What Scheierman, Walsh to improve at in Summer League

Walsh knows that Summer League gives him the opportunity to “get in my bag a little bit.” But he also wants to show Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens that he can “play a role that they need me to play next year.”

“It was definitely a focus in Maine,” Walsh told reporters on playing a specific role. “I feel like I kind of took that back seat to be more of a 3-and-D guy. I feel like that’s what Boston wanted from me. I feel like that’s what my teammates needed. So, that’s what I had to do. Obviously, in Summer League, I was trying to prove myself. So, I had a healthy bit of both last year.”

The early second-round pick didn’t see much shine as a rookie last year, appearing in just nine games. He got to play in 27 G League contests though, scoring 14.7 points per game while shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from 3-point territory. He also averaged 7.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks over 29.8 minutes per game.

Entering his second season, Walsh believes that he’s “hopefully” improved at everything. He wants to show that he’s specifically better at being an efficient shooter, defender, and passer. He believes that one key area he improved at as a rookie will help his growth in those areas.

“I think I’ve gotten better at slowing the game down, changing my pace, I guess you could say,” Walsh said. “I feel like that’s the most important thing. I went with [Celtics player enhancement coach] Ross [McMains] slow-stepping a lot. Just slowing down. It doesn’t always have to be 100 miles per hour. It can be 20, 30 sometimes. I feel like that’s the focus I took after [last year’s] Summer League to try to apply to my game.”

Much of the focus at Summer League for the Celtics will be on Walsh and Scheierman, but they aren’t the only recent draft picks who’ll be showcased in Vegas over the next week. Second-round rookie forward Anton Watson will also be on the roster, likely competing for either the final guaranteed roster spot or a two-way contract for the upcoming season.

Walsh gave a mini scouting report on the Celtics’ two rookies on how they’ve looked in practice.

“We all know Baylor can shoot the ball. Anton has really good feel around the rim, which is nice. But he’s also a really good defender, picking up the schemes really quickly and apply them even quicker. So, they’re definitely making their imprint on the game.”

Scheierman’s shooting ability was his most touted trait coming out of Creighton. He shot 38.1 percent from beyond the arc as a fifth-year senior last year, averaging 8.3 3-point attempts per game. He also shot 39 percent from deep over his five-year college career, which included three seasons at South Dakota State.

With Scheierman’s shot hitting in practice so far, he isn’t concerned with proving that he can drain deep jumpers at the next level. He actually told reporters that his “shooting translates to where I am right now.”

So, Scheierman’s focus is on things that might not be seen on the box score, mentioning pick-and-roll reads as “something I can work on.”

“My competitiveness, my defense, my ability to be a team defender,” Scheierman said on what he’s focused on improving at in Summer League. “Obviously, everyone knows I can shoot and all that stuff. That’s not really what I’m focused on. I’m more focused on crashing the offensive glass, competing, rebounding, and playing defense.”

The Celtics open up their Summer League slate on Saturday against the Heat.