Jordan Walsh’s ejection in Las Vegas on Monday night was ill-advised — unless you ask his conflict-loving head coach.
The Celtics forward was tossed from Boston’s NBA Summer League matchup with the Heat in the first half after he shoved Miami guard Pelle Larsson following a foul call. It was Walsh’s second technical foul of the game, which meant an immediate ejection for the 21-year-old wing.
Considering the stakes for Walsh at Summer League as he aims for a larger role in Boston’s rotation this season, getting thrown out in the first half isn’t ideal. But when he hit the showers Monday night, he encountered some words of encouragement from Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
“He told me he loved it,” Walsh said of Mazzulla, via SB Nation’s Noa Dalzell. “As soon as I got ejected, I got to the locker room and checked my phone and he was texting me like, ‘I love this out of you.’
“So, take that for what it is. But Joe was hyped.”
That message is coming from the same person who said he wants to “bring back fighting” in the NBA, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Mazzulla enjoyed Walsh’s chippiness. And that chippiness appears to be a point of emphasis for the 21-year-old as he enters his third NBA season.
“I feel like I’m trying to get under people’s skin,” Walsh added. “… I’m trying to get them confused and throw them off their rhythm. [It] ended up happening to me, but I want to disrupt everybody. I want to take out your rhythm. I want to take you out of your plays, your sets. I want to speed you up.”
While there’s value in being a disruptor, Walsh also needs to avoid crossing the line and hurting his team. He had a team-high 13 points at the time of his ejection, and Boston’s offense struggled in his absence en route to a 100-96 loss.
Walsh has a golden opportunity to expand his role this season with Jayson Tatum sidelined due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, and he’s proven he can make an impact with his defense and hustle. He shot just 36.1 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from 3-point range last season, however, and if he can’t contribute more offensively, he may find himself behind second-year wing Baylor Scheierman on the depth chart.
Walsh and the Summer Celtics will be back in action Thursday night against Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers at 9 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.
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