Sunday’s preseason womping (till it wasn’t) of the Toronto Raptors featured a formidable show from second-year Boston Celtics wing Jordan Walsh. Walsh’s 16-point, 10-rebound outing in opposition to Toronto added to his eye-catching preseason resume.
This was his third double-digit scoring evening in 4 appearances up to now. Walsh continues to look increasingly more snug capturing the basketball, as he’s sank six of his 14 makes an attempt from past the arc. His confidence has come a good distance in a brief time period.
Simply final week, Walsh was hesitating to fireplace up open appears to be like from the wing.
Now, he’s doing the whole lot in rhythm, whether or not he decides to hoist up the shot or to drive the closeout and take it to the ring.
On prime of that, he’s proven a capability to hold with opposing gamers on the defensive finish, which shouldn’t come as a shock since that was his calling card at Arkansas.
Following the 115-111 win, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised the younger wing for constantly understanding his function.
“Simply an understanding of what job is,” stated Mazzulla of what’s impressed him most about Walsh up to now. “Defending at a excessive stage, defending a number of positions, rebounding, after which making reads the offensive finish. So, they’re doing a fantastic job. Simply actually happy with his development… He works laborious at it. However beginning to carve out a job and simply displaying a extremely good perspective in direction of it. So, it’s been enjoyable to observe him develop.”
Positive, these video games don’t imply something, and the one place you’ll be capable of discover these stats shall be on RealGM, however Walsh is laying the groundwork for an thrilling sophomore season for the Celtics.
“It feels good to have that yr underneath my belt,” Walsh defined (via CLNS Media). “I do know what to anticipate now. I understand how to play with the crew, so I really feel like that’s the most important factor going into this yr.”
The 20-year-old didn’t see a lot time in his rookie marketing campaign with the Cs final yr and spent most of his hours up in Maine with Boston’s G-League affiliate.
Many followers had been excited to see what Walsh was able to on the 2024 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, however his efficiency was slightly disappointing. He appeared timid and really a lot trapped in his personal head. The numbers appeared to worsen with every recreation, and together with the poor showings got here increasingly more questions.
With only one exhibition recreation left earlier than opening evening, Walsh has answered these questions. He appears to be like like a man who may very well be requested to play 12 minutes an evening, for certain.
