It typically isn’t a great sign that a player is playing in Summer League entering their 3rd NBA season. If they are, they should look like the best player on the court.
Things I look for during Summer League:
Do the rookies look like they can hang athletically? Especially when going against experienced players.
What skills do returning players show off? Are they asked to play a very different role and handling it ok?
Are second- and…— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 5, 2025
In last season’s Celtics Summer League opener, Jaden Springer had 23 points and 6 assists while Neemias Queta had 20 points and 9 rebounds. Springer would not play in Summer League again while Queta had 22 points and 8 rebounds in the Summer C’s next game before being shut down. They dominated, showing that they were above playing in Vegas.
Walsh, on the other hand, played in all five Summer League games the Celtics played in last year. He averaged 9.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 29% from the field and 13% from three.
He didn’t look like just a guy — he was plain bad. That simply cannot be the case this year. He needs to stand out. On Friday against the Grizzlies, we need to see Walsh stand out and think he could be a guy who can help the Celtics.
Walsh’s athleticism has shown flashes at times and his range on defense is something to watch as well. However, he needs to be able to score the ball this time around. He needs to be able to get past a defender and finish around the cup. He needs to be able to knock down catch and shoot threes.
His offensive rebounding is something a lot of people liked coming out of school and he did that pretty well last summer with 1.8 offensive rebounds per game. However, the Celtics need more out of Walsh in the half court other than just crashing the offensive glass.
The Celtics just signed Josh Minott to a 2-year contract, a player who has a very similar archetype to Walsh — long rangy defenders who are athletic, pretty good offensive rebounders but have struggled to make threes at the NBA level. Minott played at Summer League last year, averaging 15.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game on 44% from the field and 23% from three.
Nothing special but better than Walsh looked.
Walsh also talked about putting too much pressure on himself last summer and how it led to his mix bag of results.
“When I went into it last year, I was kind of in the mentality of trying to be like Jayson Tatum, be Jaylen Brown,” Walsh said. “And it’s like, that’s not the same team, that’s not who I am, I’m not those guys. Now I’m going with the mentality of being me, being the best player that I can be, to affect winning in every [part] of the game.”
Jordan Walsh is coming into Summer League with a new mentality:
“When I went into it last year, I was kind of in the mentality of trying to be like Jayson Tatum, be Jaylen Brown. And it’s like, that’s not the same team, that’s not who I am, I’m not those guys. Now I’m going… pic.twitter.com/QkWczPKHFn
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) July 8, 2025
Jordan Walsh might not be putting pressure on himself, but the Celtics are. He needs to perform at a high level this time around in Vegas because unlike in his first two seasons, there is a chance that Walsh can carve out a consistent role for himself this upcoming season.
That needs to start with really high-level play over the next week plus at Summer League. He needs to show the Celtics brass that he has graduated by playing at a really high level in the first one or two games.
