Sunday’s preseason womping (until it wasn’t) of the Toronto Raptors featured an impressive display from second-year Boston Celtics wing Jordan Walsh. Walsh’s 16-point, 10-rebound outing against Toronto added to his eye-catching preseason resume.
This was his third double-digit scoring night in four appearances so far. Walsh continues to look more and more comfortable shooting the basketball, as he’s sank six of his 14 attempts from beyond the arc. His confidence has come a long way in a short period of time.
Just last week, Walsh was hesitating to fire up open looks from the wing.
Now, he’s doing everything in rhythm, whether he decides to hoist up the shot or to drive the closeout and take it to the hoop.
On top of that, he’s shown an ability to hang with opposing players on the defensive end, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since that was his calling card at Arkansas.
Following the 115-111 win, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised the young wing for consistently understanding his role.
“Just an understanding of what job is,” said Mazzulla of what’s impressed him most about Walsh so far. “Defending at a high level, defending multiple positions, rebounding, and then making reads the offensive end. So, they’re doing a great job. Just really proud of his growth… He works hard at it. But starting to carve out a role and just showing a really good attitude towards it. So, it’s been fun to watch him grow.”
Sure, these games don’t mean anything, and the only place you’ll be able to find these stats will be on RealGM, but Walsh is laying the groundwork for an exciting sophomore season for the Celtics.
“It feels good to have that year under my belt,” Walsh explained (via CLNS Media). “I know what to expect now. I know how to play with the team, so I feel like that’s the biggest thing going into this year.”
The 20-year-old didn’t see much time in his rookie campaign with the Cs last year and spent most of his hours up in Maine with Boston’s G-League affiliate.
Many fans were excited to see what Walsh was capable of at the 2024 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, but his performance was rather disappointing. He looked timid and very much trapped in his own head. The numbers seemed to get worse with each game, and along with the poor showings came more and more questions.
With just one exhibition game left before opening night, Walsh has answered those questions. He looks like a guy who could be asked to play 12 minutes a night, for sure.
