At the start of training camp, Jordan Walsh told head coach Joe Mazzulla that he felt like a vet. After signing a three-year, $15 million extension this summer, you can’t blame the 22-year-old for feeling confidence with his place on the team.
“I think that was the biggest mistake of the year so far,” Walsh quipped.
Since then, he’s started every preseason game, including the last two against the 76ers and Hornets at the Garden when Mazzulla has opted to play the veterans. Walsh joins Jayson Tatum,
Derrick White, Paul George, and Mitchell Robinson in the starting five and fit in perfectly with what could be the stingiest opening lineup by year’s end.
“Jordan continues to be really good at the start of games, guarding the other team’s best player [and] getting off to a good start defensively, something he’s done well for us those last couple games, Mazzulla said after Walsh was a +6 in the win over Charlotte. ”It’s a huge role for him that we’re gonna need from him.”
At Summer League, Walsh said that his focus in the offseason was to be better offensively. “The biggest thing is I’m trying to change my identity offensively. I’m trying to become a better — way better — offensive player. I’m trying to fit in situations that I didn’t fit in last year. I’m trying to be the answer to the situations that they took me out of.”
In 26 minutes of the preseason opener in Cleveland without key rotation minutes, Walsh showed out with 16 points, hitting 2-of-5 from behind the arc and looking more comfortable attacking from the wing and driving the ball to the rim.
However, that’s not necessarily where he’ll make his mark.
“He’s getting better and better, but his calling card is going to be defense. He should be one of the best defenders in the league, if not the best. That’s the standard that we’re holding him to. That will be the main thing,” Payton Pritchard said after Saturday’s practice.
Pritchard didn’t mince words. When pressed if Walsh needed to have a more balanced approach, he reasserted, “what this team needs is for him to be the best defender possible and that’s what will make us successful.”
Walsh started 19 games straight last season before Sam Hauser took over in January. That could still happen, but after speculation that Pritchard would become a full-time starter or Baylor Scheierman was the perfect connector for the Boston’s scorers, it’s Walsh that looks to have the inside track heading into Opening Night in Detroit on Tuesday.
The worst thing he could do now is thank Mazzulla for believing in him.
