Life as an NBA newcomer can be a real rollercoaster. Just ask Jordan Walsh.
One minute you’re a 19-year-old kid in a new city dumped into a team overflowing with talent and wondering if you’ll ever get the chance to show that you belong. Next time, your teammates will swarm you and deliver the game ball after you score your first NBA points.
One minute you’re being dragged on stage in front of all your veteran teammates and asked to perform an impromptu performance of a Boyz II Men song that came out 13 years before you were born. The next moment you’re sailing a duck boat through a sea of a million delirious Celtics fans and enjoying the team’s 18th world title.
The only thing that carried more pressure than trying to create a dance to ‘Motownphilly’ (it had to be ‘Motownphilly’, right?) No one should ever be asked to dance to ‘I’ll Make Love to You’ or ‘End of the Road”) is just 83 minutes of playing as a newcomer trying to prove you belong while only getting 15 shots in nine appearances.
Each of those misses gnaws at you. And then you go to Summer League with a better chance to show what you can do and you can’t buy a 3-point difference.
That’s when your coach, the same one who forced you onstage for that damn Boyz II Men performance, gives some of the simplest advice and takes some twists and turns off the rollercoaster.
“[Head coach Joe Mazzulla has a] rule where you get one concern to give and then you have to let it go,” Walsh explained. “So he told me the most important thing is to give one care – he didn’t use care, it’s a different word – but yes, one care to give.”
To paraphrase Ralphie in “A Christmas Story,” Mazzulla didn’t say “care.” He said THE word. The big one. The queen mother of dirty words. The F-dash-dash-dash word.
So Walsh does his best to give one, ahem, care, and move on.
‘I’m trying. I’m doing my best,” Walsh said. “I’m working on it.”
Walsh astonishingly missed the first 22 3-pointers he attempted in Summer League in July. After breaking that slump at the end of the Vegas outing, he admitted he put too much pressure on himself during the summer exhibition. He took Mazzulla’s advice to forego healthcare and promised he would be better when the Celtics gathered for training camp.
Walsh was perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the Celtics’ five-game preseason that concluded Tuesday night in Toronto. Walsh logged 104 total minutes, the second-highest total behind only Payton Pritchard, and showed the kind of progress that makes you wonder if he could be a rotation presence despite Boston’s best depth this season.
Walsh’s three-point shot looked smoother (although he swears there were no mechanical changes) and he connected on 36.8 percent of his attempts (7 of 19). He nearly nailed a game-winning layup at the buzzer in Toronto, but had plenty of quality moments that could put him in position to grab some of the minutes left behind by Oshae Brissett’s departure.
Jordan Walsh has a game for himself 🔥
He is up to 14 points and 6 boards pic.twitter.com/nyxxIhMJce
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) October 14, 2024
The defense, his college calling card, was stout. There is a role for Walsh as a courageous, defensive player who rolls up his sleeves and does the dirty work.
The missed shots still nag at him, but Walsh knows he has to take care of one play and then it’s on to the next play.
After all, there are still many highlights ahead. The Celtics open the season on Tuesday night against the New York Knicks and the players will receive their championship rings. Walsh spent much of the Celtics’ championship parade pointing to his ring finger, while boatmate Luke Kornet had the crowd in a championship frothing the entire way.
More importantly, Walsh will log the first game of his second season on Tuesday and ultimately lose the rookie title. His rookie duties were mild at the start of the new season, but he hasn’t even benefited from the addition of two new first-year players, Baylor Scheierman and Anton Watson.
“They’re older than me, so I can’t really tell them what to do,” Walsh shrugged.
So Walsh is focused on what he can control, like putting his best foot forward when opportunities arise.
Bob DeChiara-Imagn images
“Hopefully next year I’ll be a much better version of myself,” Walsh said. “Hopefully I get the opportunity I want. If not, it’s okay. But I just strive for greatness, strive to finally reach a level that I think I can reach. Maybe not this year, maybe next year, but we have to take steps to reach that level.”
And how could that manifest itself on the field?
“Hopefully better shooting ability, better decision-making and playmaking skills,” Walsh said. “When I’m with Boston, I make the right play every time.”
But he now knows that things don’t always go as planned. You have to be able to adapt quickly and move on. Sometimes a greater reward awaits. Just as he discovered on the day of the parade.
“I thought it was going to be a gentle walk, a ride around town,” Walsh said. “I thought Luke would just like to chill. But he got me involved. And I was like, ‘Okay, now’.” we are counting. We interact with the fans.” He made it more and more fun…
“My favorite part is when Luke started singing. We counted from one to 18. And when we got to 18, everyone went crazy. That was definitely the most amazing part.”
Those are the kind of moments that make all the ups and downs of the rollercoaster worth it.
