Tis the season. The season of Jordan Walsh. What still feels like a fever dream, Jordan Walsh continues to establish himself as one of the driving forces behind the Celtics’ surge over the past month. There’s a lot to love about what Walsh is doing on the basketball court, so let’s dive into all the different ways he is impacting winning.
We’ll start on the defensive end. Celtics fans have had the pleasure of enjoying elite screen navigation going all the way back to the beginning of the Marcus Smart tenure. Then the Celtics acquired Derrick White and then Jrue Holiday. Now, Jordan Walsh appears to be next in line to take the baton for the screen navigation mastery relay.
Andre Drummond is a beast of a man to navigate. Walsh does a great job of taking the bump, staying on balance, flipping his hips, and sliding his feet to get back in front of Tyrese Maxey. Walsh keeps his extendo-arm up to dissuade Maxey from taking his patented floater, which forces Maxey to pull the ball back out. Walsh then executes some fantastic isolation defense on one of the league’s leading scorers.
Here, Walsh shows off his willingness to make life hell for opposing ball handlers. The NBA has evolved into a heavy pick-and-roll league. Navigating screens has become a premium skill. And Walsh has it. Austin Reaves actually gets an OK look at the end of the possession; however, his radar is malfunctioning after dealing with Walsh for 15 seconds. I’m exhausted after watching this possession, too.
No matter how good a player is at screen navigation, they will get stuck on a screen from time to time. When you get beat, can you still impact the shooter?
Ivaca Zubac is an elite screen setter and getting stuck on the humungous Croatian’s screens is going to happen. Walsh is not deterred. He lowers his hips, explodes, and get back into the play with ease, eventually blocking one of the best pick-and-roll operators in history in James Harden.
The defense that Jordan Walsh played on Austin Reaves in the first quarter of the Lakers game was some of the best defense I’ve seen anyone play all season. Reaves takes this three-point attempt with no urgency; he thinks there’s no chance Walsh can get back into the play after being screened by DeAndre Ayton, but again Walsh doesn’t just get a finger on the ball — he gets his entire hand on the ball for the block. When Walsh does get screened, he uses his Gogo Gadget arms to block shots from behind. It doesn’t hurt that he has spent his career watching the GOAT rearview contester, Derrick White, show him how it’s done.
We’ve covered how good Walsh has been when defending the ball. Let’s have a look at his help defense.
Firstly, it speaks to Walsh’s versatility that he’s matched up on Evan Mobley. Walsh reads the pass to Jaylen Tyson perfectly and then swallows the shot attempt, igniting a Celtics transition possession.
Walsh is guarding PJ Hall who looks to be setting a flare screen, but really Hall is stuck in no-man’s land as GG Jackson drives into the lane, this allows Walsh to slide over and reject the shot without having to gamble, allowing Walsh to collect the block.
The ability to provide effective help defense and weakside rim protection from the wing position has been a huge factor in how the Celtics have been able to get away with their small-ball lineups on defense.
This category I am calling The Great Wall of Holiday. Jrue Holiday perfected the art of taking the bump from an offensive player, while simultaneously, getting into their handle for a steal.
Never a bad time to remember one of the iconic moments of the 2024 title run. Walsh has started implementing the Great Wall of Holiday technique in his game.
While Walsh isn’t as sturdy as Jrue, he makes up for it with his length, the 7”2 wingspan is a problem for opposing ball handlers. Being able to take the bumps from the significantly bigger and stronger Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, not get knocked too far back, and then come away with clean steals is impressive.
The success of the Cetlics this season has largely been driven by dominating the shot margin. Walsh becoming a turnover-generating machine only amplifies that identity.
Let’s move to the offensive side of the ball.
Jordan Walsh looks like he is developing into a legitimate dribble, pass, and shoot guy. Now that the three-point shots have started to fall, teams are starting to close out on Walsh, and he is capitalizing. Walsh is generating 1.30 points per possession on spot-up opportunities (87th percentile).
Karl-Anthony Towns closes out way too hard on Walsh in the corner. As Towns is prone to do. Walsh reads it, lets Towns fly by, and then attacks the rim with his explosiveness and length and finishes through traffic. Walsh is shooting 76.1% in the restricted area. For context, Neemias Queta is shooting 76.2% in the restricted area. Walsh is not a seven-foot center.
Walsh isn’t just looking to drive with reckless abandon. Here, Walsh does a great job of driving the closeout, drawing the help defender, and delivering an on-target pass to Neemias Queta for an easy two points. That’s great poise and decision-making from Walsh.
A staple of the Celtics offense in the Mazzulla era has been utilizing perimeter players in the short roll. Whether it has been Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, or Jrue Holiday, it has been an effective method for the Celtics to get opposing defense in rotation.
Teams often try to switch this type of action given the perimeter players are similarly sized. This allows the screener to slip behind the defense, creating an advantage for the offense. Derrick White delivers the pass to Walsh, who swings a pass right into Jaylen Brown’s shooting pocket, which results in a huge three points for the Celtics.
If the defense doesn’t collapse, Walsh is capable of exploding to the rim to either finish through contact, or in this case, throw down a loud two-hand slam.
It is clear that Jordan Walsh has a good understanding of floor balance and how to be effective with cuts, especially along the baseline.
Defenses are going to give Jaylen Brown (and eventually Jayson Tatum) a lot of defensive attention. When Jaylen Brown has two feet in the paint, alarm bells start to go off for opposing defenses. Walsh does a great job of reading when that attention turns to Jaylen, and slides into the dunker spot for an easy two.
We covered how Walsh is helping the Celtics dominate the shot margin on defense. On offense, he has been putting on a possession-generating clinic. Walsh is up to an 8% offensive rebounding rate. This ranks him 19th in the league for players under six-foot-ten.
Teams will often put their weakest or smallest defender on Walsh. This allows Walsh to leverage his size, length, and athleticism on the offensive glass. In this case, it is Jalen Brunson. Brunson offers close to zero resistance en route to a Walsh putback.
I love this play from Walsh. The offensive board is already another possession secure. Walsh stays poised, gets Evan Mobley off his feet with a pump-fake, and dumps off a pass to Xavier Tillman for a short-range floater — that’s high level poise from the 21-year-old.
Lastly, the shooting. Walsh is shooting 45.6% from three-point range this season. An absurd number. The vast majority of the shots have been on wide-open looks. Which is great, but to really be a playoff level offensive player, Walsh needs to take, and make, more tightly contested shots. As Walsh’s confidence grows, we are seeing signs of this developing.
It’s hard to find a flaw in Walsh’ game right now. Of course, if Walsh is asked to be an initial creator for this team, the Celtics will find some flaws. But when it comes to the role Walsh is being asked to play, he is executing it close to flawlessly. The Joran Walsh era is upon us.
