There may not be a bigger winner this preseason than Jordan Walsh.
The collective magnifying glass has been aimed directly onto the second-year wing this offseason. From his Summer League struggles onward, the debate of Walsh’s immediate and future value has been a hot topic of discussion the past few months, and for good reason.
The Celtics are a team with a fully-formed identity that carries over onto the bench, which led the team to a double-digit lead just six minutes into Sunday’s preseason game and a 21-point lead by the end of the first quarter.
Walsh was a significant part of that success, finishing his night with 16 points (6/12 FG), 10 rebounds and a steal, while being a +11 in his 30 minutes on the floor. In 12 minutes the night prior, he connected on all three of his 3-point attempts for 11 points in 12 minutes against Philadelphia.
He’s 6-of-16 from beyond the arc this preseason (37.5%), a respectable sign for a player that struggled in that department at Summer League. He’s shooting with confidence right now, but most importantly, he’s taking the right kinds of threes.
Walsh hit just one of his four 3-point attempts against the Raptors, but it was a good example of the looks they’d need him to make if he’s to consistently see the floor in the regular season. In the opening minute of the second quarter, Walsh buried his 3-point try after his defender Davion Mitchell stunts at Jaden Springer, who at first appears to be putting the ball on the deck for a drive before picking up his dribble and finding Walsh.
Notice how Walsh keeps his eyes on Mitchell and relocates slightly up to the slot, which gives him enough space to fire one up and over the recovering Mitchell. Walsh will be played off of if he sees the floor with Boston’s regular rotation players. Small moves like that can go a long way in making defenses pay for that lack of attention.
Walsh’s impressive outing goes beyond just his shooting. Arguably the most enticing element to his productive day was how he was able to generate space as a slasher.
There were multiple instances of Walsh using a pump-fake to punish the closeout, including this finger roll layup that got past both Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl:
Walsh gets space to drive the baseline off that fake, but Poeltl is in position to contest, so Walsh improvises, switching from the right hand to the left, pulling out a hesitation that freezes the defender, and gives him a clear path to the basket.
Since Summer League, it’s felt less like he’s pressing and more like he’s processing the right moves on the fly. His patience is evident on this layup that happened a few minutes prior to the last clip:
It’s another effective fake, this one completely getting Chris Boucher off his feet. We also see him adjust on the fly just like the last clip. He keeps his head up, sees his teammate Dmytro Skapintsev working for a post up, and decides to pull up on his drive, using his body to create additional space on Boucher and working around the natural paint seal that Skapintsev creates. There’s patience, craftiness and rim-finishing all on display.
It’s also impossible to talk about Jordan Walsh without bringing up the pure energy his presence creates on the floor. Perhaps the most impressive came right at the end of the third quarter, where he fought to steal the ball off a missed free throw, which created one last possession and a pair of free throws for Drew Peterson heading into the fourth quarter:
This is the kind of stuff that could convince Joe Mazzulla to give Walsh opportunities off the bench. Along with four offensive rebounds on the night, Walsh was constantly fighting to either extend possessions or earn new ones on the defensive end.
You add up the confidence as a scorer, effort on the glass and tenacity defensively, and it equals the type of player that could leave a positive impact on the floor in 10-15 minutes a night. Going back to the layup past Chris Boucher, if we expand the bigger picture around that single highlight, we get this series of plays, all following one after another, a perfect sample of just what Walsh can provide at his very best:
Until Kristaps Porziņģis returns to action around the holiday season, the Celtics will have time to provide opportunities for players down the bench that each provide something different around their starting lineup. Walsh, up to this point in the preseason, has provided a strong argument that some of those opportunities should be reserved for him.
For a minute this summer, it was beginning to feel like Walsh-ful thinking that Jordan would find his place in the rotation in Year 2. Now, it feels much closer to reality.
