a strong debut regardless of lacking his first three pictures badly.
Walsh might’ve benefited from that brief reminiscence on Saturday. Every miss confirmed in his expression and creeped into his play. That occurred early in his rookie 12 months too, and he did a greater job reigning it in regardless of embracing an emotional, energetic recreation the place he even doesn’t thoughts fouling typically to permit himself additional aggressiveness. That appeared like urgent on this recreation, although, holding himself to a excessive normal he couldn’t attain and displaying his response. He chased behind a Kel’el Ware handoff try and fouled as he tried to get himself going halfway by way of the sport, solely to pause in disbelief over the decision.
Dangerous capturing nights occur in Summer season League. The Celtics performed sloppy as an entire for segments of the sport, Neemias Queta additionally in all probability wanting again among the misses on the rim he piled up inside. The 2 performs the place Walsh drove and misplaced the ball can’t occur. And that goes again to the mindset he embraced final 12 months that set himself up for achievement. Specializing in taking part in a slim however impactful function.
“Being a rookie within the NBA on the whole, by no means thoughts a rookie that’s navigating the G-League and residing in Portland, Maine while you’ve lived within the south your complete life,” former Maine head coach Blaine Mueller mentioned. “All of these completely different items and simply maturing as an individual. I believe he’s had an incredible season, an incredible 12 months … the trouble, growth and progress he’s proven, on and off the courtroom, he’s clearly obtained a protracted solution to go, however actually inspired by the observe he’s on.”
