Four years ago, the Celtics needed some front-court help, just someone with toughness and tenacity who could play 15 minutes a night. Grant Williams was just a 20-year-old rookie who couldn’t shoot, but Brad Stevens gave him a shot anyway.
Williams ended up cracking the rotation from the jump and even appeared in every playoff game as a rookie in the Celtics’ bubble run that ended with a Game 7 defeat to the Heat. He would eventually become a knockdown shooter and key defender against some of the league’s biggest stars in the heat of the postseason. But then last season, he fell out of Joe Mazzulla’s rotation and didn’t cement his place in the lineup until the very end, another Game 6 conference finals loss to the Heat.
Advertisement
This time, it was his last game as a Celtic, as Williams completed his sign-and-trade to Dallas Wednesday. Oshae Brissett signed a minimum deal to take his place, a young vet forward with energy and an unreliable shot. But the Celtics also drafted Jordan Walsh, who finds himself entering the NBA in a similar situation to Williams.
When Williams arrived, he was competing against Semi Ojeleye for backup forward minutes. Ojeleye was a brick wall defender who could spot-up from the corner with middling results. He shot better than Williams at the time, but there was an ironic passivity to his game that didn’t take advantage of the Herculean build Celtics fans dubbed the “Ojeleye Factory.” Williams’ confidence, persistence, and versatility quickly made him the team’s eighth man.
Can Walsh walk that path as a rookie?
His summer league performance has hinted that there’s a plausible role for him at some point this season, though it will take a lot of improvement for him to get there. The vital development is that he’s hitting his open spot-up 3s, showing some confidence to take the easy looks that come to him.
He doesn’t have much of a touch yet, but he doesn’t look afraid to fire away off the catch. His best shot of the opening weekend came off a quick handoff from JD Davison, as Walsh immediately launched the shot with a little bit of space and snapped the net. That was just about the most comfortable he’s looked taking a 3 all year.
When Washington ran him off the line in game two, he hit the mid-range area with a ton of space and didn’t just fall into the trap of taking an awkward pull-up. He had one great behind-the-back pass to the corner after luring in the help defender to open that shot up, then in the fourth quarter spotted Udoka Azubuike flashing under the hoop and quickly passed out of a shot to hit him on the money.
Advertisement
The rookie wall for Walsh will be countering defenses that know the scouting report on him. He just drives right at this point, using a crossover and hesi move at the top of the drive so he can lower a shoulder into the defender and try to pull up from floater range through contact.
His size is no longer a big advantage in the NBA and he doesn’t have much rhythm getting into those shots, so he was even airballing them or stumbling against summer league players. Every year, fans forget how dramatic the quality of defense is from summer league to preseason to regular season, so don’t expect him to be scoring through defenders any time soon.
There were a few times when he tried to drive a gap and the defense was able to get a deflection, but he has a high enough motor to keep moving to keep the play alive. There were also several moments when he tried to drive around the defender at the point of attack, but wasn’t quick enough to hit that opening. He’s an eager passer on the move, but a lot of his attempted dimes were bullet passes to bigs at close range that went through their hands or cross-court passes that the defense easily read before the ball was out of his hand. The fact that he is willing to turn it over so much in an attempt to grow as a playmaker is frankly a good sign from someone projected for a 3-and-D role.
Then even when he pulls off a rip-through or crossover to attack the space, he has trouble finishing. There were several plays where he tried to body the rim protector to finish through contact, but came up short or didn’t get the foul call he expected. But the upside is when he can get to his right hand and attack from the left side, his power and length allow him to get a clean look off at the rim. Just look at how different it is when he attacks the middle of the floor instead of the baseline.
He’s an eager passer and moves constantly throughout the possession, so he won’t be a dead end in the corners. That’s going to matter because he had gotten trapped several times and struggled to get out of it, though he has shown some patience to keep his dribble alive and pass through the trap when he sees an opening.
Advertisement
But the Celtics drafted him for his defense, as he can bring tremendous length as a wing and even guard up a bit against fours. Boston would sometimes put him on the point guard and have him press full court, then switch when the guard would go hand the ball off to a cutter out of the corner. These are hard switches to make since you have to completely change direction against someone sprinting at you, but Walsh looks like he can handle those reads.
The tough part comes when it’s time to chase guards over screens, because Walsh likes to get up on ballhandlers and lock them up. He defends like a bigger Derrick White, trying to press up on the ball on the perimeter and then stay glued to their hip on the drive without fouling. That’s a tough adjustment in the NBA where every player handling the ball is a more crafty scorer than just about anyone you’ve ever guarded before. Walsh is similar to Williams in that regard, as they’re both players who like to defend with their hands forward and then bump with their chests at the point of contact. He gets six fouls a night and he’s probably going to use them up.
The upside with Walsh is that he can take risks and still recover. Just watch how he tries to play peek-a-boo at the top of the zone in transition, just misses an interception, and then recovers to shut down the drive.
Not only does he beat the dribbler to his spot to stop the drive, he then manages to hop around a screener to stay with the ball and force a miss. Even though his positioning is off on a lot of his help coverage and he doesn’t know how to get over screens on the perimeter yet, he has a natural feel for how to get on top of a driver without crashing into them. The problem will be that a lot of players who can handle his size are much faster than he’s used to.
That was one of his best attributes in college, as he could basically hover right over the ballhandler with his hands out at the ball then pull back out to avoid the contact when they would try to draw the foul. Just watch how he is able to hop backward against this spin move and then get his hands straight up in the air without any contact.
There is a lot to like about Walsh’s game so far, but the team drafted him knowing it will likely be a few years before he’s ready for serious minutes. Nonetheless, he can provide the defensive skill and motor they need at the three/four spot with Grant Williams leaving and he may be able to bring something different than Brissett.
Most rookies come to summer league with a little more polish to their game, but Walsh just arrived with even more raw skill to mine. He has a few months before training camp to get it together, but the tools are there for him to make a surprise appearance deep in the second unit if he puts the work in.
(Photo: Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images)