Jordan Walsh - Most Improved Player

[Vermont Green]

J Walsh has only played for 15 or so games.

Too early to talk about him in these terms. Lets see if he can hold it up for the course of the season. A 15 game stretch could just be a hot streak.

This is absolutely a hot streak for him that will be impossible to sustain.  That is true.  The last 7 games, he is 74% FG% overall and 59% from 3.  No way he keeps that up.

But this is not all that he is doing.  He is defending, rebounding, moving without the ball, setting picks.  I see a player that has raised his floor significantly.  His floor is now a rotation bench player where just a couple of months ago, his floor was playing in Europe.  He has raised his ceiling also.  I think he is too young to even guess at his ceiling.

[keevsnick]

J Walsh has only played for 15 or so games.

Too early to talk about him in these terms. Lets see if he can hold it up for the course of the season. A 15 game stretch could just be a hot streak.

This is absolutely a hot streak for him that will be impossible to sustain.  That is true.  The last 7 games, he is 74% FG% overall and 59% from 3.  No way he keeps that up.

But this is not all that he is doing.  He is defending, rebounding, moving without the ball, setting picks.  I see a player that has raised his floor significantly.  His floor is now a rotation bench player where just a couple of months ago, his floor was playing in Europe.  He has raised his ceiling also.  I think he is too young to even guess at his ceiling.

Unless you think Walsh is a 60/50/80 shooter then yes, he's been on a hot streak.

It's also worth noting that as good as he's been he has an 11.2% USG, which is in the bottom 10th percentile in the league. His offensive role is TINY and consists almost entirely of catch and shoot threes where the opposing team didn't even guard him along with offensive rebounds and transition layups. Those are naturally somewhat higher percentage shots, so if those are all you take you'll probably shoot pretty well. To be fair he has shown flashed of making shots off straight line drives, particularly out of close outs, and he appears to have good touch. But the point stands, as his offensive role grows his efficiency will drop.

So far this year Walsh has scored more points, made more FG's, made more 3PFG, made and taken more FT's, gotten more rebounds, gotten more steals and gotten as many blocks as he had in his FIRST TWO YEARS COMBINED. He's about 30 minutes shy of playing more minutes this year than his first two years combined as well.

I think a guy like Avidija or Johnson will win most improved, that's usually the type of performance where guy goes from starter-star that wins it. But Walsh should get on some ballots.

[Who]

J Walsh has only played for 15 or so games.

Too early to talk about him in these terms. Lets see if he can hold it up for the course of the season. A 15 game stretch could just be a hot streak.

This is absolutely a hot streak for him that will be impossible to sustain.  That is true.  The last 7 games, he is 74% FG% overall and 59% from 3.  No way he keeps that up.

But this is not all that he is doing.  He is defending, rebounding, moving without the ball, setting picks.  I see a player that has raised his floor significantly.  His floor is now a rotation bench player where just a couple of months ago, his floor was playing in Europe.  He has raised his ceiling also.  I think he is too young to even guess at his ceiling.

I want to see J Walsh do those other things when he is playing badly. When his shot isn't falling.

He has been a talented defender & rebounder since Day One. Yet both dropped off considerably throughout his first 2 years on the team. He didn't maintain them while he struggled on offense. They got worse. His effort declined when his shot wasn't falling. His focus declined when his shot wasn't falling.

I want to see J Walsh when his shot stops falling at this clip. Has he really matured to keep playing hard through offensive blips? Because he hasn't in the past. That is his track record.