20 Under 25: Jordan Walsh’s development is crucial for future Celtics

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20 Under 25: Jordan Walsh’s development is crucial for future Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Editor’s Note: NBC Sports Boston has launched its annual “20 Under 25” series in which fans can vote on the 20 best male professional athletes in Boston under age 25. Voting is open until Dec. 16.

If you need a reminder of just how young Jordan Walsh is, consider this: As the Celtics were parading through the streets of Boston in June to celebrate their 18th championship, fans launched unopened beers towards the duck boat carting both Walsh and teammate Luke Kornet through the city.

Walsh, by law, technically cannot consume those beverages until his 21st birthday in March 2025, which forced Kornet and the team’s medical staff to play a bit of parade defense.

“I had my kids there and then I felt like I had a third who was present,” quipped Kornet. “And, you know, sometimes you’re more spiritual father than necessarily the biological.”

At 20 years and 106 days old when the Celtics raised the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Walsh was the youngest player on any of the franchise’s 18 championship teams. This season, he is again the youngest player on Boston’s roster, and by a considerable margin. (Jaden Springer, 22, is the next youngest.) Boston has the eighth-oldest roster in the NBA with an average player age of 26.4 years old, and Walsh is doing his best to pull that number down.

All of which stresses the runway the Celtics have with Walsh, who logged just 83 minutes in nine appearances during his rookie season. (Nearly half of that court time came with Boston resting veteran players over the final two games of the regular season.)

Walsh had an unremarkable rookie season, then had an utterly forgettable NBA Summer League stretch where he couldn’t buy a 3-point shot in Vegas. Undeterred, he absorbed all the criticism, pledged to move on quickly, and then distinguished himself among all of Boston’s end-of-the-roster players during training camp.

On Monday night, Walsh, at age 20 years, 274 days, drew a spot start with Boston shorthanded and helped the Celtics to a breezy 19-point triumph over the Miami…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/20-under-25-jordan-walshs-184311629.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-12-03 18:43:00

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