BOSTON — Connections are everything in the NBA. Whether it’s in a coaching circle or from playing together on the court, having someone you’re familiar with makes all the difference. For Lonnie Walker IV, those guys are Derrick White and Jrue Holiday.
Walker signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics at the end of August after a dry free-agency period. Nobody picked him up, so Brad Stevens snagged him and gave him a chance to compete for a roster spot. It’ll be an uphill battle for Walker, but after his first practice in Celtics green, he spoke about how he plans to attack it.
And White and Holiday are a big part of it.
Derrick White and Jrue Holiday have made a huge impact on Lonnie Walker IV
The 25-year-old wing said that he tries to mimic the playstyle of White and Holiday, understanding that Boston already has an elite offensive front set in place.
“I think most of is kind of watching what they do, as far as the little things,” Walker said at practice on Wednesday. “Paying attention to detail. Understanding we have a heavy front offensive team. You got JB , you got JT you got KP .
“You got a plethora of great offensive players, so how can you implement yourself as far as rebounding, defensive tenacity, being tenacious on the defensive side, and things of that nature. So, I'm really just trying my best to mimic how Jrue and Derrick played a game and just being disciplined in those aspects.”
Walker has never played with Holiday, but the two have worked out together in the past. As for White, he and Walker were teammates for three years on the San Antonio Spurs. “He's a guy who was very excited to be here,” Stevens said. “I think his relationship with Derrick. He's worked out with Jrue a lot in the summers, previous summers, and I think that there was an eagerness to be around those guys and to try a new situation,” Brad Stevens said at Media Day.
During their time together in San Antonio, White and Walker became good friends. They were stuck in a similar situation, and while White only entered the league one year before Walker, he was a mentor of sorts.
Now, they’ll get a chance to do it all over again in Boston.
“It was an amazing experience," Walker said of playing with White. "Derrick is literally one of my closest friends. I went to his wedding. I know all about Hannah and Hendrix and everyone. We kind of had the same experience, as far as our upbringing, as far as being a rookie and trying to earn your way up.
“Even with the Spurs, being a young rookie, he was one of the main players that I was trying to mimic my game and watch, 'Okay, I see how Derek's playing. Now, if I do some of these things, maybe I'm going to earn my minutes because of how he plays defensively, the charges, and the offensive and defensive rebounds, and things that he does.' So, even at the Spurs, I was still trying to mimic what he does. And it's kind of a full circle , being with him and still trying to play how he plays and kind of earn my way back up.”