How Jaylen Brown Inspired Young Celtics Guard To Step Into Bigger Role

The Celtics are finding contributions from all over their depth chart as they’ve clawed back over .500 on the season. An impressive twelve players are averaging double-digit minutes per game for Boston, which improved to 8-7 with Tuesday night’s road win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Among those twelve is 2023 second-round pick Jordan Walsh.

Walsh has stepped up in a big way in the opening weeks of the season. He is playing more than 17 minutes per game, has picked up a pair of starts and is shooting the ball efficiently.

The 21-year-old guard attributes much of his success to his teammate Jaylen Brown. Walsh shared a story with reporters about a conversation he had with his veteran teammate “weeks ago.”

“We were talking about how we felt like we needed a guy who can go in and guard the best player every night,” Walsh said. “He kept saying to me, he said, ‘I think it’s you. I think it could be you.’ I was like, ‘All right. I’m with you. I think so, too.’”

Brown then told Walsh that he would bring it to head coach Joe Mazzulla personally and see what he thought.

Walsh shared how much this conversation meant to him.

“It definitely felt like he kind of trusted in me, without even having a sort of proof of it,” Walsh said. “I mean, obviously, we have practice and some Summer League stuff and whatnot—but him going out of his way to have that conversation, I think makes a big difference because it shows that he trusts me. And so, ever since then, I just kind of got to prove to those guys that I can be trusted.”

Brown said that even before Walsh was proving it on the court, he was telling the young guard that he could be helping the team on defense.

Walsh has gained recognition for shutting down some of the league’s top scorers this season as he continues to embrace his new role.