The Celtics have plenty going for them right now, but Jordan Walsh remains one of the few open questions hanging around the edges of a 10-2 start.
Boston is riding a five-game winning streak, came through a tough road stretch with four straight wins, and now gets a break after a game that wasn’t pretty. There’s not much to nitpick with this team at the moment.
Most of the preseason questions have already been answered. Walsh, though, is still sitting there as a live debate.
His role has bounced around, with starting chances coming and going. He didn’t get one against Toronto last night.
The reason Boston keeps giving him looks is obvious enough: he has the IQ and athleticism to bother high-level scoring guards. Sometimes that has shown up.
Sometimes it hasn’t, as with Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson. Against Tyrese Maxey, it didn’t really move the needle.
Still, that’s the part Walsh is supposed to handle, and he does it well enough to earn credit. The issue is everything else. At some point, Boston may decide he’s better suited as a utility piece than someone it keeps testing in a bigger role.
Offensively, opponents are comfortable living with what Walsh gives them. They’re happy to let him fire away from deep if it means Jayson Tatum or Paul George isn’t taking the shot. Walsh is hitting just 26.7% from three this season, down sharply from 38.4% last year.
If that number climbs, it could change the picture some. But Boston hasn’t exactly treated him like a true perimeter threat in the Sam Hauser mold, and defenses still seem willing to crowd Tatum and George with Walsh on the floor.
The numbers back up the eye test, too. The Celtics are plus-2.8 with Walsh playing, which is fine.
Without him, they jump to plus-16.7. That’s the difference between merely solid and elite.
The season is still young, so Walsh’s offense and Boston’s lineup numbers could improve with more time. The Celtics might be hoping for that. But if Baylor Scheierman and Sam Hauser keep looking better, there’s going to come a point where Boston can’t keep pretending the evidence isn’t there.
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