As Summer League winds down, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh focused on non-shooting growth

Both Scheierman and Walsh are shooting below 40 percent from the field, but have made an impact in other areas in Summer League.

Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh might not be shooting as well as some might have hoped they would in Summer League. However, with one more game left, each has noticed some growth in other areas.

The Celtics’ 2024 first-round pick, who was billed as a knockdown shooter coming out of Creighton, is scoring just 10.8 points per game on 38.2 percent shooting from the field and 29.6 percent shooting from deep over four contests. But he’s averaging five rebounds, 3.3 assists, and a steal in 27.8 minutes per game.

As Scheierman has made some plays outside of his draft profile, he’s pleased with what he’s done to this point in Summer League.

“As far as my performance, I think I’ve done a really good job of doing the things I wanted to do, which was compete, defend, and hustle,” Scheierman told reporters following the Celtics’ Summer League loss to the Mavericks, via CLNS Media. “Obviously, went through a bit of a shooting slump the last couple of games. But that’s just part of basketball.”

Scheierman got off the shooting schneid on Friday. He scored 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field and 3 of 6 shooting from distance in the loss to the Mavericks.

While Schierman’s shots went down on Friday, he continued to emphasize his development in other areas, such as when he grabbed three offensive rebounds in a half against the Heat.

“I’m not really worried about my shooting, just worried about defense, competing, and impacting the game in other ways,” Scheierman said. “Today, I was able to get my shots to fall. That is what it is: shots go and they don’t. I’m just trying to focus on competing.”

Walsh, meanwhile, has had more struggles than Scheierman shooting the ball in the Summer League. The second-year forward is averaging 6.8 points per game on 22 percent shooting from the field and is 0-for-22 from 3-point territory.

Friday was Walsh’s worst shooting night in the Summer League. He went 4 of 16 from the field and missed all 10 of his 3-point shots.

It might be easy to wonder why Walsh continued to shoot 3-pointers as he failed to hit the bottom of the net. But he explained that he’s trying to have the mindset that he can live with missing shots as long as he’s impacting the game in other areas, which he believes he’s doing.

“I would say the focus has never changed,” Walsh told reporters, via CLNS Media. “I’m always going to take my open shots. Whether they go in or not, I’m gonna take them. I just gotta make the defense respect me. I feel like my focus is being more toward being a defender and guarding and playing the right way.

“So even if I make or miss shots, I’m not really predicated on that. My game’s not really dependent on that so I’m trying to find other ways to be active.”

Walsh did make an impact in other areas on Friday. He had 11 rebounds, four assists, and two steals to go with his 12 points. Prior to Friday, he was averaging just five rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

As Walsh is in his second go around in Summer League, he admitted that trying to prove he’s better than last year affected his game early on.

“I feel like you have to kind of go in with the mentality of being better than you were before,” Walsh said. “I guess that’s what kind of what slumped me in the beginning, just going in with that mentality, not going in with the right mentality of playing as hard as I can. The results are the results. So, now I’m trying to switch to that and be the main goal, see how it goes.”

Scheierman and Walsh will get one more Summer League game before breaking for the summer on Sunday, when they take on the 76ers.