What have we learned from the Boston Celtics first week of Summer League?
Given the Celtics' position as a re-tooling roster, there are some additional incentives to impress while in Las Vegas. Joe Mazzulla has gaps that need to be filled in his rotation. As such, we're seeing some highly competitive performances from multiple members of Matt Reynolds' roster. Unfortunately for Walsh, that competitive spirit led him to being ejected against the Miami Heat on Monday, July 14.
In a July 15 episode of the "Taylor Talks Celtics" podcast, hosts Adam Taylor and Billy Calabrese discussed the Celtics Summer League performances so far, dissecting which players have stood out, who has underwhelmed and what they're hoping to see over the final few contests.
You can watch the full podcast episode by clicking on the embedded video above.
Watch the "Taylor Talks Celtics" podcast on:
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3QnlPcS
Website: https://bit.ly/3WoA0Cf
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Baylor Scheierman ramped up the defensive intensity further after tapping the ball away from Miami Heat wing Keshad Johnson early in the first quarter of a summer league game last week. Sensing the ball could be his, Scheierman rushed up on Johnson near half court to make another attempt at a steal. With the shot clock dwindling for Miami, Scheierman poked the ball away from Johnson again, then dove on the floor to secure possession. From his backside, Scheierman fired a long assist to Jordan Walsh for a fast-break dunk. Advertisement The pass made it one of Boston's top highlights at summer league, but the defensive pressure that led to it might have been more telling. After years ranking near the bottom of the league in forced turnovers, the Celtics channeled a more disruptive style in Las Vegas, where they wrapped up summer league Sunday night with a 101-80 win against Atlanta. And that style could be indicative of how they want to play when the regular season arrives in October. 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They just haven't forced many turnovers during that stretch. Though it's never wise to overreact to anything that happens at summer league, the Celtics seem motivated to address that weakness. 'I think that we understand people are going to do the same thing to us,' Walsh said. 'So it's kind of like hitting somebody before they hit you. I think that if we're the aggressor, like, if you're met with force, you're either going to move out the way or you're going to meet them with more aggression. And so our approach was let's meet them with more aggression: harder, faster, more aggressive than they are so that we throw them off balance.' The rest of the most important Celtics summer league takeaways follow below. After getting ejected early in the loss to Miami, Walsh walked over to Celtics GM Brad Stevens as soon as the game ended. Walsh said sorry to his boss for losing his cool. 'I just wanted to apologize to him just because that's not really me,' Walsh said. 'I'm more of a professional than that. I'm more mature than that. So I just wanted to make sure he knew that and this wasn't going to be a continuous thing.' Walsh didn't need to apologize to Mazzulla. Why? Because Mazzulla enjoyed seeing the passion in his young forward. By the time Walsh checked his phone following the ejection, Mazzulla had already texted him to say, 'I love this out of you.' The differing reactions were predictable. Stevens is level-headed. Mazzulla seemingly wouldn't care if his team ripped off an opponent's level head. The two men are alike in some ways, caring about many of the same values, but they have opposite approaches to confrontation. Maybe the organization needs both types of leaders. 'Joe liked it,' Walsh said. 'I don't know if Brad liked it.' Charles Bassey had one of the stranger Celtics summer league stints in recent years. He wasn't on the initial roster, but joined the team early in training camp. 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One day after opening the summer league with a 2-for-14 shooting performance, Scheierman said he thought he played well. 'Obviously, I didn't shoot it great but I can't really control that,' Scheierman said. 'I'm not trying to miss shots, you know?' It was probably a healthy way of evaluating himself. Scheierman believed he made the right reads and defended at a high level. He saw beyond his shooting line. To see the promise in his summer league performance, one needed to do that. While averaging 12.2 points per game over four appearances in Las Vegas, Scheierman shot an ugly 27.4 percent from the field, including 20.5 percent on 3-point attempts. He fired up nearly 10 3-point attempts per game, with nearly two-thirds of his shot attempts coming from behind the arc. He went 8 for 39 on those tries. Scheierman will likely need to shoot much better in the regular season to stick on the floor. He still showed off impressive court vision, ranking near the top of the summer league leaderboard with 6.8 assists per game. For a wing his size, he can really see the floor and deliver tough passes with touch. He won't often be a primary playmaker during the regular season, but he created plenty of good looks for his teammates in that role at summer league. It's raining threes early 🌧️ — Boston Celtics (@celtics) July 13, 2025 With Tatum out indefinitely, Scheierman and Walsh could find themselves in competition for minutes when the regular season arrives. They were both good at summer league, if not spectacular. (Photo of Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh: Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
