Jordan Walsh’s third season with the Boston Celtics will likely be his most important. The 21-year-old hasn’t seen much consistency in his playing time since being drafted 38th overall in 2022.
He’s been buried behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Sam Hauser, who take up the majority of the Celtics’ minutes at the wing. This year, with Tatum sidelined for (at least some of) the season, the opportunity should be more plentiful.
Through his first two seasons as a pro, Walsh has made just 62 appearances, playing about eight minutes per game.
Jordan Walsh more than ready for Celtics season
Walsh knows that his time will be this year, but his role will still be limited. The former Arkansas standout shared that he emphasized being effective in low-usage roles during his offseason training.
“The biggest things that I’ve been working on have been affecting the game without the ball, primarily on offense,” Walsh explained.
“I felt like in Summer League I had a focus of trying to sprint the floor, trying to get in transition, trying to run, being an outlet guy, getting in on cuts. Obviously, I did have a lot of time with the ball in my hands [there]. Knowing that here it’s not going to be like that, I’m trying to switch my mentality to having kind of what I call, like a high role-player IQ, of just affecting the game in ways without the ball, basically.”
The Summer League outing that the young wing referenced was a good one.
In Vegas, he was consistently Boston’s best player, averaging 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and a steal per game while shooting 46.3% from the field and 38.9% from deep in four appearances for the summer Cs.
Walsh hopes to carry over that production and also impact the game on defense. He pointed to Jrue Holiday as someone who helped him develop a high role-player IQ on both sides of the ball.
“I think one of the biggest things I felt like Jrue Holiday was a big piece of that is representative of that,” he said. “I've tried to take a lot, as much as I can for him, obviously, on the defensive side. But a lot of it, too, is just watching film and realizing that, you know, to build team chemistry and to give my team a better chance, guys like Jason Tatum and JB have to have a ball in their hands. So whether it's going to find them when I'm paying down the screen, or, like, you know, passing in my shot to get them shot, stuff like that.”
Holiday’s ability to impact the game on defense is what made him so valuable in Boston. He was incredibly versatile, and his presence will be missed now that he’s with the Portland Trail Blazers.
It’d be unfair to expect Walsh to fill Holiday’s shoes completely, but the mindset of making winning contributions in small ways should help him in his quest for a larger role.